The program for the 2012 Executive Conference in Scottsdale, Ariz. is nearly complete with 23 presentations that we believe will excite you. You'll go back to the office with many ideas on how to improve your company. Does the cost concern you? Consider this ROI calculation. If a few of those new ideas earn or save you about 20 billable hours in an entire year then you will have paid for the conference. If I could give you a money back guarantee on the investment I would. However, I have no doubt that the conference is a good investment. Oh, there is no extra charge for the opportunity to network with your peers and that pays dividends! Be there, April 25-28, 2012. You'll be glad you did. Look for the preliminary program to be published in December.

 

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The CSIA Board of Directors and staff met at the Trade Winds Resort in St. Petersburg, Fla. on Sept. 18 - 20 for their annual strategic planning meeting. We also had the opportunity to tour the resort, the site of the 2013 CSIA Executive Conference.

 

Out of intense discussion, four key priorities were identified for the association over the next year (Certification, Relevance, Membership and Mission). The Board also revised the mission statement to include value for end-users. The new CSIA mission is to "Advance control system integration for the success of our members and their clients."

 

In the coming months, we'll unveil more information on the initiatives that grew from this meeting, including a new web site with key features for members and end users and a strong marketing plan for membership and CSIA Certification. Stay tuned!

 

 

Do you have a survey question to suggest? Send it here.

Certification Audit Preparation Process

"I would recommend this course  . . ."  

 

The Best Practices and Benchmarks is the core of CSIA and the Certification program compliments this valuable document. Achieving Certification is an intense process and requires successfully passing a third-party audit conducted by one of the two CSIA approved auditors.

 

During last week's CSIA Certification Bootcamp in Chicago, Brian Mullen and Don Roberts of Exotek provided a detailed description of the requirements for passing the audit.

 

"Brian and Don did a great job of presenting the materials and giving applicable examples to help us gain a better understanding of what each component of the audit was really looking for and how those pieces will ultimately be addressed," said registrant Emily Toon of Integrity Integrated Solutions. Read more.

 

 

Attend ISA Automation Week for three days of technical education and networking. The agenda is full of informative sessions that will help automation technicians, engineers and programmers improve their skills. The event is centrally located in Mobile, Ala. and the hotel costs are very reasonable. So rev up your career or the careers of your staff by participating in ISA Automation Week 2011.

 

CSIA will be in the Automation Federation Pavilion at booth 328 so be sure to visit. Bob Lowe will participate in a group presentation on Tuesday, Oct. 18, from 1:30 to 3 p.m. titled Successful Project Management-Tips and Examples so plan to attend.

 

Also part of the ISA Automation Week is a Career Day for local high school students is planned and CSIA will be represented by Prism Systems, a CSIA Associate member in Mobile. We are grateful for Prism's assistance. 

 

 

by Don Roberts, Exotek

 

I am writing this article on my cell phone as I fly on an Air Berlin flight from one successful re-audit to another. I am not sure if I am more impressed with how far technology has come or the tremendous applicability of the CSIA Best Practices around the world. I just finished reading an email from Bob Lowe about the efforts currently underway to sign up some Brazilian integrators. The Latin American Committee is very active both in recruiting new CSIA members and translating the Best Practices to Spanish and Portuguese.

 

The audit I just finished took two days and we used two interpreters to keep up with the tremendous flow of information back and forth. Despite the need to translate the language, there was not a single best practice or concept that didn't apply. The business of system integration truly is global and you should expect/require the companies with which you want to partner to comply with them. Read more. 

 

Don Roberts (center) recently completed a re-audit of Insist Avtomatika, an integrator member in Omsk, Russia. Insist Avtomatika has been CSIA Certified since 2005.

by Sam Hoff, Partner Committee Chair 

 

On Sept. 26 - 27, the Partner Committee met in Elgin, Ill. at the semi-annual Partner Committee face-to-face meeting. Harting hosted the event. Members present included Steve Goldberg, Matrix Technologies; Sam Hoff, Patti Engineering; Mark Moriarty, Rockwell; Jim Bercik, M/R Systems; Jill Shea, Harting; Peter Treible, Siemens; Glenn Graney, General Electric; Scott Kiser, Invensys; Bob Muniza, Online Development, Inc.; Steve Newcomer, Phoenix Contact; John Weber, Software Toolbox; and Lynda Patterson, CSIA President.

 

Partner membership has grown to 75 companies. Partners play a valuable role in helping to grow CSIA integrator membership through the tabletop exhibition and presentations at the conference, as well as much welcomed sponsorship to help keep conference costs down. A partner membership is non-voting to ensure that CSIA will always be run by integrators.

  

Topics discussed at the face-to-face meeting included several avenues to leverage the partners' SI programs to reach and help foster growth of CSIA, and the continued development of a partner member library/blog to benefit SI members, and best practices of a partner member SI program.

 

by Paul Barnard, insurance manager

 

It is with great pleasure that I announce we are now able to offer a full range of business insurance policies to our Canadian members. Features of this new program include full coverage for liabilities where ever in the world they may occur, including in the United States. Also, there is full coverage for liabilities assumed by contract - no exceptions. Overall we are able, finally, to offer Canadian members a program specifically tailored to meet their coverage needs as control system integrators.

 

I will be contacting our Canadian members individually with complete details during the first few days of October.

 

This new program joins our already well-established plans: business insurance for our United States members, surety bonding for members transacting business within the United States, business insurance for Canadian members and finally, business Insurance for members domiciled outside of North America. Read more. 

 

CSIA members are encouraged to consider participation in the Brazil Automation ISA event in November.

If growth in South America is in your strategic plan then this is your opportunity! ISA Brazil has generously invited CSIA to have a booth to promote our association to the integrators of Brazil. Read more.

 

Let's not be silly here, robots don't want to kill all humans . . . they just want to take all their jobs. The accelerating rise in robot labor over the past decade, and its expansion into all areas of production, have led many to worry about the future of human workers. Yet how extensive is the robotic take-over of labor? This article provides some real enlightenment, especially for automation professionals. Will you be the member that starts a conversation in CSIA Open Forum with your opinion on this topic? Write what you're thinking. 

 

from Kraig Kramers, president and CEO, CEO Tools, Inc.

 

Here is a sampling of my favorite resources for improving business, particularly during difficult times:

 

Economic Prospects - Brian & Alan Beaulieu

Financing/M&A - Brad Bulkley

Receivables/Cashflow - Abe WalkingBear Sanchez

Inventory & Supply Chain - Henry Camp

Sales & Topline Growth - Chuck Reaves

Enterprise Software - Andy Vabulas

Culture Development - Don Schmincke

Leadership/Management - Vistage

Leadership/Management - Convene: Chris Duncan

Overall Profitable Growth - Kraig Kramers