CSIA From the Start
In 1989, Charlie Bergman of Technical Marketing, Wilmington, NC, realized the need for increased communication among control system integrators throughout the United States. He decided to begin publishing a monthly newsletter dedicated to the CSI industry to try and keep those involved better informed.
Several years later, Technical Marketing held the first Control System Integrators Executive Conference (now an annual event) to bring these industry executives together. While Technical Marketing has remained independent of CSIA, that initial 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, drafted a set of by-laws and affiliated with NEMA, the National Electrical Manufacturers Association. Upon completion of their preliminary work, the group’s members began their organizational and recruitment efforts. They held CSIA's first annual meeting at Wrightsville Beach, NC, in April 1994.
From the outset, the common thread throughout CSIA's activities has been to "raise the bar":
- Improve the business skills of our members
- Help integration firms of all sizes, engineering specialties, product experience, and industry knowledge share their collective business wisdom to help control their individual destinies
- Provide a forum for members to discuss common business issues
- Enhance the professionalism of independent control and information system integrators
- Communicate the resultant benefits to the broad business community
CSIA’s mission 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.
Today, CSIA is the largest organization in North America for independent control system integrators. It continues to grow, serve and challenge its members from around the world to be the very best.
© 2010 Control System Integrators Association
22 N. Carroll St., Ste 300, Madison, WI 53703, USA, Phone: 800.661.4914, Fax: 888.581.3666,
Email: bmarsala@controlsys.org
