Welcome new members
Bedrock Automation
Canton, Massachusetts
United States
Blu-Sphere Systems Inc.
Murphy, Texas
United States
Engineering Consultants Group Inc
Fairlawn, Ohio
United States
ESTeem Wireless Modems
Kennewick, Washington
United States
FEPROM Solutions
Lima, Lima
Peru
Pieper Electric Inc.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
United States
QuadTech
Sussex, Wisconsin
United States
RAFA Solutions LLC
Yerevan, Armenia
RutamSoft
Pune, Maharashtra
India
SISTROL
Autana, Carbobo
Venezuela
Trihedral
Bedford, Nova Scotia
Canada
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Congratulations to recently recertified members
AmFax Limited
Blandford, Dorset
United Kingdom.
ESE Inc.
Marshfield, Wisconsin
United States
Revere Control Systems
Birmingham, Alabama
United States
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Contact Us
Leadership directory
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Tell your colleagues about CSIA. Find member benefits and an application at www.controlsys.org.
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Get in on the conversation!
Here is a sample of topics that members are sharing on the Open Forum:
* Need advice on selecting engineering document management system
* Looking for a translating service that is good at English to Chinese translations of technical documents
* When will more U.S. universities start offering four year degrees in \automation engineering?
Log onto the Connected Community to join the conversation with your peers and stay in the know.
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The go-to resource for control system integration.
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 He's back! 2015 Executive Conference to feature Alan Beaulieu
Alan Beaulieu's overall message is one of optimism and action for attendees. 2015 will present some challenges, but that can work to the advantage of firms that are proactive to the economic expansion anticipated for 2015 and beyond. We will discuss the good and the bad and determine the best course of action for attendees based on an objective, verifiable reality.
Here's what Beaulieu has to say about global growth and his economic forecast:
What new insight can conference regulars look forward to hearing this year?
The financial condition of the world appears to be in a dangerous place, given new order trends from Europe, to China, to the United States. We will take a hard look at the numbers and determine where the growth opportunities can be found.
What should be front and center on the minds of our members from around the globe?
Will the European Central Bank give the United States Federal Reserve the cover they need to raise interest rates? Rates are going up soon, and CSIA members need to understand when and how fast.
What should business owners be preparing for in 2015, 2020 and beyond?
A stronger U.S. dollar will benefit foreign manufacturers. How long will the dollar gain strength, and what will happen to U.S. exporters in 2015 and 2016? The advantage is clearly going to other nations in the currency wars.
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2015 Executive Conference: Your contributions needed
by Bob Lowe, CSIA Executive Director
Lessons from Touching a Hot Stove
This was a highly attended and top-rated session at the 2014 Executive Conference and has been requested by many members for 2015. However, we need members who have had a significant challenge or setback in their company to be willing to tell their story: what went wrong, how the challenge was overcome and what's been done so it can't happen again. Send me an email if you'd like to be on the panel. More panelists are needed for this session to occur.
Replacing an Employee--- The Clock is Ticking!
Human resource issues are among the top concerns of system integrators. To address that concern, a survey is being developed to support the conference session Replacing an Employee---The Clock is Ticking! by Alan Carty and Pat Supanich from Automationtechies. The survey will be published in February so integrator members, watch for it in your Inbox. We look forward to a great response and a great conference session.
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ARC needs your help with end-user survey
During the 2015 Executive Conference, Craig Resnick of ARC Advisory Group, in conjunction with representatives from two end-user clients, will present quantitative and qualitative research data, gathered in a new survey of end users. Specific topics will include automation trends, how users assess automation investments, reasonable return on investment for automation investments, what services users will be seeking from system integrators, and so forth.
For this presentation to be successful and of value to conference attendees, w e ask that you send or take the survey to one or more of your clients. Not only will their completion of the survey contribute to a successful conference, but you will have an opportunity to express to your clients their importance to you and that you value their input. You may even learn something about them that you didn't know!
Your clients can remain anonymous if they choose.
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Learn how to give helpful feedback:
A member-driven session at the 2015 Executive Conference
by Tony Valasek, PREMIER System Integrators Inc.
Providing effective feedback to others is a critical ingredient for success at our organizations. Both positive and negative feedback, when done through the lens of improvement, should be given over time for maximum results. Best practices certainly exist to deliver that feedback more effectively and we often focus on learning how to deliver feedback. However, did you know there are more and less effective ways to receive feedback as well?
When I ask this, most people say things like, "Sure, you just need to remain calm and not become emotional or get upset." That certainly is good advice and I find it interesting that their minds have been conditioned toward the negative variety of feedback while completely overlooking that feedback can be positive as well.
There are behaviors you should and should not exhibit when receiving positive feedback as well. For example, have you ever given someone positive feedback and they proceed to explain to you for the next 15 minutes why they deserve it? Afterward, you are mentally exhausted and may even be less likely to give that person praise in the future. This is the kind of behavior that can potentially stall, or even harm a relationship, and it all started with a positive event.
