NEWS

This is the first in a three part series on Mergers & Acquisitions topics addressing the Control System Integrators Market Whether an owner will eventually sell his or her company, or give it to children or management, it is advantageous for an owner to take steps to improve company value.  The stronger the fundamentals of a company, the more options an owner will have going forward. The following are suggested ways that a system integrator can improve value: Talent – To bolster the services of a firm, owners should focus on hiring and retaining quality engineering and project management talent. The company’s talent bench should be deeper than just the owner. Client markets – The client industries that a system integrator focuses on are a significant driver of an integrator’s success. Even with the best strategic plan and execution, an integrator can face restrictions should it service industries that are stagnant or in decline.  Current examples of attractive, higher-growth ...

El pasado 25 de Julio CSIA llevó a cabo su tercer evento trimestral del 2017 en la Ciudad de México, patrocinado por Rockwell Automation.  El formato del evento fue una mesa de discusión liderada por un panel, teniendo como panelistas a Jorge Mendoza, Gerente General de Automatik Control Industrial y Alexander Kebabaili,  Gerente de Desarrollo de Negocios Nacional de Wood Group. El tópico de discusión fue “ Como Prosperar en un Entorno de Incertidumbre Económica  y en Transformación” y moderado por el CEO de CSIA, José M. Rivera. El evento tuvo muy buena convocatoria y la discusión generó una participación muy activa por parte de los asistentes. CSIA estará presente en el evento de Rockwell Automation Fair a ser realizado este año del 15 al16 de Noviembre en Houston, Texas. Estamos conscientes del efecto devastador del huracán Harvey sobre Texas y el Sudeste del estado. Esperamos que el evento tenga lugar como está previsto, pero por favor estén atentos. Estamos planeando tener un encuentro ...

We are coming up on the 16th anniversary of our insurance program. Over the years, many things have changed, but the core principles that led to the creation of the CSIA insurance program remain the same today. I was originally approached by the late, great Norm O’Leary and Bob Zeigenfuse, saying that CSIA members had expressed the need for an insurance program. They believed that the insurance industry did not understand control system integration, and as a result, integrators were incorrectly classified and over-charged. On the first two points they were, and still are, correct. On the third, only partially. One member was classified as Janitorial Consultants , and their coverage matched their premium - very low. One fundamental of our program continues to be that it is specifically designed for control system integrators. That is what our insureds sign up for and that is what they get. It is also what the insurance carriers desire. On the subject of carriers, many have expressed ...

I would like to share our experience working with CSIA and Exotek to improve RAFA Solutions as an organization and take it to another level. It has been only four months since we have received our CSIA Certification, but we can already feel the changes and measure the impact. Let me start from the beginning. It took us more than a year to prepare, basically to understand and to apply the best practices presented by CSIA. The journey we took toward getting Certified is one of the most important ones we’ve undertaken, because that is when we learned about the major processes to use in running an organization, some of which we didn’t initially have at RAFA Solutions. Over the past year and a half, my personal attitude and opinion about working to becoming Certified was very conflicted. When we first decided to start, we did so because we generally understood that we cannot have a sustainable and growing system integration business without a strong foundation. This opinion changed while ...

It has been hard to watch the news of hurricane Harvey pounding Houston, Southeast Texas and parts of Louisiana. We have reached out to CSIA members and friends in the region. Fortunately, the direct impact of the storm was minimal for those we reached. Many of us have colleagues, relatives and friends who were not so fortunate. Our heart goes out to those hit the hardest. The CSIA Partner Committee’s in-person meeting had been scheduled to take place September 6-7 in Houston. We held a virtual meeting instead. While Houston has not fully recovered from Harvey yet, another set of storms, including Irma, have developed. Irma has wrought devastation across the Caribbean and parts of the Gulf and Atlantic coasts along its path. We wish the best for those now impacted by this destruction, as well.   CSIA plans to participate in the 2017 Rockwell Automation Fair, taking place in Houston, November 15-16. We will have our usual booth on the expo floor, and will leverage our time in Houston with ...

Here are the links referenced in the video: Google Analytics shows most referrers as "Direct" Experiment Shows Up To 60% Of “Direct” Traffic Is Actually Organic Search --------------------------------- Did you know that as much as 60% of your referral or organic traffic is incorrectly recorded as direct traffic by Google Analytics? This video will instruct you how to use UTM Parameter Code to accurate track referral traffic in Google Analytics

Affinity Energy Do you need an electrical power management system? Automation World Bachelor Controls, Inc. Not all control integration is created equal Automation World Huffman Engineering We’ve been hit and are down! Automation World SAGE Automation Airport integration shows IT-OT convergence InTech Thermo Systems Reducing risks with automation and information systems Food Quality & Safe

Tony Veroeven and Jose Rivera are in Chicago this week attending the Automation Conference. Rivera is also speaking as part of the Conference program.  If you're in the area, stop by the CSIA booth and say hi

The CSIA Board and staff have been working with a non-profit trade association attorney in Pennsylvania to clean up the CSIA Bylaws, since CSIA is incorporated in the State of PA. These changes will be presented to the membership for a vote at the annual business meeting on Tuesday, May 4 from 11: 00am 12: 00pm . To keep things simple, two sets of changes will be presented: Vote 1: Housekeeping Changes and Organizational Change o The majority of these changes were made back in 2015 with the hiring of a CEO and approved by the membership at the 2015 Executive Conference in Washington D.C. However, since there was not a 30-day notice given for the changes, these changes need to be formally approved. These changes are summarized and redlined here and will also be available in the conference mobile app. Vote 2: Partner Vote and Voting Procedures o This version assumes housekeeping changes from Vote 1 pass ...

First there were two, then there was one better, faster, stronger, more nimble! Okay, that may be a little exaggerated, but you get the idea. In the past, we have had two CSIA marketing committees. The Integrator Marketing Committee supported the CSIA staff to execute marketing initiatives to reach out to integrators and achieve brand recognition and growth in the CSI industry. The Client Marketing Committee was focused externally to market CSIA membership and Certification to our partners and to the clients of our CSI members - the end users. These two committees have merged, bringing together our initiatives for a more cohesive and dynamic Marketing Committee. Co-chaired by Jessica Mlinaric of DMC, Inc. and Georgia Whalen of Rivergate Marketing, our new Marketing Committee is devoted to supporting the CSIA staff in connecting with CSIA's two key audiences: integrators and clients. We are welcoming new members to join our new team; please let us know if you are interested! ...

As a reminder, we need the primary contact from your company to respond to this electronic survey to affirm two new director candidates for the CSIA Board (you will also have the opportunity to write in candidates if desired). Responses should be received no later than Wednesday, April 5, 2017 . The two new candidates, who have been nominated by the Leadership Development Committee and approved by the Board, have each described their qualifications and shared their ideas for the future of CSIA. The compiled responses are here . The full Board is listed below. If you have any questions, please contact CSIA staff at 608-310-7851. CHAIR Jeff Miller, Interstates Controls 2017-2019 elected by the Board of Directors TREASURER TBD 2017-2019 To be appointed by the Board of Directors PAST CHAIR Mike Miller, ESCO Automation 2017-2018 DIRECTORS Luigi De Bernardini, Autoware nominated for a term of 2017-2021 by the Leadership Development Committee Stephen Malyszko, Malisko ...