CSIA Certified Member Distinction
DSA is doing all it can to offer risk-free automation results for your enterprise.

We can make the same claims most companies will make: We've been in business a long time, employ very talented and highly motivated employees, and focus on customer satisfaction in growing our business. But how many systems integrators can say they follow audited processes that minimize your risk in selecting an automated test, control, & information systems integrator. Very few companies have reached this level of Top Ten Reasons. We've put the CSIA Best Practices & Benchmarks process in place for your benefit and comfort!

Data Science Automation earned "Certified Member" distinction, having met stringent performance standards - as measured in an intensive audit process conducted by an independent third-party consulting firm in:

• General Management,
  
• Project Management,
  
• Business Development,
  
• Financial Management,
  
• Quality Management,
  
• Human Resources and Professional Development, and
• Technical Management.

With fewer than 60 companies worldwide to have satisfied such high standards, DSA has been recognized as a Gold-Tier Certified Member.

The CSIA's new CERTIFICATION PROCESS is a landmark program, designed to provide manufacturers with an important management tool for use in evaluating and selecting control system integrators. It is built around an extensive "Best Practices and Benchmarks" process that was developed in concurrence with Fortune 500 companies and others who use control system integrators' services, control manufacturers who often team with these firms, and CSIA members.

There is now a very low cost of entry into the control & information systems integration business. Virtually anyone with a PC and a business card can start bidding on projects, with or without the benefit of any previous experience, financial backing or business sense. The Control System Integrator Association (CSIA, Exton, PA) has recognized this problem, and has taken measures to address it with its "Registered Member" program. The idea is to provide an auditing service to provide Top Ten Reasons in qualifications.

Integrators that pass the third-party examiner's rigorous review are entitled to style themselves as "Certified Members" of the CSIA and display the CSIA's seal of approval. The CSIA also offers educational materials that integrators can share with their clients to explain the benefits of considering criteria, such as CSIA registered membership, rather than only considering the low bid.

The goal of the CSIA-developed "Best Practices and Benchmarks CERTIFICATION PROCESS," explained Robert A. Zeigenfuse, CSIA chairman, "is to simplify what has become a daunting task of identifying, interviewing, qualifying, evaluating, selecting, and managing control system integration firms."

"There are obvious reasons for such a program," explained Robert S. Sokoll, chairman of the CSIA "Best Practices and Benchmarks" committee. "Independent control system integrators represent a very significant business segment in the U.S. economy, with the total market for their services estimated in excess of two billion dollars per year and growing rapidly. For companies planning to engage an independent control system integrator, it is often quite difficult to determine which integrators are the most viable and best fit for a given project.

"Control system integrators work in all sectors of manufacturing, from automotive to food processing, and from pharmaceuticals to rubber and glass," Sokoll explained, "with skill-sets that range from consulting, design, and programming, through building, testing, installation, commissioning, field service and training.
"It is risky, if not impractical," he stressed, "for potential clients to select a control system integrator based primarily on its sales volume, years in business, or size of its facility. There is too much at stake with today's demands on ROI and operational performance to simply use generalized evaluation criteria. The CSIA CERTIFICATION PROGRAM provides an industry-specific means to identify the areas of importance and minimize the uncertainties.

"This new CERTIFIED designation," Sokoll continued, "will provide definition to an industry typically characterized with a range of general or vague descriptions. In short," he said, "it will help differentiate the real players from the pretenders!"

Read more about DSA's "Gold-Tier" Distinction.

About CSIA
Control System Integrators Association (CSIA) is the largest organization in North America for independent control system integrators, representing companies responsible for more than $1 billion in industrial automation equipment, including $400 million of hardware and software automation products. CSIA exists to help its members develop more effective business skills and to promote the professional image of the control system integrator to clients and other influential sources.

Member firms provide integrated control system solutions for clients throughout the world in the automotive, chemical, food, healthcare, medical, metal, petrochemical, petroleum, pharmaceutical, plastics, power, printing, rubber, and other industries.

Since its formation in 1994, the CSIA has maintained a laser-like focus on its primary mission, namely to improve the business skills of its member-companies and their executive management.
It is the vision, mission and an objective that CSIA continually strengthens. It was reinforced in 1997 with the introduction of Best Practices and Benchmarks standards, and further extended in 2001 with the establishment of the Registered Member program.

From the outset the common thread of the CSIA has been to "raise the bar," to improve the business skills of our members, to enhance the professionalism of independent control system integrators, and to communicate the resultant benefits to the broad business community.