When you attend the Feedback - A Healthy Diet session during the 2015 CSIA Executive Conference, you will not only learn the right way to give feedback, but also receive it in order to take your employees' development to the next level.
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Call for 2015 CSIA awards now open
It's time to think about nominating your peers for CSIA Awards!
This year, we are requesting nominations for four awards: the Charlie Bergman "Remember Me" Award, Rising Star Award, Partner Member of the Year Award, and Integrator Member of the Year Award. The Integrator Member of the Year Award is a new honor in 2015 designed by the Awards Task Force to recognize our Integrator (both Certified and non-Certified members) and their achievements and contributions to CSIA.
In addition to CSIA's formal awards program, we want to recognize members for their successes and milestones outside of CSIA. Achievements that may not necessarily fit in to a traditional award category may include local charity work, completing a marathon, recognition for multi-generational businesses, and other personal accomplishments. You will find the opportunity to submit these ideas on the last page of the nomination form.
Please review the awards and criteria here and submit your nominations by Feb. 25 via the 2015 CSIA Award Nomination Form. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me or Emily Wiseman on staff at [email protected].
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Exchange profile of the month
Phoenix Contact is an industry supplier dedicated to providing products and solutions throughout the automation industries. Phoenix Contact offered CSIA some excellent support and feedback throughout the Exchange development process, and their profile shows their continued use of the site.
With their Premium Partner Package, Phoenix Contact can list all of their certified system integrators directly on their profile. The Phoenix Contact logo appears on the certified integrators' profiles too.
See Phoenix Contact's profile on The Exchange.
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News flash! New CSIA certification auditor
CSIA is pleased to announce that Tom Sulda of Sulda Consulting Pty Ltd in Australia has completed training and a witness audit, and has been approved by the CSIA Certification Committee to audit our members for CSIA certification. We are happy to have an auditor located in Asia-Pacific to serve that region. A full article about Tom will be in the March newsletter.
We also want to add a Spanish-speaking auditor to our list of trained and authorized auditors. This person would primarily serve Latin America. Contact Bob Lowe for more information.
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Project management training
Do you know of a company that could work with CSIA to develop a system integration industry-specific project management training program? We have a working group of volunteers to participate in the development, the result being community-based content. Contact Bob Lowe for more information or to identify a company.CSIA's criteria for the program:
- Be specific to the SI industry
- Have multiple people who are capable of delivering the training
- Aligns with Section 5 of the BP manual
- Enable CSIA to own the IP or provide a license for CSIA to use and edit the training program at will, globally
- Meet PDH and/or CEU credit requirements
- Allow for these delivery methods:
- In-person, instructor-led
- Interactive webinar
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Configuration management is hot topic on Open Forum
Engineering document management systems (EDMS) and configuration management (CM), two closely related topics, have been hot topics in the CSIA Open Forum. Managing documents, code, designs and so forth are a significant challenge for system integrators. Do you have something to offer these discussions? Or perhaps you could learn from the discussions. The new webinar series on configuration management is a spin-off of the Open Forum discussion on CM.
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Partners: Have you reviewed the Resources for Partner Members library lately? The best practice for partner member technical webinars can be found there.
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Coming up!
See all the archives on the webinar page. Configuration Management Defined...Finally. Part 1: What's it About? Wednesday, February 10, 2015, 11 a.m., EST (New York.)
Henk-Jan Scholman, Engineering Manager, Hollander Techniek,
The Netherlands CSIA certification auditors have said that configuration management (CM) confuses many of our members. CM has also been a topic of discussion at the CSIA Executive Conference. In response, CSIA has recruited a team of integrator members to clear the fog around CM. In this first of three webinars, we'll explain what CM is and how it weaves through the fabric of your company. In Part 2 we'll discuss implementation of manual CM systems. Part 3 will cover automatic implementation using commercial software. But don't be fooled. All methodologies require policies and discipline. Conversely, don't be nervous. CM can be done, and must be done to have a sustainable company. Be sure to join us.
This CSIA monthly webinars are sponsored by Software Toolbox.
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See
all the archives on the webinar page.
Grow Your Business and Serve Customers Better with SaaS
Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2015, 11 a.m., EST (New York)
Xavier Mesrobian, VP, Sales & Marketing, Skkynet Cloud Systems, Inc.
Change is on the horizon for industrial software, driven by customer demand, market forces, and Internet of Things technologies. With the introduction of Software as a Service, new possibilities are opening for revenue sharing. How can you capitalize on it? How will it work? Can it make SCADA more attractive for smaller players? Will it open new markets? What are the benefits for legacy systems? What about security? This webinar will discuss the key concepts, examine parallel industries, and help you gain better insight on embracing the SaaS revolution, get closer to your customers and create new revenue streams along the way.
