Key highlights
- The CSIA Industrial Automation Exchange offers a direct platform for controls engineers to connect with system integrators, industry suppliers and manufacturers, facilitating potential partnerships and business opportunities.
- The CSIA Learning Hub provides resources for controls engineers to continuously develop their skills and the skills of their employees and adapt to the evolving demands of the system integration business.
- The expanding scope of automation, driven by challenges like an aging workforce and cost pressures, signifies a growing demand for the expertise of controls engineers in transforming products into comprehensive solutions.
The Control System Integrators Association (CSIA) held its annual conference in San Diego 11 years ago. That same year, 2014, CSIA launched the Industrial Automation Exchange, a digital marketplace where system integrators (SIs), industry suppliers and manufacturers connect and do business.
“There’s a lot of sharing between partners,” explained Jose Rivera, CSIA CEO. “This is what CSIA is all about.” At the CSIA 2025 Conference, which also took place in San Diego, the association launched the CSIA Learning Hub, an initiative to help system integrators to develop their teams and empower them to take more responsibilities.
“It’s a great time to be a system integrator,” confirmed Rivera, who has led the organization for 10 years and will hand over the reins to newly hired CEO Adrienne Meyer this summer (Figure 1). “Automation is a solution to many challenges, such as an aging workforce, increasing cost pressures, safety and environmental concerns. System integrators turn products into solutions. There is an expanding scope of supply.”
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The system-integration business is changing, explained Rivera. “It demands changes to sales approaches, business models and areas of expertise, which means a need for continuous professional development,” he said. “This is why we have the Learning Hub. We’re not claiming that we have all the answers. We’re providing the place for all of us to figure it out together. CSIA supports our system-integrator community on this journey.”
About the Author
Mike Bacidore
Editor in Chief
Mike Bacidore is chief editor of Control Design and has been an integral part of the Endeavor Business Media editorial team since 2007. Previously, he was editorial director at Hughes Communications and a portfolio manager of the human resources and labor law areas at Wolters Kluwer. Bacidore holds a BA from the University of Illinois and an MBA from Lake Forest Graduate School of Management. He is an award-winning columnist, earning multiple regional and national awards from the American Society of Business Publication Editors. He may be reached at [email protected]
