Wednesday, October 15, 2008

ISA changes name to International Society of Automation.

ISA changes name to International Society of Automation.

In an opinion piece for Australia's PACE.com (10/15), Jim Pinto reports that the Instrumentation, Systems and Automation Society (ISA) has changed its name to the International Society of Automation. "With strong management, enlightened volunteer leadership and new focus on international automation, ISA is headed for significant new growth and success," Pinto said. The "ISA was formed in 1945 as the Instrument Society of America, and the name was changed in 2000 to Instrumentation, Systems and Automation Society." Pinto writes, "In my opinion, this name was an uninspired, lack-luster acronym which did nothing to promote the society's ambitions as an international organization and its championship for the Automation profession." He points out that the ISA was "originally an 'instrumentation' society," but it is "now focused on the broader aspects of automation and aims to be a catalyst for creation and promotion of the Automation Profession of the future, marketing the society's core competencies to automation professionals around the world."