| Dec. 2010 newsletter sponsored by First Niagara Risk Management |
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Executive Director's message
by Bob Lowe
Welcome to the December 2010 newsletter! I encourage you to forward this informative newsletter to others in your organization who might find it of interest.
Bob's Blog
Read my Blog on the Connected Community: "It's Like Flying an Airplane." Do you agree or disagree? Leave a comment. Executive Conference 2011The CSIA staff has been finalizing plans for your 2011 CSIA Executive Conference in Orlando. The content of the program is 95% established and will be presented to you in January when registration opens. Save the dates of April 27 - 30. Our host site, Portofino Bay at Universal Studios is amazing! Consider bringing your family. You'll love it! Rockwell Automation FairThe Rockwell Automation Fair, Nov. 3-4 in Orlando, provided CSIA with an exhibit booth where we met 33 prospective members. Additionally, I was included as a presenter in their Latin America Group Service Provider meeting - the start of a new initiative for membership growth in South America, Central America and Mexico. A big thanks to our members who stopped to visit me at the booth. Also, I appreciate Revere Controls having me as a guest on Revere Radio, a 15-minute interview to explain CSIA. We are very grateful to Rockwell Automation for their generosity and support of CSIA!
 | | CSIA at Rockwell Automation Fair 2010 |
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Save a stamp
Renew your membership online
It's fast and easy to renew your CSIA membership online. Go to controlsys.org and click on the "Pay Your Dues Online" link on the right-hand side of the page. You'll be asked for your username and password (the same ones you use for the CSIA Connected Community). Review and pay your invoice with a few clicks! Then sit back and relax knowing you're CSIA benefits will continue uninterrupted!
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30-Second Survey results  November 2010
Is your business improving at this time, resulting in additions to your full-time staff of at least 10%?
Yes: 6
No: 3
If yes, will you . . .
Add employees? 6
Acquire contract help? 1
Partner with other SIs? 2
Click the 30-Second Survey ad to the right for this month's question. |
Your thoughts count
Integrator members may remember completing a survey in the spring of 2009 that asked questions about CSIA membership and member benefits. The results gave us a good understanding of how our members view CSIA and provided benchmarks for improvements and changes.
There were 55 respondents then. We'd really like to see triple digits this time around. Can we count on you to take a few minutes to complete the 2010 survey when you receive it this month? The information is priceless to the staff and Executive Council!
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November Webinar
November's webinar, "Doing Deals Without Giving Away the Company - The Intellectual Property Traps for Integrators and Automation Users" by Mark Voigtmann and Bob Null of Baker & Daniels is now archived on controlsys.org. Find this and all webinar archives under News & Programs. Do you have an idea for a webinar? If so drop Bob Lowe an email. ___________________________________________________ December WebinarOverview of Business Income Insurance
Wednesday, December 14, 2010
12:00 noon to 12:30 pm CT
presented by First Niagara Risk Management and Chubb Group of Insurance Companies Your company has just suffered a fire loss. At first you breathe easy knowing your building and contents are covered, but then the questions begin. How long will it take before your business is fully functional? What about the lost revenue? You will still have expenses to your bottom line, despite the lack of income in the short term. Is this considered in your property claim? What do you do? |
Tools and resources on the CSIA Connected Community
- Risk Assessment worksheet
- Contract documents
- Configuration Management white paper
These excellent tools are there for the taking!
The first two will help you manage risk. The Configuration Management white paper will help you apply configuration management to facilitate changes on projects and on your internal operations. While you're in the Connected Community do two things: 1) take note of Controls Overload on the home page. If you're a manager you may not have a great interest in this, but technical people surely will, and 2) review the recent Conversations in CSIA Open Forum and Best Practices application.
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Nomination Committee update
by Jim Campbell, Chair
Chairing the Nomination Committee is a great way to stay in touch with the community. It's well worth the time because I think it is critically important that CSIA recognize the excellent efforts our members and volunteers put forth. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Mike Bachelor, Paul Barnard, Don Roberts, and Chuck Wambeke for their contributions to this committee. We've been spending the past months focusing on our strategy and action plans. We have two thrusts: awards and leadership. The awards thrust is meant to recognize contributors to CSIA, both Partners and integrators. The leadership thrust is meant to help identify Integrators for committee membership and to funnel these exemplary volunteers towards running for a position on the Executive Council. In the coming months, we will start gathering nominations. For example, we will be publishing, on controlsys.org and Connected Community, criteria for the awards and leadership so we can get feedback from the readers. We will also be polling committee Chairs for nominations. I suspect one or two of you will be receiving personal phone calls as well. The collated lists will be submitted to CSIA management for their consideration. Stay tuned and start thinking about outstanding individuals who deserve recognition! We are currently seeking nominations for the following awards: Rising Star, Charlie Bergmann, and Partner. See full descriptions of all the awards at controlsys.org. In addition, we need nominations for leadership positions for the 2011 Executive Council and members for all the committees (Best Practices, Partner, Insurance, Marketing, Membership, Nominating, and Statistics). If you have any recommendations, please contact me at jac@viewpointusa.com.
