Dick Morley (seated) receives the first CSIA Lifetime Achievement Award from (left to right) system integrator Rick Pierro, CSIA CEO Jose Rivera, system integrator Rick Caldwell and software engineer Chuck Schelberg.
Members of the Control System Integrators Association (CSIA) recently gave "father of the PLC" Dick Morley the organization's first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award.The award was presented to Morley at his assisted-living residence in March by CSIA CEO Jose Rivera, veteran system integrators Rick Pierro and Rick Caldwell and software engineer Chuck Schelberg. However, it wasn't announced until the April 21 CSIA annual business meeting and awards dinner at the Grand Meliá Golf Resort in Puerto Rico.
"The whole system integration profession started with the PLC, and the first one was Dick's Modicon 084, and that's why he's the first recipient of the CSIA Lifetime Achievement Award," says Caldwell. "He's truly the father of the PLC, but he's often said, 'The PLC was an idea whose time had come. I was just the guy working on it.'"
You can read more about the award from our sister publication, Control.
Dick Morley is considered by many to be the father of the programmable logic controller (PLC). His involvement with the creation of the first Modicon PLC for General Motors in 1968 was a historic step in the development of industrial controls. Mike Bacidore, editor in chief of Control Design, had the chance to sit down with Morley and ask him a variety of questions regarding the birth of the PLC and his specific involvement. You can watch the interview here.
