1. September 15, 2013
Automation:
A Global and
Influential Profession
Dean Ford, CAP

2. 2
Agenda
• What Does it Mean to be a “Profession”?
• Why is Automation an Unknown Profession?
• Defining the Automation Profession
• Why is the Automation Professional
Important?
• Certification of the Automation Professional
• Promoting the Automation Profession
• What it Means to Automation Professionals
• When Will We Know We Have Been
Successful
• Moving Forward

3. 3
Questions For the
Audience
To put things into context, let’s all answer the following:
• How did you get into the Automation
Profession
• What is Automation to you?
• How do you describe your job to others?

4. 4
What Does It Mean to be a
“Profession”?
• an occupation that transforms itself through "the
development of formal qualifications based upon
education, apprenticeship, and
examinations, the emergence of regulatory
bodies with powers to admit and discipline
members, and some degree of monopoly
rights.“
• “a calling requiring specialized knowledge and
often long and intensive academic preparation:
a principal calling, vocation, or employment: the
whole body of persons engaged in a calling”

5. 5
What Does It Mean to be a
“Profession”?
For Automation, it is a complex issue
–Many pathways into the profession
–Covers many subsets of the profession
–Not defined around a single technology
or laws of nature
–Need to know many other professions
–Used in many industries
–Global

6. 6
Why is Automation an
Unknown Profession?
• A look at the Present and to the Future
– Practicing Automation Professionals primarily
reached their positions, training, and
experience by accident
– Many are approaching retirement age and the
workforce cannot replace them
– Other than Technical College programs, there
are few direct paths to this profession

7. 7
Why is Automation an
Unknown Profession?
– ISA, the founding member of AF, discovered
among their members that automation, a very
broad profession, could not be easily defined!
– Market research shows not a bad reputation
but no reputation
– How could AF, the “Voice of
Automation”, advocate for a profession in
which there is no universally accepted
definition?

8. 8
Level 4
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Business Planning
& Logistics
Manufacturing
Operations Management
Batch
Control
Discrete
Control
Continuous
Control
1 - Sensing the production process,
manipulating the production process
2 - Monitoring, supervisory control and
automated control of the production
process
3 - Work flow / recipe control to produce
the desired end products. Maintaining
records and optimizing the production
process.
Time Frame
Days, Shifts, hours, minutes, seconds
4 - Establishing the basic plant schedule -
production, material use, delivery, and
shipping. Determining inventory levels.
Time Frame
Months, weeks, days
Level 0 0 - The actual production process
ISA-95 - BUSINESS AND MANUFACTURING EXECUTION
LEVELS- SHOP FLOOR TO TOP FLOOR INTEGRATION

9. 9
Defining the Automation
Profession
ISA and the Automation Federation define
“automation” as
• “the creation and application of technology to
monitor and control the production and delivery
of products and services.”
• includes “everyone involved in the creation and
application of technology to monitor and control
the production and delivery of products and
services”

10. 10
Defining the Automation
Profession
• The Automation Competency Model

11. 11
Defining the Automation
Profession
• A competency is the capability to apply a set of related
knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform
“critical work functions” in a work setting
– Required for success
– Criteria for metrics
– Basis for skill standards
• Competency Models are collections of competencies
that collectively define successful performance in a
defined work setting

12. 12
Defining the Automation
Profession
General to Highly Focused Tier Structure
– 1- Personal effectiveness
– 2- Academic
– 3- Workplace
– 4- Industry-wide technical
– 5- Industry-sector technical
– 6 through 9 Specialization within specific
occupations

13. 13
Defining the Automation
Profession
• www.automationfederation.org
• www.careeronestop.org
• Automation Competency Model
– Links found on the Career Onestop website Helpline
(lower left corner of page)
– Document describing the ACM
– Spreadsheet listing the competencies contained in
the ACM

14. 14
Why is the Automation
Professional Important?
Look around you
• Electric
• Water
• Sewer
• Transportation
• Food
• Products
IT’s EVERYWHERE!!!!

