Proposed ISA Name Change
Silence can be deafening.
To put it in automation “techy” terms: If you provide an input signal and get no output, something is wrong. This was brought to mind this week when I observed (thanks to many friends) an electronic dialogue regarding the proposed name change for ISA that is going to be brought before the Council of Society Delegates this October, as well as a few other key agenda items.
What really distressed me was the number of people who indicated that they have seen no effort by the Society leadership to promote the name change or any of the other agenda items. Huh?
I know that I and many of my Executive Board colleagues have been out promoting, informing, discussing, and dialoguing all year…How do we miss so many of our Members?
Well…I’ll take one more stab at it here and hope that the word gets out.
First: The name change.
I realize that changing the name of our organization is highly emotional for Members, especially those who have been around for a lot of years. The name and their membership is part of their identity; however, we need to recognize the massive changes that have taken place and reshaped our Society since its inception. We are no longer just instruments. Yes, instruments are an important part of any automation scheme or operation of plants, but we are more. Aren’t we?
We are no longer just Instruments and Systems. These are also part of a grand scheme to automate a process…right? The current name is all inclusive and specific, but what happens when technology changes? What happens when science and technology advances beyond our wildest imagination? When “instruments and systems” no longer describes what we are doing? We need a name that is timeless and not tied to any specific technology or job function. Although many do not feel that automation describes what they do, does any other single term do a better job of embracing all of the members that make up our Society?
These questions are the real motivation behind changing the name. As an added bonus, the name becomes easier to explain to people “outside the inner circle” and we match up with our positioning as the voice of the automation profession and setting the standard in automation.
It is my fervent hope that when this name change is passed, ISA will not need to modify the name again until we colonize the galaxy and have to change it to the Inter-galactic Society of Automation.
Below is a FAQ sheet regarding the name change that offers even more information. I hope that everyone will take the time to read the information and make an informed decision about the future direction of the Society and its name.
PROPOSED BYLAWS CHANGE
RESOLVED: that Article I, Section 1, be amended to strikeout the words “ISA – The Instrumentation, Systems, and Automation Society” and insert the words “International Society of Automation” and that the officers of the Society be authorized and directed to execute any and all necessary documents to affect the change of the Society name legally.
The amended bylaws would read (eliminations; new wording):
ARTICLE I - Name
1. The name of this organization is ISA – The Instrumentation, Systems, and Automation Society International Society of Automation. The organization is a North Carolina nonprofit corporation and is hereafter referred to as the “SOCIETY” or “ISA.”
ISA PROPOSED NAME CHANGE FAQs
Q. Why is this Society name change being recommended?
This name change is being recommended to more accurately position the Society as the “Voice of the Automation Profession” worldwide. The definition of automation, as developed by the Society Leadership (see FAQ 3#), is much broader than just instrumentation and control systems.
Q. Why is the Society recommending this change after it was rejected in 2007?
The name change resolution was narrowly rejected at the 2007 Council of Society Delegates meeting. This was primarily due to an inadequate definition of the term automation and a lack of communication about the desire and need to make this name change. Since then, a major effort has been placed on creating an all-encompassing, mutually-agreed-to definition for the term automation (see FAQ #3). In addition, a further effort by the Society Executive Committee has endeavored to reach out to the Membership. Discussions on this topic were held during all District Leadership Conferences, Kim Miller Dunn has covered the name change in her BLOG, and references to the name change have been included in the summer issue of the Section Leaders Brief that is mailed to all identified Section leaders.
Q. What does the term automation mean in this context?
The Society Leadership has been focusing on defining this term since the 2007 CSD meeting. Their goal was to craft a definition that would be all-encompassing and would serve to expand the horizons of the Society. The following definition for automation is the final result that was vetted through multiple Member peer-review groups:
“Automation is the creation and application of technology to monitor and control the production of goods and services.”
Q. What does this name change mean to me as a Member of ISA?
All of the activities, services, and product offerings of the Society will continue to serve ISA Members as before, but in an expanded capacity. In addition to providing Member value, the Society will be advancing the profession of automation and providing recognition for all who serve in this field. By representing the profession to the world at large, ISA will play a critical role in leading the profession into the future, and ISA Members will be at the forefront of this effort.
Q. Will this name change have any impact on Sections?
Possibly. As separate legal corporations, a Section determines its own legal name. An ISA Section is not required to change its legal name; however, the Society recommends Sections change their legal name to “International Society of Automation – xxxx Section.”
Q. Will the Society provide funds to help with Section expenses incurred with the name change?
Yes. Society funds of $250 will be made available, upon request, to Sections to help pay for any legal name change fees. All requests should be submitted to headquarters within six months following the announcement of a formal decision by the Council of Society Delegates.
Q. How will this name change be implemented?
The Society currently uses only the logo, letters “ISA,” and tagline, “Setting the Standard for Automation,” in published material; consequently, no major changes will be made as a result of this name change. Future campaigns will establish the Society as the voice of the automation profession on a worldwide basis.
Watch my blog for further information on other important agenda items coming before the Council of Society Delegates in October.
posted by ISA at
2:33 PM
6 Comments:
The 'Instrumentation' and 'Automation' factions within ISA are two distinct groups.
