CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA, NOVEMBER 6, 2007 Charlie Gifford, GE Fanuc’s Director of Lean Production Management, was presented with the MESA Outstanding Contribution Award – Technical Content 2007 at the organization’s annual conference in Orlando, Florida.
MESA International is an association of manufacturers/producers, solution providers and industry professionals, promoting innovation and best practices sharing, with a goal of delivering valuable knowledge around operations-centric enterprise solutions. The award is presented by the MESA Board of Directors and committee chairs representing industry and thought leaders from across the manufacturing enterprise solutions arena.
“It is a great honor to present this award to Charlie Gifford,” said Matt Bauer, Chairman of the MESA International Board of Directors. “The association’s efforts are focused on information technology use to support the real-time events occurring during the production process. Charlie’s work serves to further these efforts and benefits all of our members.”
“Charlie is one of the foremost experts in integration standards in the industrial marketplace and is well known throughout the industry for his work with MESA, ISA and other industry associations and standards,” said Sheila Kester, Director of Production Management Solutions for GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms. “He plays a critical role in the industry and within GE Fanuc by translating industry and customer needs into practical standards and Best Practices. His tireless efforts are greatly appreciated within GE Fanuc and by our customer base.”
Gifford has been a representative on MESA’s Technical Committee for many years in addition to his standards work:
Chairman, ISA-95 Best Practices Working Group
Chairman, ISA-95 Part 4 Quality Ops Mgt Working Group
Member B2MML/BatchML Working Group
Alternate Voting Member, ISA-88
Voting Member on ISA-95 and ISA-99 Committees
ISA-95 Representative for ISA-95/SCOR Alignment Working Group
Representative, Mfg Interoperability Guideline Working Group
Representative, NIST Smart Assembly Working Group
In addition, he speaks, teaches classes and authors papers for MESA on the areas of ISA-95 Best Practices, Justifying Plant Systems, Developing a Metrics Framework and more. And, he is the chief editor and contributing author of The Hitchhiker Guide to Operations Management, ISA-95 Best Practices Book 1.0.
“I am very proud to have received this award and to be recognized for promoting technical knowledge in the industry,” said Gifford. “My efforts on behalf of GE Fanuc are designed to maximize the potential of our solutions’ work on behalf of our customers.”
GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms is a Keystone Sponsor of MESA with members on the Board of Directors, Marketing Committee, Technical Committee and Strategic Alliances Committee. GE Fanuc will chair the MESA Annual Conference in 2008.
About MESA
MESA is an association of manufacturers/producers, solution providers and industry professionals, promoting innovation and best practices sharing, with a goal of delivering valuable knowledge around operations-centric enterprise solutions. MESA defines industry standard methodologies and approaches that allow manufacturers/producers to bridge execution excellence with enterprise level requirements. MESA's industry events, symposiums and publications help cultivate understanding, analysis and the exchange of strategies and innovation to achieve manufacturing leadership.
About GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms
GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms, a joint venture between General Electric (NYSE: GE) and FANUC LTD of Japan, is a high-performance technology company and a global provider of hardware, software, services, expertise and experience in automation and embedded computing, with products employed in virtually every industry, including manufacturing automation, defense, automotive, telecommunications, healthcare and aerospace. GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms is a worldwide company headquartered in Charlottesville, VA and is part of GE Enterprise Solutions.