This CSIA Partner webinar presented by Skkynet Cloud Systems, Inc.
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Understanding and Implementation of Machine Safeguarding Standards
Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2015, 11 a.m., EST (New York)
Mike DeRosier, Engineering Services Manager, Schmersal USA
Do you find it difficult to achieve effective machine guarding? Is it complicated to apply the wording from regulatory and industry standards into practice? This webinar will help add some practicality to machine guarding, thus reducing the arguments against properly implementing machine safety guarding systems. Join us for this informative webinar session where we will highlight some of the common thoughts and practices in machine safety integration as it pertains to both U.S. and international safety standards.
This CSIA Partner webinar presented by Schmersal USA
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Cloak and secure your critical infrastructure, ICS and SCADA systemsTuesday, March 17, 2015, 11 a.m. EST (New York)David Mattes, Chief Technical Officer, Tempered Networks
This webcast will address the challenges facing critical infrastructure environments, including industrial automation infrastructure across a variety of segments. Examples of common network architectures that have high risk exposure will be presented. These examples will be driven by common needs such as remote connectivity; employee, vendor, and contractor access; and integration with untrusted networks such as cellular, ISP and shared infrastructure. Attendees will learn about various standards, architecture documents, and best-practice recommendations that together align to provide a powerful model for advanced network security for industrial environments. Standards and architectures will be referenced from the ISA, IETF and TCG. David Mattes will present a case study of deployments that have successfully leveraged the previously discussed standards and architecture models. The importance of people, process, and technology in these examples will be highlighted, along with the importance of simplicity and ease of use of security products. Mattes will explain how effective security controls can be deployed into new environments, as well as transparently added to existing environments, leveraging existing infrastructure and IT security investments. As the threat landscape escalates and new regulatory requirements emerge for various critical infrastructure sectors, the talk will conclude with proposed next steps and a call to action.
This CSIA Partner webinar is sponsored by Tempered Networks
Registration available soon.
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Cybersecurity Task Force makes progress
Great progress is being made on the cybersecurity whitepaper. Our team of 12 members (six integrators and six partners) have finalized the table of contents (though not etched in stone) and the template for each subsection. The table of contents remained modeled after IEC62443-2-4 after consideration of deviating from it. It was decided to be in sync with what will be the international standard on industrial control system cybersecurity for system integrators.
The whitepaper is intended to be a guide that will also reference IEC and other industry-specific standards, such as electrical power. Subsection content is now being written with a March 15 due date, followed by review and completion in second quarter 2015.
CSIA is grateful for the amazing participation of the taskforce members, in addition to their day jobs. Some or all of the whitepaper will be included in a new section in Revision 5 of the Best Practices Manual.
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 How could an automation manufacturer make your next integration project easier?
by Jean Femia, Opto 22 If product reliability, open standards, and personal support are on your list, take a closer look at Opto 22. Opto 22 has designed and manufactured automation equipment for over 40 years. Founded by engineers who designed a better solid state relay (SSR), Opto 22 is still privately owned and run by engineers. Today the company makes controllers, I/O, and automation software in addition to SSRs, and helps system integrators in a wide variety of industries worldwide. Opto 22 I/O, controllers, and SSRs are known for their quality and reliability. Customers often comment about their dusty, 20-year-old "Optos" still working in the factory. Because all Opto 22 products are manufactured and individually tested (no statistical testing) at company headquarters in Temecula, California, company engineers control quality from the ground up. As a result, most SSRs and I/O modules are guaranteed for life. Distributed intelligence, a modular system that scales easily, and support for legacy products also help system integrators with new installations and upgrades for existing customers. Opto 22 products are designed on non-proprietary standards. The company developed the red-black-yellow-white I/O module color-coding scheme that is still used today, introduced the open protocol Optomux, and helped develop the OPC interoperability standard.
In 1998 the company introduced the first commercial Ethernet-based I/O unit, using standard, commercial Ethernet networks and the Internet Protocol (IP). Opto 22's latest innovation, the mobile operator interface tool
groov,uses standards like SSL, HTML5, Modbus/TCP, and OPC UA to help you put automation equipment on any mobile device for monitoring and control.
Opto 22 helps make your job easier with free product support, free training and documentation, and free pre-sales engineering support. The company welcomes your questions and comments. For more information visit www.opto22.com or www.groov.com or call 800-321-6786 (toll-free in the U.S. and Canada) or 1+951-695-3000.
Jean Femia is an information architect with Opto 22, a platinum sponsor of the 2014 Executive Conference. |
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Industrial cybersecurity requires industry-consensus standards and certified IACS components
by Stephen Werk, International Society of Automation (ISA)
Protecting industry and critical infrastructure from cyberattack requires the implementation of comprehensive industrial automation and control systems (IACS) cybersecurity standards as well as the use of IACS components that have been certified to conform to these standards.
