2015 System Integrators of the Year

Maverick, Polytron and Malisko Engineering help lead clients into the new world of automation. CFE Media's judges have again chosen three companies to receive the 2015 System Integrator of the Year award in three categories: more than $17 million in annual revenue, $10 million to $17 million annual revenue, and up to $10 million annual revenue.

By Vance VanDoren, PhD, PE December 10, 2014

Ever since Oliver Evans automated his flour mill in 1785, a host of equipment vendors, contract engineering firms and individual experts have been helping factory owners automate their facilities. By the 1960s, the term "system house" then "system integrator" had come to describe all such service providers, especially those that make their living primarily from the engineering skills they offer rather than the automation products they sell.

Control Engineering’s first census of system houses/integrators in 1969 turned up just 38 firms, but the fledgling system integrator industry "gained momentum" in the mid 1980s, according to Paul Galeski, CEO of Hall-of-Fame integrator Maverick Technologies. In a 2014 Control Engineering article, Galeski recalled that, "By the late 1980s and early 1990s, there were many individuals and small firms entering the business. As manufacturers continued to deal with changing economic and competitive pressures, they found this new arrangement increasingly practical and embraced the approach, driving demand. More SI companies formed as engineers found there was money to be made under the new relationships."

CFE Media’s judges have again chosen three companies to receive the 2015 System Integrator of the Year award. They are:

All three demonstrated their superior technical expertise, business skills and customer satisfaction by addressing a series of questions and by providing detailed accounts of their business strategy, customer-facing service and industry leadership.

ONLINE extra

View the System Integrator Hall of Fame to learn about past winners.

Also view the Global System Integrator Database to learn more about the winners and other system integrator companies.

See what the winners had to say about their industry and manufacturing as a whole below.

Click here to watch a video roundtable discussion conducted by CFE Media with Paul Galeski from Maverick Technologies, Charlie Jager from Polytron, and Stephen Malyszko from Malisko Engineering.