ISA, an automation professional association and developer of industry standards, is forming an umbrella automation organization that will initially include the World Batch Forum (WBF) and the Open Modular Architecture Controls User Group.
The purpose of the new organization, called the Automation Alliance, is to help promote the image and value of the automation profession as well as provide shared services such as seminars and web conferences to member groups, ISA said.
"The membership of the alliance will be open to all organizations interested in promoting the development, implementation, and commercialization of automation technologies," said Ken Baker, president of ISA, in a statement.
Both WBF, which focuses particularly on promoting standards in the process industry such as ISA 88 and ISA 95, and OMAC, an affiliate of ISA which focuses on modular control architectures, said that they intended to be charter members of the Automation Alliance. It is expected that the alliance will be operational by the end of June, following finalization of formal approvals, including legal issues, and the hiring of a full-time executive director. WBF also said that it would become part of ISA's affiliate program.
Founded in 1945, ISA has 30,000 members worldwide. The World Batch Forum, formed in 1994, has about 500 members. OMAC also has about 500 members.
In detailing its objectives for the alliance, ISA said that it will focus on three areas:
- Promoting the value and image of the automation profession in contributing to manufacturing effectiveness and efficiency
- Facilitating the development and dissemination of educational and information resources that will help develop new generations of automation professionals, enhance the effectiveness of existing professionals, and advance the automation profession generally
- Helping to promulgate industry standards that enhance the efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and safety of automation technology and applications
The announcement of the alliance was made at WBF's 2006
North American Conference in Atlanta this week. In an interview there, WBF officials said that joining the alliance is a way for WBF to grow while remaining a separate organization.
"We have long considered the need for an umbrella organization," said Lynn Craig, WBF treasurer. "We didn't have the resources to grow along with the growth of standards. Our intent is to stay a separate, non-profit organization, but we will have a contractual relationship with ISA for support services."
Craig and WBF Chairman Maurice Wilkins discounted the idea that formation of the alliance is designed, in part, to deal with the perception that there are too many manufacturing associations involved in the development and promulgation of technical standards. That proliferation of bodies has led to overlap and confusion in the industry.
Their position was supported by John Blanchard, an analyst with ARC Advisory Group (Dedham, MA), which has been working with many of the standards bodies to gain acceptance of such standards as ISA 95. "The convergence of standards will happen regardless of the formation of the alliance," Blanchard said in an interview at the WBF meeting. "But it does show that standards are converging and that their rate of acceptance is increasing."
Blanchard said he supported the formation of the alliance because it will help promote the value of the automation profession. "The alliance will more effectively deliver a coordinated message about the value automation professionals provide," he said. "This is not a first step in merging the groups. That would be disruptive."