ISA 2012 Automation Week Track: Human Performance Thursday, 27 September, 3:15-4:45 pm, Room 204A Steve Huffman Automation Federation Job mapping, process innovation, and workforce development Automation is a key ingredient to success in domestic and global market manufacturing by virtue of the creation and application of technology from the production process through enterprise integration. Automation as a profession, ironically, has not been universally recognized or even well-defined from the perspective of the business world until fairly recently.
The baby-boom workforce, which includes many current automation practitioners, is steadily declining, career pathways for prospective automation professionals are still limited, recognition of this profession is still lacking, and as a result, increasing demand is not being satisfied in the market place for competent automation professionals. ISA founded Automation Federation as a means to galvanize efforts of ISA and other organizations with a stake in automation (currently at 14, plus ISA) to provide the external focus necessary to define, debunk the misperceptions, and shine the light on the automation profession for industry, governments, and educational institutions to see and understand the need to turn this career pathway into a superhighway.
Today, competitive pressures in industry drive continual improvements in productivity, supply chain efficiency, and enterprise integration with plant floor systems, which have themselves been complicated by better safety and security systems, and sustainability goals. As these pressures increase, automation professionals will need expanded skill sets in an ever increasing system integrated world. This session deals with Automation Federation’s strategies and efforts to meet the workforce challenge.
