I hope that most of you were able to get a little break this summer. Meanwhile, my experience tells me that we are heading into a very busy Q4! I’m sure that I’m not the only one experiencing a very heavy schedule, including the customary industry and trade shows, strategic review and financial planning.
I attended the recent International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) in Chicago. We had at least two CSIA SI members, Concept Systems and SCADAware, exhibiting there. Of course many other members were in attendance, as well, walking the immense trade show floors and conducting meetings. I got to share the stage with Michael Lindley from Concept Systems as part of a very well-attended panel discussion on robotics at the Global Automation & Manufacturing Summit which was moderated by Bob Vavra, Content Manager/Editor of Plant Engineering and Oil & Gas Engineering at CFE Media.
The CSIA Partner Committee met in person on September 7 at the North American headquarters of Mitsubishi Electric. I would like to highlight an idea generated at this event. CSIA's LATAM group has been organizing quarterly, half-day events in Mexico City, with strong support from our Partners. The idea would be to replicate this model in the U.S., organizing a few regional, half-day events in selected cities and with the strong support of CSIA Partners. On this very same topic, CSIA and the alliantgroup, a CSIA partner member that helps SIs claim R&D tax credits, will host our first CSIA CEO Roundtable for automation and system integration leaders. This event will take place on Thursday, October 13 at the alliantgroup offices in Houston, Texas. This will be a half-day event and we plan to discuss topics that are highly relevant to the SI and automation community. All SI members are invited to attend. Please follow the registration on our csia.connectedcommunity.org site if you are interested in attending.
We also welcome Adrian Fahey to the CSIA board of directors. Fahey is CEO of SAGE Automation, a CSIA-Certified control system integrator in Melrose Park, Australia.
Last, but not least, with the help of our 2017 Executive Conference committee we have been able to make significant progress with the planning of our main event. We are scheduled to have our registration site up and running later this Fall, to enable and encourage early registration.