2019 Executive Conference Recap
Delighted first-timers think conference is unique
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By Lisa Richter
Do you remember your first time attending the CSIA Executive Conference? What do you remember most about that experience? For many of the first-timers at the
2019 event
, held April 29 - May 3, in Asheville, North Carolina, the key takeaway was the willingness of CSIA members to share, advise and, well, be real.
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"I was blown away by the whole openness aspect of the conference," states Tom Wright, chief operating officer of
Syscon Automation
in Salt Lake City, Utah, an integrator specializing in discrete manufacturing/food and beverage. "Many professionals at events just don’t have that unabashed, real desire to help others."
For Eugenio D’Ursi, CEO of
Automate, S.R.L.
, a Rome-based system integrator, attending the conference meant overcoming some skepticism and taking the advice of a countryman. "Luigi De Bernardini told me about CSIA and his experience, and I said, let’s try!" explains D’Ursi. (Full disclosure: De Bernardini is CSIA Chair and CEO of
Autoware
, S.R.L.
Vicenza, Italy, a system integrator offering MES solutions to manage operations.)
"Italians are special people. We live in a small, concentrated area. However, I feel ‘alone’ in my business … and we are worried to share problems and opportunities. [At the conference] I found exactly the opposite: willingness to share, willingness to collaborate and willingness to grow," he recalls.
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By Luigi De Bernardi
This is my first message to CSIA members as board chair. I’m very honored to serve in this position and proud to be the first non-U.S. chair. It means a lot to me and the international members who travel thousands of miles every year to attend the CSIA Executive Conference.
This is a very special year because it marks the 25
th
anniversary of CSIA. It’s hard to believe that it has been 25 years since Charlie Bergman had the insight that it was possible to put competitors around a table and convince them that sharing their knowledge and expertise could make all of them better.
We’ve come a long way since that first meeting in 1993, but none of it would have been possible without his vision and the hard work that the founding members and all the volunteers that came later put in growing the association and steering it through many challenges. To all of them goes our recognition and our thanks.
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By Jose Rivera
The
2019 CSIA Executive Conference
was a success based on attendance, surveys and informal feedback. We had 534 attendees in Asheville, North Carolina, tying for second place with 2014 San Diego. The conference always represents the culmination of a long preparation road. This time we had a shorter preparation schedule because we were also searching for, selecting and onboarding the new association management company for several months. I’m very pleased with our new staff and their ability to make it all happen.
In Asheville, we reminisced about the start of the association in 1993 when Charlie Bergman invited a group of SIs to a meeting close to his home in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. The following year, the association was established. Twenty-five years later, we had two of the founding members share a few words about the early days. Bob Zeigenfuse gave an emotive speech during the opening reception, and Pat Miller made us laugh with his speech during the Awards Dinner.
Asheville also made us look forward. To keep the association relevant, we have been working with the next generation of leaders. As we have been doing at recent conferences, a lunch was organized to allow this group to get to know each other better. Professional speaker Lisa Ryan shared her advice regarding onboarding younger generations. In addition, a panel of SI company owners provided career guidance to future leaders.
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Legal
Could tariffs impact your business?
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By Julie Weller
Since March of 2018, companies doing business in the United States have been dealing with a shifting tariff environment different from what anyone has seen in several generations. With talk of changed tariffs in the news every week or two — all while a tri-party agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico is in the works; bilateral trade discussions are taking place between the United States and Canada; Brexit negotiations between the United Kingdom and the European Union are frontpage news; and the new African Continental Free Trade Agreement is going into effect — now is a good time to review how tariffs affect your business and are addressed in your contracts.
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Insurance
Cyber coverage: more than just an insurance policy
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By Jeff Forbes
More and more companies are purchasing cyber insurance as the risks to companies’ businesses from the breach of their networks expand. And more companies are requiring that their vendors and contractors obtain cyber insurance to protect themselves from breaches caused by third parties. As the cyber insurance marketplace grows, it’s important for companies to know what they get with their cyber insurance policies to maximize the advantage of their purchase.
As one example, many cyber companies provide pre-loss services as part of their cyber insurance policy. The purpose of these services is to help companies find areas of potential vulnerability and fix those vulnerabilities before they cause a breach. It’s a good investment for the insurance company because these services can drastically reduce the possibility that they will have to pay out on a claim.
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By Jose Rivera
This is a regular section in the quarterly e-Newsletters as well as
on the CSIA website.
If you have information that has been made public, contact CSIA Industry Director
Lisa Richter
for consideration in the next issue. This newsletter is not intended to be a source for breaking news but a place to get caught up on recent deals.
The past few months have been quite active on the M&A front for the industrial automation industry with the following transactions:
- FCP-backed E-Tech Adds Superior Controls to Automation Platform (April 17). We shared the press release impacting our CSIA SI members just before the 2019 CSIA Executive Conference.
- CSIA SI member Autopro Automation Consultants to be Acquired by Universal mCloud (April 24). Read about it here.
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GE Digital
Minimize operator mistakes with modern HMI/SCADA:
Integrators can help customers address costly workforce changes
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By Alicia Bowers Millinger
In the industrial environment, operator mistakes are costly and growing. Your customers are facing a difficult challenge to prevent operator mistakes as they’re impacted by a drastically changing workforce. Obviously, more errors occur with a less experienced workforce, and two workforce trends are playing this out.