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Solving the "Prospecting Problem"
by Todd Youngblood
Cold calling at the executive level is hard. They don't want to talk to you. They're too busy. They aggressively resent yet another interrupt-my-day call from some stranger claiming to have all the answers. Not only that, most of us aren't very good at it and really, really dislike doing it.
All that said though, successfully prospecting for new accounts is critically important. How many times have you told yourself, "There's got to be a better way!" Well, there just might be.
At a recent industry conference, a CSIA member conducted radio interviews in their booth with 32(!!!) executives and industry influencers. Literally every one of them enjoyed the experience. Every one of them had fun. Every one of them shared significant chunks of their personal expertise. Every one of them got an audio mp3 recording to use as they see fit. (Oh, and a few more files with additional marketing material found their way onto the flash drive.) It's an almost sure bet every one of them talked (bragged?) about it to colleagues, customers, vendors, friends and relatives.
Will those interviewees remember that particular trade show booth and that particular experience? Will those executives eagerly accept a follow-up call from our intrepid CSIA cohort? What do you think?
It's for sure a creative and different approach. It's still a cold call to schedule the interview, but it's a radically different sort of cold call. It's not about you; it's about the target customer's passion. It's about a successful business-person being asked to share his or her own unique perspectives to advance the state of their own industry, functional specialty or technology. Aren't all executives ready, willing and able - all the time - to contribute to the growing body of knowledge about their area of expertise? |
Marketing Committee Update
by Tom Walther
 The Marketing Committee met this past month to review the overall strategic and marketing plan being presented to the Executive Council for approval. The 2011 Marketing and Public Relations Plan supports the organization's mission by identifying the best opportunities to: · Increase membership · Reinforce the value of the association to current members · Develop additional revenue generating opportunities · Promote the value of CSIA Certification to end users One of our newer initiatives is to promote the value of CSIA Certification to our end user clients. We are working on ways to develop a brand awareness campaign to that effect. We are currently exploring the resources available to assist in that effort and plan to present those findings to the Executive Council at their next meeting. We are also encouraging members to get their profiles updated on the "Find an Integrator" page. Many SI's don't realize that they are not being listed completely in this very useful tool. Complete your company profile. Take a moment today to improve your image to the end user community. |
Insurance update
by Paul Barnard
This month we welcome the following three new participants. - Data Science Automation
- Adaptive Resources
- T3 Automation
Employment Practices Liability InsuranceEmployment Practices Liability Insurance is a relatively new form of liability insurance. It provides protection for an employer against claims made by employees, former employees, or potential employees. It covers discrimination (age, sex, race, disability, etc.), wrongful termination of employment, sexual harassment, and other employment-related allegations. It covers your firm, including its directors and officers. Cases against employers are on the rise. It is estimated that three out of five firms will be sued by an employee. Companies are finding that they are vulnerable from the pre-hiring process through the exit interview, even if the employee was never hired, or only at the company a matter of days. It can happen to ANY firm. We have all experienced it. It could be a joke told in the break room, an employee you had to fire, a "friendly" programmer, or that person you chose not to hire. Every employer faces the reality that it may be the target of legal action from past, present and prospective employees. Even if the claim is groundless or fraudulent, the defense of a suit can be expensive in time, resources and finances. New technology firms are especially vulnerable. Newer and fast growing companies are often prey to these types of claims because their management team has not yet designed or implemented procedures for hiring, firing, and disciplining employees. We definitely recommend Employment Practices Liability Insurance to any of our members. For more information on this or any other form of Business insurance contact Paul Barnard, insurance program manager, paulbarnard@csia-insurance.com, (610) 507-6595. |
ARC Advisory Group and ISA Automation Week
ARC Advisory Group is looking for ways that ISA Automation Week 2011 can help you in your profession. Here is a chance for you to directly influence their volunteer planning team, made up of professionals in automation just like you.
CSIA members are encouraged to complete this simple three-question survey. ARC and ISA would appreciate your input. |
Have remote offices or additional locations?
Do you have international offices? Are they in the CSIA database so they can be found by prospective clients or Partner members looking for SI services in a country other than that of your main office?
Do you have branch offices in states other than your home office? If they're not in the CSIA database, prospective clients using the new Find an Integrator search tool may not find them. Close proximity to a client's facility is typically an important factor. To add an additional office, complete a separate membership application for that location. Dues for additional locations and branch offices are only 50% of the home office dues.
Landing one opportunity from Find an Integrator will return your investment.
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Managing changes in auromation projects
by Mark Voigtmann, CSIA Attorney
It has been said that construction contracts are more challenging than other types of contracts because, unlike the other types, construction contracts are being written at the same time as they are being performed. While a bit of an exaggeration, the underlying point is a worthy one. It simply acknowledges that modifications of contract terms - most typically in the form of agreed changes or as a result of unforeseen events - are not the exception to the rule, but the rule. Indeed, it would be a most unusual construction project (perhaps there are none) where the original specifications, and terms and conditions, remain unchanged through final completion.
