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July 2011 sponsored by Online Development
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This month's question:
Would you be willing to submit at least one of your templates, processes or procedures so that it is available in some form to all members?
Complete survey question here.
May/June survey results
What is the biggest internal struggle facing your firm?
Do you have a survey question to suggest? Send your suggestion to Bob Lowe.
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2012 Executive Conference presentations  Are you passionate and knowledgeable about a business topic? Have you had a particularly positive or negative experience in your business that you would like to share? If so, consider a presentation at the 2012 conference. You don't have to be a top-notch public speaker. Your message is what matters. Contact Bob Lowe. |
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CSIA webinars
How Can You Exceed My Expectations If You Don't Know What They Are? How to Get Honest, Useful and Sometimes Painful Feedback From Your Clients
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
11:00 a.m. Eastern Time (New York)/3:00 p.m. GMT
David Stone, Principal, Stone and Company
The idea of seeking out regular, reliable and candid feedback from clients is simultaneously exciting and terrifying. It feels great to get the "attaboys" and the glowing testimonials when things go well, but what kind of feedback do you want or get when you screw up? How often do you actively seek your clients' opinions about what you do well and what you do poorly? More importantly, what do you do with those opinions when they're given? This important program will teach you how to ask for feedback from your clients and what to do with it when you get it. David Stone is back by popular demand after his debut at our conference in April.
Recent webinar topics included Overview and Demonstration of the Latest Version of KPICs and Hiring Best Practices: Can you afford the cost of a bad hire? These and many other CSIA webinars can be viewed in the webinar archives.
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Iconics 2011 Worldwide Customer Summit 
CSIA would like to thank Iconics for the opportunity to have Bob Lowe, Executive Director, attend their Worldwide Customer Summit in Newport, Rhode Island in June. They generously provided a presentation opportunity for Bob to their system integrators. Iconics just joined CSIA as a Partner member in February 2011 and they are anxious to show their support of the CSIA mission to improve the control system integration industry.
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Is your Best Practices Manual
collecting dust?
Is your Emergency Management Plan not really a plan? Are your job descriptions not very descriptive? Are contracts and purchase orders accepted without consideration of risk? Is cash flow forecasting about as reliable as the weather forecast? Does "project scope creep" keep you up at night? Does testing always meet your customer's expectations? Is your quality assurance management system not much of a system?
You probably noticed that each of these challenge questions about your business practices represents each of the eight sections of the Best Practices manual. That manual contains nearly all you need to know to operate a good control systems integration company. The Best Practices manual is your guide to "working on your business." Everyone gets so busy working in their business that working on it seems impossible. But it's important to budget some time for important tasks in addition to the urgent ones. Doing so is the mark of a good manager and leader.
Is Revision 3 of the manual on the shelf in your office collecting dust? For your company's sake, blow off the dust and implement the Best Practices regularly. Be sure to put extra focus on the criteria that are tagged with a magnifying glass in the margin of the manual. They are considered to be some of the most important ones. One suggestion is to delegate sections to the appropriate people or departments. A team effort will make you the best you can be in the shortest possible time. As a bonus, it's likely that you'll make more money as you improve!
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ISA Expo Control 2011
ISA Expo Control 2011, Aug. 24 - 26, in Mexico City, is the exhibition that reunites the main national and international companies of instrumentation, control, automation, robotics, industrial software and hardware and maintenance that are applied in the private and public industry. Organizers are doing their best to make this trade show enjoyable and interesting for visitors, and appropriate for participants to be able to present their products, ideas or services completely and effectively. Visiting ISA Expo Control you have the opportunity to learn about current trends in industrial equipment, tools, automation, and electronics, plus meet your future colleagues, partners and clients.
The Control Expo is the show where companies specializing in instrumentation, manufacturing, control and automation of industrial processes meet to showcase their products and services. Apart from an important commercial showcase, Expo Control offers to the professional visitors a program full of activities. The workshops, conferences about the future of the industry and technical conferences are some of the opportunities that ISA, a multinational organization, organizes every year.
