
Patti Engineering Featured in the December 2024 Global System Integrator Report
Patti Engineering’s CEO Sam Hoff was recently featured in the 2024 Global System Integrator Report. He authored an article titled, “How Manufacturers Benefit by Choosing a Certified Control System Integrator.” The article discusses how the decision to select a certified integrator is ultimately the best means of ensuring a project’s wide-ranging and long-term success.
In the 2024 Global System Integrator Report digital edition, Patti Engineering’s Founder and CEO Sam Hoff contributed a featured article entitled “How Manufacturers benefit by choosing a certified control system integrator.”
Having recently successfully passed the triennial CSIA audit for the eighth consecutive time, Sam Hoff is uniquely qualified to discuss the tremendous value it brings to both the system integrator (SI), as well as their clients.
“Integrating automation technology in today’s Industry 4.0 environment can be a high-risk and complex undertaking,” reports Sam Hoff. “When the need arises, choosing a CSIA (Control System Integrator Association) certified system integrator ensures the project is completed by a business with proven dedication to the industry’s best practices. Choosing a CSIA-certified system integrator results in consistent, high-caliber work that not only meets but often exceeds all critical criteria for project success.”
Sam Hoff’s article explains that selecting a CSIA-certified control system integrator helps manufacturers reduce the high risks involved in modern automation projects. This leading industry standard certification requires integrators to pass a rigorous third-party audit spanning multiple business areas, some of which include project management, quality management, human resources, and financial management. By maintaining established best practices, certified integrators offer their clients consistent, high-caliber work that meets or exceeds the critical markers of a project’s success.
The article includes information from CSIA third-party auditor Don Roberts of Exotek, who weighs in on a variety of discussion points about the certification process. “Every customer seeks assurance that the system integrator they hire possesses a well-defined process for delivering projects efficiently and effectively. One of the best ways an SI can do so is to invest their time upfront developing the project’s workflow. From there, they deploy their previously developed systems, templates and processes to make that work efficient. We review those systems during the audit.”
Dave Foster, Vice President of Patti Engineering, weighed in on the importance of spending time developing robust functional specifications. “For the majority of projects, the first 10% should be spent designing and developing the functional specification in conjunction with the client,” said Dave Foster. “There have been many times where Patti Engineering has been called in to save a project gone sideways due to the lack of an initial fully-defined functional specification. The integrator may have designed a beautiful system, but if it doesn’t meet the project’s requirements, all too often the result is additional project expense and delay.”
Also discussed in the article is the requirement of CSIA-certified system integrators to maintain permanent copies of every project’s configuration management data within their own records. This practice proved invaluable to one of Patti Engineering’s clients whose system failed due to a battery issue after 20 years of service. Patti Engineering was able to supply this client with the decades-old PLC program backups to quickly restore their system to operation. The article also discusses other important aspects of the certification process, including auditors’ review of an SI’s financial and human resources management practices.
CSIA’s standards are continuously updated to reflect emerging industry advancements and challenges. The auditors are committed to helping system integrators tailor their own continuous improvement. “We ask our SIs to select and commit to improving three specific areas of their business, and then we follow up with them in six months’ time to review their progress,” stated Don Roberts.
The article closes by summarizing that the “certified member” distinction serves as a mark of completion of a rigorous evaluation process, demonstrating an integrator’s exceptional holistic business qualifications. Choosing a certified integrator ensures a project is managed with proven best practices and a commitment to quality. For the end user, this selection is the best means of ensuring a project’s wide-ranging and long-term success.
Read the article in its entirety here. For more information on how Patti Engineering can help your company achieve its objectives, contact info@pattieng.com.
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