Following the surprise announcements about the end of ISA Expo, massive personnel cuts at ISA and other ISA-related news, I posted some thoughts on this blog plus an editorial at Automation World. I also asked Jim Pinto to add some thoughts on ISA which appeared in the November issue of Automation World. This letter came from India after the thoughts went online in November. I shared it with Jim and he pointed out the importance of the last paragraph where the writer talks about the importance of ISA in the rest of the world (even if it seems to have lost some relevance in the United States).
I joined ISA in 1983 and had a very informative engagement with it.
I wrote a paper on geographical and Functional distribution in Control system which at that time was a very novel Idea and has been the backbone of all control system strategies including the internet.This was written after I studied the Boiler instrumentation and control in which I was engaged in Mozambique.Sitting in the Country side home, I wrote the letter in the middle of the night.Today I am engaged in control of A smart grid development for one of the largest Utility in India-just we are discussing the basics. In Banglore a PLCC based system has been developed and furthur development is on ,and here in Delhi an Internet based system is under development under my Guidance.
All this is because of the interest that ISA created in me. My daughter caught this bug and is a lead Engineer currently working on Automation system on an oil Sands project in Canada with a fortune 500 automation giant.
There has not been a single interaction of this nature in my life except my Education at IIT Mumbai – one of the top technical institute of India.
It will be a sad day if this Institution shrinks, .
While there might be less interest in USA in automation at present because it has already reached a pinnacle of it- India is entering that age.We need automation badly in all spheres of our life and ISA could as well concentrate on India on launching its activities.It will be most welcome development.
Regards
Alokj MIsra