Click here to learn more about this great ISA event for integrators in Mexico.
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Sponsor Spotlight
Graybar works to your advantage
As a leading distributor of electrical, communications and data networking products and related supply chain management and logistics services, Graybar understands that production uptime and total output is what drives an industrial customer. That's why we provide solutions with quality products and services that work to our customers' advantage.
Graybar's industrial team includes automation and control specialists that understand how to help system integrators tie plant floor systems to the business systems of the enterprise. This is important as control system integrators are shifting from machine control and plant floor process control to true enterprise integrators.
Graybar takes pride in listening to our customers' needs and then connecting them to the right industrial, automation or control solution. Graybar also offers a host of related services for customers, including an integrated systems approach, a dedicated account team and high-quality products from best-in-class manufacturers such as Schneider Electric, Phoenix Contact, Belden Hirschmann, Hoffmann, Panduit and many others.
In addition to providing products and solutions for industrial customers, Graybar Financial Services (GFS) is available to help customers finance projects. GFS specializes in providing competitive, value-added financing solutions to customers interested in acquiring equipment and services from Graybar. GFS is another resource that helps Graybar serve as the vital link in the supply chain.
To learn more about Graybar, please visit graybar.com.
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Insurance update 
by Paul Barnard, insurance programs manager
First we welcome the following new participants in our Program. - ITS Automation & Controls of Vancouver, British Columbia
- Advanced Engineering of Franklin, Tennessee
- Industrial Control Associates of Albany, Georgia
- Syntronix, Inc of St Louis, Missouri
This month we welcome our third program for the membership - for those in Canada, South America, the Eurpoean Union and Australasia. Providing a complete range of business insurances, this program features true global liability coverage including for U.S. exposures and a no contractual liability exclusion clause. This is only available to CSIA members. For more information on this and our U.S. property/casualty program and U.S. surety bonding facility, please contact me at paulbarnard@csia-insurance.com or (00)1-610-507-6595
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Partner Committee Report by Sam Hoff, Partner Committee co-chair
A little background on myself: I am originally from Baltimore, MD but went to School at GMI Engineering and Management Institute (now called Kettering University) in Flint, MI. After short stints at GM and Total Control Products, I started Patti Engineering (named for my wife) in 1991. Dave Foster (who is a lot smarter than me) joined Patti Engineering in 1995 and Ken Kutchek (who is a lot better manager than me) joined Patti Engineering in 1997. I am humbled and honored to be serving on the Board of Directors for the CSIA. Patti Engineering has been a member of CSIA since 1996 and has passed three certification audits. Every spring, Ken, Dave, and I look forward to our trip to the annual Executive Conference to go to a 30,000 foot level and see how we can improve our company. I will be the co-chair for the Partner Committee, along with Mark Moriarty (Rockwell). I will try to fill the shoes of Steve Goldberg, who as evidenced by the size of the recent Partner Tabletop Exposition, has done a terrific job. The future action items for the partner committee include: - Better communication with partners on committee actions, especially smaller partners
- Solicit feedback, ideas, and tweaks from Partners on the certification program. The Long term goal is to have them evangelize the benefits of using a certified integrator.
- Help partners define best practices for their internal SI programs and help make introductions to potential CSIA integrators
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Take advantage
of CSIA sales training programs  by Carl Utter, The Training Group, Inc.
Most Integrators have a very detailed training program for just about every position in their company. As a benefit to CSIA members you now have the ability to receive professional sales training for a fraction of the price you would pay if you went out on your own.
