New executive director announced.

The International Society of Automation (ISA) has announced the appointment of its new Executive Director, Claire Ramspeck.

Claire Ramspeck

Claire Ramspeck is the founder of Hobbs Barrett, a private consulting firm that specializes in association management with a focus on development, adoption, and dissemination of standards and other technical products and services. Prior to founding Hobbs Barrett, she built a successful career as the Director of Technology at the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and the Managing Director of Standards Development at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME.)

In addition to her 25-year history of leading standards and technology businesses within associations, Ramspeck also brings a wealth of volunteer experience, chairing and serving on several boards and committees for the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and Underwriters Laboratory (UL.)

She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina State University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Georgia State University. Prior to working with associations, she was a design engineering contractor for the Department of Energy through Bechtel Savannah River. Ramspeck has been honored with the Meritorious Service Award from ANSI and the Norman R. Harbaugh Scholastic Achievement Award from the Georgia State University College of Business.

ISA President Steve Mustard, who chaired the Executive Search committee to recruit and select Ramspeck, highlighted her standards experience as a key factor in the committee’s decision. “Claire has an impressive history of collaborating with volunteers and subject matter experts to develop standards, research, and other projects that meet the needs of industry. 

“ISA’s value is rooted in our standards development, and we build our portfolio of market offerings around key standards that help industries lower costs, boost productivity, and improve safety and cybersecurity. Claire’s background will empower her to take ISA’s valuable content to the next level.”

ISA’s current Executive Director, Mary Ramsey, will retire at the end of the year. “The time I’ve spent with ISA has been a rewarding chapter of my career, and I’m grateful for the collaboration and support of our members, leaders, and professional staff. We have been able to accomplish great things, including the creation of the ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance, a group that continues to advance automation cybersecurity on the world stage. Given Claire’s focus on technology adoption, I’m confident ISA will continue to build on its considerable strengths and continue to bring value to the industries we serve.”

She will begin in her new role as Executive Director on November 1, and Mary Ramsey will stay on board to help Claire with the transition until she officially retires on December 31, 2021. We are thankful for Mary’s continued leadership and vision, which dovetails perfectly with Claire’s skill set. 

"We are confident that Claire will be a perfect addition to our ISA family and her experience will help us create a bright future," concluded President Mustard.

@ISA_Interchange @IrelandISA @ISA_EU #Automation #PAuto

Cybersecurity Standards Implementation Virtual Conference - Middle East.

To mark Cybersecurity month 2021, ISA has launched a 62443 Implementation virtual event. This one- day, multi-track conference will feature end-user case studies on 62443 implementation and adoption and will be held in the US time zone. The date is 18th October 2021.

The planned ISA Middle East Cybersecurity virtual conference be held to coincide with the US-based event to enhance the value of both efforts. The Saudi Aramco supported event will be held live, on-line. 

The content and discussion of the Middle East event will be recorded so that it can be presented as an additional track at the US event. This gives the Middle East presenters access to a second audience in a different region of the world.

Sponsors will be given the option of having a presence at one or both events, and the two will be promoted together as one, integrated product. Anyone who registers can have access to both live virtual conferences as well as the recordings of all materials that are made available after the fact.

Topics of focus for the Middle East event may include:

• Identifying and Controlling Cyber Security Ricks in the Supply Chain
• Industrial Cybersecurity from the CISO Perspective
• Securing Private Networks
• Building Cyber Security into Engineering Plans
• Mapping ISO to ISA62443
• Case Study Applications of Cybersecurity Best Practices
• Hacking Wireless Access Points

As an added incentive, attendees will have free access to ISA Micro Learning Modules and will be the first to learn about additions and updates to the ISA62443 series of standards. These much-anticipated updates will be released one day before the virtual conference and there will be an additional track at the US-based event dedicated to the 62443 updates.

• ISA offers virtual events—including webinars, virtual conferences, and ISA Connect Live—across a variety of topics.

@ISA_Interchange @ISASaudi @ISA_EU#PAuto #Cybersecurity

Secure control & automation systems course for Ireland.

Cybersecurity Training Courses in Clayton Hotel Sligo, Ireland.

These courses help develop expertese in Cybersecurity through our Certificate Programs ISA/IEC 62443 (ISA-99). The ISA/IEC 62443 Standards secure industrial control and automation systems.

