August 22, 2012

“That question has plagued the members of the Control System Integrators Association (CSIA) for years,” according to Vance VanDoren, Control Engineering Automation Integrator Guide editor. 

“There really is no NAICS code for automation and control system integrators, and the CSIA’s efforts to create one have not been successful so far. So for now, CSIA members use NAICS codes for their related businesses like panel construction or computer programming,” VanDoren said.

When the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) replaced the U.S. Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system, the list of available industries expanded, but apparently not far enough. 

Here are some more resources, which reminds me a little of the joke, “We’re from the government, and we’re here to help.”

http://www.osha.gov/pls/imis/sic_manual.html 

http://www.census.gov/eos/www/naics/ 

Doing a keyword search using the 2012 NAICS tool, I did find some related categories ... 

541512  Computer systems integrator services

238210  Control system (e.g., environmental, humidity, temperature) installation

336320  Instrument control panels (i.e., assembling purchased gauges), automotive, truck, and bus, manufacturing

541614  Production planning and control consulting services

It seems odd there are many related categories but none for control and automation system integrators, despite the collective size of the system integration firms tracked and surveyed by Control Engineering.

- Mark T. Hoske, content manager, Control Engineering, mhoske(at)CFEMedia.com 

Engineering interaction: What NAICS code best fits your automation-related business? Leave a comment below. Don't see a comment box? Click here and scroll down.