Watching the Tide of Automation Engineering

Engineering disciplines are changing, becoming more focused in today's competitive global economy. Trends in building training programs for specific segments of engineering are evolving in academia, industry, and engineering societies. Universities offering degrees in systems engineering have increased, and the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) are engaging professional societies in accrediting systems engineering programs.

As a key player in accreditation programs, ISA is committed to being on board, especially in the automation engineering realm. "We've seen an evolution of designs becoming more complex in today's industrial automation arena," said Pat Gouhin, ISA's executive director. "There used to be separate design specialties, but there's now a whole new science with more mini systems, and the demand for systems engineering has evolved and applies to more industries."

Gouhin's big vision for ISA is to support accreditation programs from other key players, such as the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), who has also recognized the need to shepherd engineering programs. INCOSE has developed a paradigm of systems-engineer-centric and domain-centric system engineering programs. As a society wholly qualified to handle a subcomponent of systems engineering, ISA is interested in exploring the domain centric category with a manufacturing engineering subcomponent. "It's a big vision, but that's the starting point to evolve to automation engineering programs in schools," Gouhin said.

As a result of more accreditation programs and engineering subcomponents in universities and industry, "we'll see systems engineering departments pop up more," Gouhin said. "But later, maybe we'll see more automation engineering departments. The challenge for ISA is to show a common theme and need in the industry, communicate that need to the stakeholders who can make a difference, and identify a solution set that will develop and produce the next generation of the automation workforce."

But it all starts with identifying the need for the future. "Anyone in the automation profession has a responsibility for the future," Gouhin said. The key is to watch the incoming tide of automation and ask the right questions as some of the first steps. "Does the pipeline have the right candidates? If your company is developing training programs to turn employees into what you need, should this training be formalized? If there were such a formal program, would it appeal to more than just your company?"

Benefits to industry, academia

If ISA is successful in this endeavor, over the next 10 years, the Society would have identified a need in the workforce and presented a curriculum to ABET, whereby candidates would have to have a certain amount of math and science and the like. "Then we would go to the universities to explain our program through the help of ABET," Gouhin said. "Where there is a clearly defined need for graduates with a specialized skill set, the universities will listen and work to produce that caliber of product. "

By participating in an automation engineering curriculum, universities would possibly have the potential for more students by meeting the demand (hiring projections) of the industry. Companies could benefit because they would be able to hire a higher quality workforce with less upfront training. "Now they're hiring electrical and mechanical engineers and have less say in what skills sets they're actually getting," Gouhin said. "With an automation engineer, they would be meeting more precise needs."

ISA's long-term goal for the future of automation is to excite students about automation engineering. "Think of all that happens in the world because of automation," Gouhin said. "We hope to [incite students] through the National Academy of Engineering," who has a program addressing the future of American students in math and science, called Rising Above the Gathering Storm. The academy is working with professional associations and state governments, making future generations more math and science literate. "And ISA is supporting that," he said.

The next steps are to find ISA's core niche-"how we fit with the momentum already underway," he said. ISA also hopes to work with ABET on their programs, finding commonalities in the systems engineering programs, and working at the university level in the domain centric engineering portion. The goal isn't to work in competition with other efforts, but in tandem. "We want to be welcomed in collaboration with efforts underway," Gouhin said, to evolve the automation engineering career path.