ISA positioned for a changing world

In the changing world of automation and control engineering, professionals look to ISA to keep them abreast of what's new and how they can manage through complex problems

In the changing world of automation and control engineering, professionals look to ISA to keep them abreast of what's new and how they can manage through complex problems.

Born out of the need to help its Members, ISA has continued to build its product and service offerings.

As the demand for global standards has grown, so has the ISA international membership on Standards Committees.

Over 95% of these committees have members from outside the US.

With 31% of ISA Members residing and working outside the US, the organization's future plans call for even greater geographical diversity in committee composition.

Down-sizing and right-sizing of engineering departments has had a profound impact on both the affected companies and their engineers.

In fact, many of the Fortune 1000 have reported a significant reduction in engineering staff.

ISA is at the forefront of certification, education, and training to close knowledge gaps created by secular dislocation.

In fact, the ISA Certified Automation Professional (CAP) program is becoming so well recognised that companies are specifying CAP engineers in the bid process.

ISA also offers nearly 400 other education and training programmes annually.

In addition to having huge value to companies, these leading-edge services are critical to the career development of technicians and engineers.

Change is not just happening in the workplace.

Universities are graduating engineers with extraordinary knowledge and skills, but often times a more narrow academic perspective than days past.

ISA research clearly demonstrated that these recent graduates look to ISA standards and publications to fill their knowledge gap as their employers demand that they approach complex problems on an overall project basis.

One young engineer clearly summed up their challenge.

"Within 3 months of taking my new job out of school, I was put in the position of leading a project in which I had limited experience in several key areas.

I was advised by my boss to research ISA to gain the knowledge I needed".

Whether an evolving company, evolving country, or an evolving discipline, ISA sets the standard for automation by helping professionals navigate through change.

The ISA-SP99 Manufacturing and Control Systems Security Standard Committee is a classic example.

Security has risen to the top of everyone's list in every industry.

The ISA initiative to develop the processes and protocols to guide security initiatives across industries and around the world will be a driving force in today's uncertain environment.

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