They provide a detailed look at how the ISA/IEC62443 standards can be used to protect critical control systems. It also explores the procedural and technical differences between the security for traditional IT environments and those solutions appropriate for SCADA or plant floor environments.

This course is part of the ISA/IEC 62443 Cybersecurity Certificate Program. 

Virtual district council meeting - July 2021

A meeting of our District was held (on-line) on the 21st July. Delegates participated from sections in England, Italy, Pakistan, Portugal, Spain and Rachael McGuffin from ISA Staff. The meeting was chaired by Francisco Díaz-Andreu, District 12 VP.

A review of progress with objectives was given and will be further examined in the next meeting. Sections were reminded to submith their annual report prior to 31st July.

The 5G Webinar (June 2021) was reported as a success and it was agreed to continue with this type webinar as a compliment to section events. It was suggested that earlier notice be given for these. There may be webinars given in sections which could be used also throughout the District. A session is also to organised to advise how best to set up such a seminar. The regular webinars being organised from the HQ in Research Triangle Park are also reccomended as a useful resource for sections.

The Mentoring Excellence award has been awarded to M.J. Raposo (Spain Section). She also gave a presentation on mentoring students in a project of the Spain Section.

There was a presentation on Sections (including Student Sections) health analysis. This included a section health check list and special emphasis on Vibrant Leadership points for new and key board members. In ongoing training the Section President's role was reviewed.

It was announced that Marty Bince has been elected as ISA President Elect/Secretary and will serve as President during 2023.
On the information about ISA international it was informed that a proposal to divide the district into two separate districts (Europe + Russia and Middle East + Africa) has been proposed at the District Restructuring Task Force. No decision has been made yet on this issue.

There was a presentation on Student Sections in the District.

This excellent video promoting this year's Automation Summit was shown.

 

Training Sessions are scheduled for 20th & 21st September followed by the Summit proper 22nd-23rd September and that in turn by the District Leaders' Meeting (DLM) 23rd-24th September.

The DLC will be a hybrid meeting (Virtual & face to face) in two two hour sessions on each day from 16:00 - 18:OO CET.

• Copies of presentations are available to members on request.

Journal's significant impact confirmed.

ISA Transactions is the journal of advances and state-of-the-art in the science and engineering of measurement and automation, of value to leading-edge industrial practitioners and applied researchers. It is distributed through Elsivier. 

The following statistics have recently been reported. The latest Impact Factor of ISA Transactions has gone up from 4.305 to 5.468! The latest Elsevier CiteScore has also gone up from 8.0 to 8.7!

"These are excellent indicators and clearly demonstrate our significantly improved ranking among scientific publications, particularly those within the same scope as ISA Transactions." said the Group Publisher with the ISA, Nick Zabel.

He sincerely thanked Ahmad Rad and his entire editorial team for their dedicated and continuous handwork towards making ISA Transactions a top scientific publication.

@ISA_Interchange #Pauto #Automation

5G in Process Control - Webinar 21 Jun 2021

Webinar

5G in Process Control

Monday, June 21st 2021

17:00 h. (C.E.T.)

5G is a wireless Technology of growing importance not only in the public communication domain but also in the Industrial Process Control field.

The objective of this webinar is to get familiar with 5G as wireless communication technology for Automation and know what we can expect in the future in this.

This is a joint webinar for all ISA District 12 (EMEA) and will be in English language.

Contents of the webinar

1. The first presentation by Jens Jakobsen will explain the different wireless technologies used in the industry and the role of 5G in them as well as key 5G use cases today.
2. The second presentation by Adrian Scrase will cover the following topics: factual update on the progress that has been made in 5G standards so far, how that technology is specifically adapted to suit the manufacturing sector (including ultra-reliable and low latency communications, non-public networks, licensed and unlicensed spectrum use, etc) and what we expect to be happing in the next 3-5 years.

Speakers
The meeting will be coordinated by Francisco Díaz-Andreu (ISA District 12 VP) and will consist of two presentations plus Q&A
Jens Jakobsen (HMS Networks – Development Manager)
Adrian Scrase (ETSI European Standards – CTO and head of 3GPPs’ Mobile Competence Centre)

Agenda 17:00h Introduction 17:05h Presentation from Jens Jakobsen - HMS 17:35h Presentation from Adrian Scrase - ETSI 18:05h Q&A 18:30h Adjourn

Join Microsoft TEAMS meeting

@ISA_EU @ISA_Interchange @ISA_SecEsp @irelandISA #PAuto

Supporting automation in Ireland for forty years.

