I was in Calgary most of this week for the ISA Calgary Exhibition (http://isacalgary.com/ ) more on that event next week) and one of the comments I heard many times while there and at SAIT (www.sait.ab.ca local trade college) was the shortage of people entering and even considering automation as a career choice. This is a common theme throughout the technical fields especially and even though I am an engineer, I firmly believe that it is the technicians that we need to encourage. The reason we need technicians should be fairly obvious.

We've mentioned this before, but here's something you really ought to put on your calendar.  

CyberSecurity Awareness for Users of Industrial Control Systems

When: 19 November 2009
Time: 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. EDT
Price: $195 AF member organization member / $225 List
Register now!

From ISA Past President Kim Miller-Dunn:

 This was sent to the Automation Federation board by Mike Marlowe, its director...

All WBF members are entitled to the discount for Automation Federation membership:

The Automation Federation is supporting the Progressive Manufacturing Summit 2009: Redefining the Business of Manufacturing in Turbulent Economic Times.

When: 9-11 June
Where: The Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota, FL

WBF Postpones 2009 North America Conference, Begins Repositioning

[Raleigh, NC], January 5, 2009. WBF, the forum for automation and manufacturing professionals, formerly known as World Batch Forum, has announced that due to the economic situation, it has decided to postpone its North American Conference for 2009 to a date later in the year, to be announced subsequently.

Apparently, the Automation Federation met with some people from the US Department of Labor on October 15 at the ISA show to develop a model of workforce competencies for the automation industries. The press release is printed below.

If you have never heard Pat Kennedy, President and CEO of OSIsoft speak, you need to attend this webcast. If you  have heard Pat talk, you know why you ARE attending this webcast.

From WBF's press release:

WBF brings you another insightful and up-to-date technical webcast.

Process Data Benefits for the Modern Plant
Wednesday, 20 August 2008
11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. ET

To register, go 'Sound Off! Editors' Blog'

Automation Federation Names Goodson Managing Director
 
Research Triangle Park, NC (21 July 2008) - The Automation Federation has named Paul B. Goodson, P.E., CAE as its Managing Director.
 
The Federation announced the appointment after an intensive interview process.
 
"We are excited to welcome Mr. Goodson to our team," said Steve Huffman, chair of the Automation Federation Board of Directors. "We’ve accomplished many goals in the past two years, and we’re moving into a new phase of our devel...

Managing Editor Nancy Bartels has a great idea.

Suppose we get somebody with some deep pockets (you know who you are, now don't you?) to fund the development of a MMRPG that is about process automation?

Huh? What's a Mumrrpig...whatever it was you said?

If you don't know what an MMRPG is, ask one of your kids. It stands for Massively Multiplayer Role Playing Game...like Worlds of Warcraft, or the Sims, or even Second Life. They are addictive, cause players to do incredible amounts of research...