15. 15
Why is the Automation
Professional Important?
• With increased competitive pressures, companies are
looking to drive productivity and more efficient supply
chains through integration of enterprise and shop floor
systems.
• Automation professionals will need to expanded skill
sets to be successful in an system-integrated world
• The manufacturing industry around the globe is
experiencing a growing shortage of qualified automation
professionals.
• Historically, automation professionals have not had the
benefit of formal training/development programs and
have gained experience almost by accident

16. 16
Certification of the
Automation Professional
• Certified Control Systems Technician® (CCST)
– Levels I through III
– Global Recognition
• Certified Automation Professional® (CAP)
– Global Recognition
• Control System Engineer® License (CSE)
– US based licensing

17. 17
Promoting the
Automation Profession
• The Automation Federation
– Non-Profit formed in 2006
– Organization of Organizations
– Representing over 250,000 individuals
globally
– Common Goals of promoting Workforce
Development
– Science, Technology, Engineering, Math
– Automation
The Voice of Automation

18. 18
What it Means to
Automation Professionals
• Perspectives in which the ACM
Development Team/AF saw it being used
– Automation Profession & Career Definition
– Automation Curriculum Development Tool
– Automation Career Selection Guide
– Automation Competency Assessment
– Automation Career Professional Development Guide

19. 19
What it Means to
Automation Professionals
• Business and Industry
– Clear statement of workforce needs
– Requirements for success at all levels
– Skill gap analysis
– Provides metrics in performance reviews
– Guide professional development efforts
– Reference of standards, certifications, and
practices

20. 20
What it Means to
Automation Professionals
• Educators and Training Providers
– Guide for skill worker curriculum development
– Clearly articulates the competencies required
for a very broad profession
– As an evergreen document, provides
guidance for course adjustments reflecting
emerging and declining skill
requirements, reviewed by professionals
– I.D. competencies in highest demand
– I.D. and develop situational training courses

21. 21
What it Means to
Automation Professionals
• Students and Their Parents
– Clear articulation of employer expectations for
skills, knowledge and character in the chosen
endeavor
– Planning for education, internships, and work
experience to build skills needed
– Explore career options within the profession

22. 22
What it Means to
Automation Professionals
• Professional Societies: ISA, AF & Individual
AF Member Organizations
– Provides a detailed definition for the broad profession
of automation in industrial environments
– Allows development of certificate programs, technical
and professional certifications, P.E.
licensing, publications, and training programs which
complement the programs
– As a valuable tool to work with or partner with
industry, education, government agencies, and
individuals to advance automation as a workforce
development endeavor

23. 23
What it Means to
Automation Professionals
• Governments and Their Agencies
– To provide standardized job descriptions
– To identify the role of automation in
policymaking
– To identify skills needed and the people
trained for industrial cybersecurity, safety
systems, & other specialties relevant to
national security
– To establish, modify, or otherwise improve
workforce development matrices.

24. 24
When Will We Know We
Have Been Successful
• Automation is a respected career choice
around the world
• A destination career
• Peers to other well established
engineering careers

25. 25
Moving Forward
• AutomationVET: AF led automation careers for
veterans
– Transitioning military veterans with appropriate occupational
specialties which may be applied in an automation career
• IET: The Institution of Engineering Technology
– One of our AF members, London-based, 150K global
members, planning ACM implementation programs
• IMS: Intelligent Manufacturing Systems
– An international NIST-funded network offering an MOA to
promote, deploy, and maintain the ACM globally
• AACC automation workforce consortium
– Promoting ACM-based curriculum in high-industry concentrated
regions

26. 26
Moving Forward
ACM now exists to provide more
opportunities to be a catalyst for
program development to help
educators, industry, technical
societies, workforce investment
boards, governments and their
agencies, veterans, and guidance
counselors lead students toward
lucrative and relevant automation
careers!

27. 27
Moving Forward
Get INVOLVED in YOUR profession
• ISA
–Sections (www.isaperu.org)
–Standards
–Divisions
• Automation Federation
• Mentors

28. 28
Moving Forward
Thank you! For further information
or requests for assistance, contact:
• communications@automationfederation.org
• Michael Marlowe, Automation Federation,
+1 (919) 314-3937
mmarlowe@automationfederation.org