This month June 2018 marks te 40th year of the ISA Ireland Section as it was chartered chartered on Friday 29th June 1978. A celebration to mark this and also to celebrate the election of Brian Curtis as 2018 President of the Society, was held last April - see picture below.

The Section Charter 28 June 1978

The ISA Ireland Section was formally chartered on 29 June 1978 after a number of steering committee meetings that had been held beforehand by the original founders so as to make sure that the criteria were met to set up a new ISA section. At that time the Ireland section was only the third section to be chartered in Europe and the eighth section to be chartered internationally.

The name of the Society at that time was Instrument Society of America and this was changed later to reflect the international aspect of the organisation to the International Society of Automation. A number of former section presidents such as Bob Shine, Fred Gilroy, Maurice Radford, Liam McDonnell, Eoin Ó Riain, Frank Maher, John Power and Aidan Howard all played major roles in setting up the ISA Ireland Section. Mr Hugh Wilson who was worldwide ISA President for 1978 handed over the charter in person at a celebratory dinner held at the Silver Springs (Clayton) Hotel in Cork on 4 September 1978.

Section History  2002
compiled by Bob Shine

A lot of the detail about the early history of the section is outlined in a book authored by section historian Bob Shine and published in 2002, titled “ISA Ireland Section – 25 Year History 1977-2002”. In addition to the section past presidents that were involved in the initial steering meetings and securing the charter, other key people such as Dan O’Sullivan, Eddie O’Connell, Tom Nulty and Eddie Kenny played a major roles in getting the section up and running.

The section still maintains a steady membership of more than 200+ members scattered throughout the island. The ISA Ireland section has had a chequered history since its foundation forty years ago as it has continuously held numerous meetings, technical talks, conferences, symposia and exhibitions throughout the country. The section has always strived to satisfy the automation needs of a progressive country that was and still is undergoing a rapid industrial transformation on all fronts throughout many sectors of industry.

The section has hosted a national prestigious Honours & Awards ceremony for 36 years of its existence. The opulent and elegant Common Room within the quadrangle of UCC has been the location of this yearly section flagship H&A event for the last twenty years. The section has been very fortunate to have hard working and dedicated committee members elected on a yearly basis to serve the membership and the profession whereby they tirelessly promote automation and control as outlined within the vision and mission statements of ISA.

Over the past forty years of activity, 34 individuals had the privilege and honour of serving in the distinguished role of section president and five of these people have served two terms of office, namely: Fred Gilroy, Liam M Donnell, John Lotty, Alan Bateman and John Murphy. It is important to acknowledge the four past presidents who are sadly no longer with us but they are always in our thoughts, namely: Ger Dullea, Fred Gilroy, Maurice Radford and John Farrell.

The ISA Ireland section has punched way above its weight for many years and this has not gone unnoticed by other ISA senior volunteers around the world.

A number of past presidents have served on the global ISA Executive Board with the first of these been Maurice Radford who was District 12 (which at that time was all geographical areas outside North America) Vice President. Maurice was the face and spokesperson for ISA Ireland internationally some thirty years ago and he was a trail blazer for many years flying the Ireland flag with distinction.

Brian Curtis, 2018 Society President

During the last few decades this mantle has been taken up by Declan Lordan, Billy Walsh, Kevin Dignam, Eoin Ó Riain and Brian Curtis. Additionally Dave O’Brien is the current District 12 (which presently covers Europe, Middle East and Africa) Vice President and thus continues a long tradition for the Ireland section. Brian Curtis, Declan Lordan and Brian Curtis have all served more than five years at different times on the global ISA Executive Board which is a major achievement for a section which has a much smaller countrywide population than most of its counterparts. The pinnacle of this service and achievement is evident in 2018 as Brian Curtis is the worldwide ISA President which means that we have several reasons to celebrate this historic year for the Ireland Section.

Report compiled by Billy Walsh, current Section Secretary.

Presidents of ISA Ireland Section down the years