Mission and History

Control System Integrators Association, since its founding in 1994, has maintained a laser-like focus on its primary mission – to improve the business skills of its member-companies and their executive management – in support of a belief that being a good system integrator goes hand in hand with operating a good business.

Mission

From the outset, the common thread throughout CSIA's activities has been to "raise the bar"–

To improve the business skills of our members.
To help integration firms of all sizes, engineering specialties, product experience, and industry knowledge share their collective business wisdom to help control their individual destinies.
To provide a forum for members to discuss common business issues.
To enhance the professionalism of independent control and information system integrators, and
To communicate the resultant benefits to the broad business community.

It is a mission that is continually being strengthened. It was reinforced in 1997 with the introduction of the Best Practices and Benchmarks process, and further extended in 2001 with the establishment of the heralded Certified Member program.

History

In 1989 Technical Marketing (Charlie Bergman), Wilmington, NC, began publishing a monthly newsletter for control system integrators.

In 1993 Technical Marketing held the first Control System Integrators Executive Conference, now an annual event. While Technical Marketing has remained independent of CSIA, that gathering of industry executives served as the catalyst in the formation of our association.

A small group of dedicated control system integrators established a set of objectives, identified requirements for membership, and drafted a set of by-laws. This group affiliated with NEMA, the National Electrical Manufacturers Association. Upon completion of this preliminary work, the organizational and recruitment efforts were initiated.

CSIA's first annual meeting was held at Wrightsville Beach, NC, in April 1994.

An Executive Council, chaired by Pat Miller, President of Engineered Energy Systems, was formed to set policy and oversee the Executive Director, who manages the day-to-day work of the Association.

Now in its second decade, CSIA is today the largest organization in North America for independent control system integrators.