Through the work of the ISA Committee on Security for Industrial Automation & Control Systems (ISA99), the International Society of Automation (ISA) has developed the ANSI/ISA99, Industrial Automation and Control Systems Security standards (IEC 62443). Developed by a cross-section of international cybersecurity subject-matter experts from industry, government and academia, the series of IEC 62443 standards apply to all key industry sectors and critical infrastructure, and, as a result, provide the flexibility to address and mitigate current and future vulnerabilities in IACS. The ISA Security Compliance Institute (ISCI), an affiliate of ISA, has developed a widely recognized compliance and testing program called ISASecure™ that ensures that industrial automation and control devices and equipment conform to the IEC 62443 cybersecurity standards. To learn more, visit the ISASecure website. The combination of the IEC 62443 IACS standards and ISASecure certification provide a critical, two-fold layer of cybersecurity. In addition to implementing vital IACS cybersecurity standards, asset owners would know that the IACS products and components they purchase are capable of defending against network attacks and are free from security vulnerabilities. ISA also offers a diverse range of industrial cybersecurity training courses and publications as well as a certificate program. For more information, visit the Cybersecurity Resources section of the ISA website. |
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Back from the grave: Terms that survive the end of an agreement
by Brian P. Clifford, CSIA attorney
When an agreement expires or is terminated, that's the end of it, right? Don't the terms "expire" and "terminate" mean exactly that?
Not so fast! You know the lawyers couldn't make anything that easy. Most control system integration agreements have provisions that either expressly or impliedly survive the "end" of the contract term. In order to know which obligations you will need to be mindful of after completing the project or ending the service term, you will need to consult the document. But here are a few important terms that often bind the parties long after the other requirements of the contract have been fulfilled:
Warranties: Of course, you probably expected that a contract's warranty terms would continue for some period of time after your work is completed. But the "warranty period" stated in your agreement may not set this time period. Implied warranties may extend through the last day of the applicable statute of limitation or statute of repose. (Implied warranties were discussed in my November 2012 legal update, and I included details on these claim periods controlled by law in the July 2013 update.)
Insurance and Indemnity: Many automation agreements include an obligation for you to name your client as an additional insured on your insurance coverages. For "completed operations" or "products" coverage on your commercial general liability policy, you may be required to maintain the client's additional insured status for several years after the "end" of the agreement. Similarly, your indemnification obligations may not expire at the end of the contract term, even if your client terminates the agreement. You may also be required to continue to purchase certain insurance coverages---especially design liability insurance---even though the contract has otherwise been "closed-out."
Confidentiality: If you have received proprietary information of your client, you may be obligated to return it or destroy it at the conclusion of the contract term. However, the information may also be protected from disclosure long after your work is finished.
Dispute Resolution: If you have been performing your services at your client's facility, you may have thought that you would never need to return there after the end of contract term. However, check the agreement's dispute resolution procedures. These terms will often mandate that you come back to the project site location to resolve any claims related to your completed work.
It is not exactly a zombie apocalypse, but be wary of these "undead" contract terms.
Brian Clifford is a partner in the automation practice at Faegre Baker Daniels LLP, a full service law firm of more than 750 legal and consulting professionals with 13 offices in the United States, United Kingdom and China. He can be reached at +1.260.460.1687 or [email protected]. |
The Automation Conference 2015 to explore technologies that are transforming today's manufacturing
Partnership with CSIA includes a $100 registration discount for members
This May 19-20, technology end-users, experts, and other industry professionals will convene in Chicago to explore leading-edge automation technologies that are transforming manufacturing in the U.S. and around the world. Now in its fourth year, The Automation Conference program is designed for engineering and management professionals within discrete manufacturing, packaging, and continuous and batch processing. Taking place at the Chicago Marriott O'Hare, TAC 2015 is produced by the publishers of Automation World, Packaging World and Healthcare Packaging.
Speakers include professionals from General Mills, MOL Danube Refinery, Corning Inc., Industrial Internet Consortium and IHS. In addition, over a dozen leading solution providers will present in-depth educational workshops that focus on specific challenges, products and strategies.
The 2015 program will include Smart Manufacturing systems, how 3D printing is penetrating traditional manufacturing, interoperability, unlocking big data to increase productivity, IIoT, mobile HMI, safety and more.
Registration is now open at TheAutomationConference.com. CSIA member companies can save $100 with discount code: CSIA15.
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ABB Automation and Power World: See you there!
CSIA will be at the ABB Automation and Power World show in Houston, Texas, March 2-5 with a booth that is compliments of ABB. We are grateful for their generosity. This international event is a must-attend event to stay abreast of industrial automation technology.
Contact Bob Lowe to arrange a meeting regarding CSIA.
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