Business Notes
(Issue 1, 2004)

From Conference Board.org

The Institute for Supply Management publishes a monthly survey of purchasing and supply managers regarding the activity in the manufacturing sector. According to their index, the manufacturing sector was recovering through March and this survey is likely to show more of the same results for April and May. "With both investment growth and inventory rebuilding, a drop off in ordering is unlikely."

Automation Systems Integrators
strive to thrive

With many manufacturing and process facilities reducing their in-house engineering staff, outsourcing automation project design and implementation is more necessary, and there is more competition for those service dollars. One trend has been for large controls suppliers to expand their integration services to bid on projects they might not otherwise have considered in the past. This move has put those suppliers in direct competition with systems integrators that may have been their loyal hardware and software customers for years. (See March 2003 Control magazine, "SIs in the Crosshairs" by Dan Hebert.) Alliances of independent integrators have formed to assist their members in remaining competitive against a growing number of participants in the integration business.

The Control and Information System Integrators Association (CSIA) is the largest organization in North America for independent control system integrators (See www.controlsys.org). Similar to a professional society, CSIA has sought to help improve integrators' performance in all aspects of business and project management. The CSIA's Best Practices and Benchmarks Program developed performance standards and industry benchmarks, set measurement criteria and established procedures for self-evaluation. A CSIA certification assures customers of a high level of service from any member company.

Another approach has been to connect formerly unrelated integrators to create a quasi-national service group. Automation Alliance Group is a group of ten CSIA members located throughout the nation that offer a wide range of competencies in various industries (www.automationalliance.net). By combining their knowledge and purchasing power, they can offer customers a well-engineered, cost-effective solution while providing local service. (See April 2004 Control Engineering magazine, "Why System Integrators Consolidate" by Vance VanDoren.)

While there are trends toward mergers and alliances, there are still hundreds of local and regional integrators whose success may increasingly depend on maintaining strong ties with their best customers, expanding the range of services they can offer to keep their business captive. If a customer knows their integrator is truly acting as a business partner with the user's best interests in mind, the relationship is much more likely to remain impervious to competing service providers.

Control Engineering magazine launches
new online Resource Center

Oakbrook, IL - To help engineering professionals improve productivity and reduce costs, Control Engineering magazine has launched its new online Resource Center.

The Web-based center allows subscribers to customize data for their specific control, automation and instrumentation needs. The Resource Center's main components include searchable databases such as customer service from which users can gauge readers' satisfaction with specific vendors and products, product and industry research studies, how-to articles about specific applications, tutorials, and white papers, training references and eBooks. Visit the site at http://resource.controleng.com.

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