Take that reality and multiply it times ten and you will have a sense for the multiplicity of "changes" that automation companies typically must confront. Automation projects, by their nature, literally are constantly changing. Accordingly, for maximum success in managing automation risk, one must find a way to manage this anticipated, but frustrating state of affairs.
The flood of changes can be managed in at least two ways.
The first way is to control the definition of change. Because the "final scope" of the software component of an automation project is, in particular, an inherently moving target, it is in the interest of owners and end users to limit the definition of change to a certain threshold or criteria just as it is in the interest of control system integrators and engineering firms to avoid any such limitation while carving out a point where excessive changes are deemed a breach of the contract (in traditional construction parlance, this is known as a "cardinal change").
The second way is to control how adjustments due to change are processed. Owners and end users will want to impose strict notice criteria and tight timeframes for seeking adjustments. Integrators and engineering firms, on the other hand, tend to benefit from relaxed or nonexistent notice provisions and deadlines.
Because profound changes are so predictable on automation projects, the importance of addressing changes on the front end cannot be overemphasized.
In addition to his role as counsel to the CSIA, Mark Voigtmann is the leader of the automation practice at Baker & Daniels, a law firm in Indianapolis, Chicago, Washington D.C. and Beijing. He can be reached at 317.237.1265 or Mark.Voigtmann@bakerd.com |
Webinar - Designing and Verifying Safety Instrumented Systems
Knovel is offering a Dec. 8 webinar on best practices for defining, analyzing and verifying safety levels of proposed and existing safety systems. Learn more. |
- HiTech achieves significant milestone since its founding in 1985
- Enhanced Software Solution From GE Simplifies Programming and Speeds Time To Solution
- New Opto 22 Energy Monitoring Appliance Helps Customers Track and Reduce Energy Consumption
- OPC Alarm notification via cellular modems is now more reliable using Control See's SMS Fallback functionality
- Enhanced Process Control Solution from GE Puts Power, Water, and Oil & Gas Customers In Control Lowering Total Cost of Ownership
- STRONGARM Introduces the VertiMax™ Articulating Pendant Arm
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| Welcome to the Newest CSIA Members | |
Control System Technology, Idaho Falls, ID represented by Mike Wareing
Control System Technology (CST) is a system integrator of electrical, control, instrumentation and computer technologies. CST has electrical and mechanical engineers on staff, as well as instrument technicians and electricians. CST provides solutions in food processing, mining, warehousing and material handling, chemical processes, water and wastewater. CST provides engineering, programming, installation, panel building, onsite support, testing and training.
EN Engineering, LLC, Woodridge, IL represented by Mark Adelmann
EN Engineering is a full service engineering consulting firm serving the pipeline industry including both gas and liquids pipelines. The Automation and Electrical Design business unit of ENE provides electrical and instrumentation design, PLC and HMI software development, integration and commissioning services. Specific areas of expertise include design of control and instrumentation systems for reciprocating and centrifugal compressors, gas compressor stations, pumping stations and gas measurement systems.
HSQ Technology, Hayward, CA represented by Hal Spence
HSQ Technology is a control systems integrator providing supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems in the water and wastewater, transportation, electric power, and facilities energy management market spaces. HSQ manufactures a line of remote terminal unites (RTUs) and SCADA application software (MISER) which is used in many of our turnkey solutions. Additionally, HSQ offers turnkey SCADA systems utilizing hardware and software manufactured by most of the major PLC and SCADA/HMI vendors. HSQ has expertise in the design and deployment of robust and reliable communication networks over various mediums (wired and wireless).
Maxon Precision Motors, Inc., Seminole, FL represented by Kirk Barker
motors, gearheads and controls
NeoMatrix, Inc., Portsmouth, NH represented by Peter Larochelle
NeoMatrix Inc. is a software services firm, offering a wide range of programming and integration services with a focus on manufacturing information technologies. Headquartered in Portsmouth, NH NeoMatrix conducts business throughout the United States as well as internationally. NeoMatrix helps manufacturing companies implement manufacturing information systems that improve operational efficiencies and reduce manufacturing costs, by empowering operations teams with access to both real time and historical plant information and key performance metrics.
Trident Automation, Inc., Kaukauna, WI represented by Jerome Wenzel
Trident Automation is an independent professional services company specializing in process control technology solutions that deliver increased productivity, high reliability and measurable cost savings. Trident Automation focuses on a core set of process industries and systems. This allows them to maintain a high level of expertise for their customers and in the systems they provide. Trident prides itself on providing innovative and robust solutions that excel in ease of use for operators, engineers and technicians. Trident strives to provide as much knowledge to its customers as possible. The company believes in providing systems that customers can maintain themselves and being available when additional assistance is needed. |
| Newly Certified and Recertified Members | |
The Control System Integrators Association (CSIA) is pleased to announce that the following member companies have recently earned "Certified Member" distinction:
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