First, younger workers are changing jobs more frequently than older generation workers. According to Gallup research, millennial workers
–
those born between 1980-1996
–
are more than three times as likely as other generations to have changed jobs within the last year. Half of millennial workers don’t see a future with their current employer, and this generation has the lowest engagement in the workplace. With higher employee turnover and lower engagement, customers have a less-experienced workforce and an environment ripe for costly errors.
Second, high rates of retirement create a double whammy. In the U.S. alone, 10,000 people retire every day, a number that has doubled since 2000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Customers’ experienced workers
–
those who are the “machine whisperers” and inherently know processes after decades in their jobs
–
are leaving, along with their knowledge and best practices.
These workforce changes mean constant training and higher risk. How can customers meet organizational goals and stay in compliance with regulations when their employees don’t know their jobs? How can you, as their trusted partner, help them prevent the same costly mistakes from happening over and over again?
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OPAF
Opportunity for control systems integrators with Open Process Automation
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By Don Bartusiak
Control system integrators (SI) play an essential role and are a key success factor in the business ecosystem that the Open Process Automation initiative is creating. The business opportunity is significant. The scope of work and skill sets required of SIs will be different from what they are today.
At present, the distributed control system industry is a USD 14 to 15 billion per year revenue global business (Forbes and Clayton [2017]). Fifty-two percent of this revenue was for:
- Installing, configuring and commissioning services by DCS suppliers, and
- Post-installation maintenance services provided by DCS suppliers.
Services by third parties
–
that is, CSIA members
–
are
not
included in this revenue tally. Therefore, an estimate of the total addressable market for system integration and post-installation services in the current DCS market is on the order of USD 7 billion per year.
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Best Practices: Sustainability
Do you have an environmental and sustainability plan?
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By Lisa Richter
In many parts of the world, June is designated as Environment Month, which makes now the perfect time to examine and/or resolve any environmental requirements related to your work.
Some questions to ask yourself:
- Do you have a corporate environmental policy in place?
- Do you document the responsibility for safe disposal of replacement equipment, hardware and other items to ensure all environmental considerations have been addressed? Does this include documented recycle process to authorized recycler of hazardous items?
- Do you have a documented policy and practice in place to identify and properly dispose of recyclable or hazardous items and materials?
For information on this topic, see
CSIA Best Practices Manual
(5
th
revision) in the General Management section entitled Environmental Responsibility and Sustainability (1.4).
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ICYMI:
Talking Industrial Automation Podcast
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By Lisa Richter
If you are a podcast fan, you’ll want to check out CSIA’s Talking Industrial Automation, a podcast where you get to know the people who make modern manufacturing and processing possible.
Some of the latest episodes include:
- Episode 24: Rick Kaun, VP of solutions for Verve Industrial Protection, shares his take on the unique role cybersecurity plays in a control system or operational environment. He also breaks down the current guidelines and standards surrounding cybersecurity, including the pros and cons of several of the most popular and how to choose between them. Finally, he reveals real-life examples of what to do, and more importantly, what not to do.
- Episode 25: Joe LaRussa, director of industrial engineering for the North American Seat Business at Brose Group, provides his take on the global war on talent, as well as reveals his successful strategy for priming the talent pipeline. Plus, you'll hear his advice on how system integrators can prepare for the future to meet customer demand.
- Episode 26: Zack Scriven, founder and lead content creator of Zack Scriven Media, shares tips on how to work with millennials, attract and retain talent, the role of marketing in today's marketplace and the secret to getting started on using video to tell your story.
Want to listen? Visit
Industrial Automation Exchange
to
listen
and subscribe. Please review and rate the podcast a 5 on iTunes if you like it!
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LATAM Update / Noticias de LATAM
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By Jose Rivera
CSIA has been recruiting the new CSIA LATAM regional director. I visited Mexico City in late May to interview candidates. We are getting very close to making an offer. Until we have this person on board, I’m writing this section.
The CSIA LATAM had a nice delegation of 14 members at the recent
2019 Executive Conference
. I had the opportunity to have lunch with them during the conference. It is always great to see members who regularly attend CSIA events, some of whom bring other members along. I see this as recognition of the value they receive from attending the conference.
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Por Jose Rivera
CSIA ha estado reclutando a nuestra nueva Directora Regional de la CSIA en LATAM. A finales de mayo visité la Ciudad de México para entrevistar a las candidatas. Estamos muy cercanos de hacer una oferta. Hasta que tengamos a esta persona a bordo, yo estaré escribiendo esta sección.
CSIA LATAM cont
ó
con una buena delegación de 14 miembros en la reciente
Conferencia Ejecutiva de 2019
. Tuve la oportunidad de almorzar con ellos durante la conferencia. Siempre es bueno ver a los miembros que asisten regularmente a nuestros eventos, algunos de los cuales traen a otros miembros. Veo esto como un reconocimiento del valor que reciben de asistir a nuestra conferencia.
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Date: Wednesday, July 31
Time: 10 a.m. - 11 a.m. (CT)
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Date: Tuesday, September 10
Time: 10 a.m. - 11 a.m. (CT)
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Thank you to the 2019 Executive Conference sponsors!
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