As an Instrumentation and Electrical Tech. , I can tell you that the local Emerson representative,
or a PLC distribrutor would promplty throw my resume of 20+ years experience in the garbage. I have personally sat in an interview with the local Rockwell Automation distributor while the two interviewing managers sat there with blank looks on their faces wondering what
they could do with my services (even after my helpful suggestions!)
When you are looking at more long term ISA members than I , they also face the same
employment/hiring biases! Those trained in automation will obviously look for those
to hire with an established client base in automation. To suggest to an instrumentation
trained professional that an ISA 'Automation' branding will change that bias is hardly factual.
If an Instrumentation professional is relegated to a second class tier because they do not have
an additional degree in automation, you can hardly expect them to beleive they will be
well served by a professional assocation that believes 'Automation' serves as the title for all.
Instrumentation may fall under the Automation umbrella some of the time, but not all the time. The "totalness" of lumping all people involved in instrumentation and controls into "Automation" is akin to lumping all people with an "English" accent as being from England. People who consider themselves Instrumentation people and not Automation people may feel like the Society that started out as a "Instrumentation" organization, has lost its roots and focus.
How can adding "International" to our name add anything to the global reach of ISA?
Does SPE or ASME need International in the name to become more attractive to the world? The answer is NO. Why do we?
In other parts of my life I am a musician and songwriter. Would you call me a "band"?
We are The ISA, with part of the members being Automation people. Not all of us.
I remember a speaker in our section some twenty years or more ago remarking that in about twenty years from now there would be no instrumentation. He was speaking for effect of course but in a way he wasn't far wrong. A large part of the job that instruments used to do is now subsumed into software under the general heading of automation.
It is interesting, I think, to look back at what two respected comentators stated on the defeat of this motion last year:
Walt Boyes, Editor of Control and a former VP Publications of ISA said at the time of the defeat of this name change last year:
‘Those of us who grew up on the field instrumentation and control systems side of the process industries are still not entirely used to the breadth and depth of the field of automation, combining as it does all the facets of instrumentation, control, test and measurement, analysis, and computer aided manufacturing - as well as manufacturing execution systems and machine-to-machine communications and industrial networking.’
A side effect of this decision he mantained was that the rejection of the word “International” in the proposed name change could be interpreted as, what Boyes calls, “an unfortunate signal to its international members.” The argument was that eliminating “America” from the name was sufficiently international. This according to another US based commentator, “was not a good signal to international members who already consider ISA too USA-centric.”
I think myself as a non-American that we could make too much of this last point even though it has some merit.
Jim Pinto, an ISA Fellow commented:
“In my view, instrumentation, sensors, control valves, control systems, MES, networking and communications on the plant floor, all are part of the discipline of automation.
Other markets such as environmental monitoring & control, automated test & measurement, and other sub- disciplines all fit nicely under the big tent of automation. Indeed, many of these just don't fit in the much smaller domain of "instrumentation"".
So Automation is bigger and more embracing than one might think and the ISA member ought to consider very carefully before they consider rejecting this name change again.
We can do nothing but support ISA's efforts to become an actual international organization. We just hope the facts will follow the intentions.
As regards the "automation" word, it sounded in the former decades rather British as the correct French word was "automatisation". But "automatisation" refers to a more narrow scope than "automation". At present "automation" is commonly used for designating the busines area covered by ISA and most people have forgotten the fact that "automation" is an imported word. As a conclusion, we fully support the name change and just wonder why it generates so many discussions. ISA's chairwoman was perfectly understood when she came to Europe last spring for explaining the rationale of the change. We have now better to do than splitting hairs. We do hope the motion will pass.
As a past ISA vice president, in both the District and Department arenas, I am well aware of the concern within the ISA leadership and staff to promote ISA as a truly global organization. But that effort needs to be one of actions, not words. Changing the name of the Society again will NOT make it an international organization! With all due respect to Ms. Miller-Dunn, neither I nor my Section have seen nor heard ANY dialog about this topic. My Section leadership has resoundingly rejected the name change, mostly because no need nor value has been identified. And the cost to the Section to change its legal name is far greater than the $250 US offered by the Society. So, we will ot be supporting this change, nor are we intending to change the name of the Section.
As one of those old fogeys who has been around since the stone age, this comes as nothing new. What was the full name of ISA thirty years ago? "Instrument Society of America"? Something like that. I joined the American Society of Tool Engineers way back in the dim past. Then ASTE became ASTME and finally SME. It was a leading group in the push for automation in the manufacturing world. Then it fell behind as the fields of process control and batch processing expanded the idea of automation the its fullness. I switched over to ISA as it took over the lead and better served my needs.
Change happens. The engineering I do today is different from what I did twenty years ago. Half of my original education is no longer relevant and has been replaced by knowlege obtained from professional societies, suppliers, and other sources.
As for abandoning the term 'instrumentation', instrumentation is a necessaty part of automation. Let us embrace the whole rather than cling to a part. And let is be thankful that we are able to make this change without changing the initials ISA.
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