There are three major benefits to the CSIA sales training program. One, this was developed specifically for integrators. I've personally worked with integrators for over 11 years which means your sales people receive training from someone who understands the unique challenges you face when selling to your clients and prospects. The second benefit of the training is that it is systematic. That means you get a step-by-step sales system. A formalized sales process is the cornerstone to any sustainable growth initiative. You can count on predictable and repeatable results. The third benefit is ongoing reinforcement. The reason we've been able to take a control engineer with no sales experience and train him/her to consistently sell $3 to $4 million a year in sales is our unique ongoing reinforcement training. Sales training is different than most other types of training. In order for training to be effective it must address behavior change. Think of aerobics. You don't go to the gym and work out for a few hours and get in shape. Your CSIA sales training works because it addresses change at the level of attitude and behavior. If you take a class once, nothing much at all changes. When concepts and skills are reinforced over a period of a year you can expect to see real change. There are two phases to the training program being offered. In phase one we present the seven step selling system called Engineering Influence. Phase two is the ongoing reinforcement phase where the steps and the skills needed to execute those steps is reinforced to the point they become second nature. Our next class starts in September and there are two programs, one for sales people and one for the non-selling engineer who needs to win the NEXT PROJECT from a client. Details will be in the August newsletter and email blasts. . |
| Welcome to the Newest CSIA Members | |
CCS-Inc., Christiansburg, VA represented by Gary Overstreet
CCS-Inc. designs and integrates computers and enclosures for harsh environments and mission critical applications. Our products include rackmount, node, fanless, and panel PCs as well as NEMA rated computer and printer enclosures. Key markets include energy, manufacturing, defense, and the marine industry. Our engineering department focuses on working with customers to design and build the best solution for their particular requirements.
Custom Controls Technology, Inc, Hialeah, FL represented by Gerry Gallo
System integrator, movable bridges, RO plants, wastewater industries, baggage handling systems at major airports, controls for generators of power generation and emergency systems, PLC controls, SCADA systems, pump panels, machine refurbish for the controls and automation, industrial controls, variable frequency drives, motion controls.
Electro Design Engineering, Inc., Riverview, FL represented by Mike Grace Control system integrator, professional engineering firm and industrial electrical contractor.
Geoviz, Toronto, ON represented by Ned Hashmi Headquartered in Toronto Ontario Canada with a world-wide team of more than 200 professonals, we have the technology, application expertise, services and 24/7 support capability to bring competitive advantage to your operations may it be production, maintenance, or services delivery in any form. We help enterprises improve their "plant to enterprise" operations and maintenance performance bottom-line; PROFIT MARGIN, focusing: assets, process, technology, material, people, infrastructure, and energy.
KDC Systems, Los Alamitos, CA represented by Cory Bykoski
KDC Systems is a full service control systems integration contracting firm providing turnkey solutions based on quality engineering, programming, installation, calibration, training, commissioning and validation since 1983. Our experience enables KDC Systems to deliver on time and within budget. Our bonding capability of $100 million enables us to execute projects of any size. Areas of expertise include process controls, industrial controls and HVAC/building automation.
Powerhouse Controls Inc., Nashville, TN represented by Jeff Bean
Rexel Holdings USA, Dallas, TX represented by James ClarkRexel is a global, electrical product wholesaler with a significant focus on automation and control products. Our clients include system integrators throughout the United States and we are very interested in continuing to develop strategies around the process control, water/wastewater and other integration-oriented applications.
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- GE Intelligent Platforms Announces Carrier Card for Optimum Performance and Flexibility
- New High Performance ADC/DAC Module from GE Is Compact, Flexible and Cost-Effective
- Optimation Expands Reach into Minneapolis
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PASS IT ON
We encourage you to forward this newsletter to colleagues who will benefit from reading it.
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Executive Director's Message
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Bob Lowe
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Taking CSIA beyond the United States and Canada in a significant way is beginning to take shape. The Latin America Advisory Committee is officially formed and the first committee meeting was in June. There are Integrator members from many Latin American countries, some prospective integrator members in Latin America, four Partner members and representation from ISA.
Some immediate action items are translation of the Best Practices Manual Revision 4 and some marketing pieces to Spanish and Portuguese. We're also making plans for participation in ISA shows in Mexico and Brazil, and getting end-user representation on the committee.
The next region for which a committee will be formed is India. Actually the foundation for that committee is already in place.
Please know that membership growth initiatives in the United States and Canada continue as usual.
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