System Integrator of the Year Entry Form

Control Engineering2008 System Integrator of the Year Competition

Application and Submission Guidelines

Applicant’s name and title___________________________________________________________

E-mail_____________________________________________Phone________________________

Company name___________________________________________________________________

Web site________________________________________________________________________

Home office street address_________________________________________________________

President/CEO____________________________________________________________________

E-mail_____________________________________________ Phone________________________

Year founded____________ Annual revenue______________Number of employees___________

Principal industries served__________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

For the purposes of this competition, a “system integrator” is a contract engineering firm or an engineering division of a larger company that can design and implement computerized control systems for industrial machinery, manufacturing lines, or other automated facilities that produce either a commodity or a finished product. Examples would include automation, control, and robotic system integrators as well as automated machine builders, multi-disciplinary engineering firms with instrumentation and automation divisions, and product vendors that also offer application engineering services.

A system integrator may or may not provide the automation products required for a particular project but must be capable of integrating both the hardware and the software with the client’s existing facilities. Companies that provide individual elements of an automation project such as consulting, programming, electrical contracting, or panel construction are not considered “system integrators” unless they also offer the remaining services required for a complete turnkey installation.

Three general criteria will be considered for the selection of the 2008 System Integrator of the Year: business skills, technical competence, and customer satisfaction. Please document your company’s level of achievement in each of these areas. You may wish to do so by answering some of the following questions, but these are not intended to cover every possible situation. Feel free to make your case by any means you think most convincing.

Business skills

Does your company have any written policies that detail your financial, human resources, management, and other business procedures?

Does your company hold any professional certifications from the ISO, the CSIA, automation vendors, or any other third parties qualified to assess your business skills?

Have you ever completed any self-evaluations or undertaken any in-house initiatives to formalize your business procedures?

Technical competence

Does your company employ degreed engineers, Professional Engineers, Certified Automation Professionals, or other technical personnel with professional credentials?

Can you provide a success story outlining a difficult automation problem that you were able to solve for a client? Was there anything particularly innovative about your solution?

Have you ever successfully completed a project that had previously proven too difficult for the client’s in-house engineers or another system integrator?

Customer satisfaction

Has your company ever received any awards or letters of commendation for a job well done?

Do you have procedures for tracking customer satisfaction and redressing their grievances?

Can you provide references that we may contact?

Entries must be postmarked by August 17, 2007 See the daily news item for details. Attach the above contact and demographic information to your documentation and return it to:

Vance VanDorenSystem Integration Editor Control Engineering Magazine8650 Kirkridge RoadLafayette, IN 47905vance@control.com(765) 296-7600

Please limit your documentation to

100

printed pages and send

four

copies in four separate binders. All submissions will become the property of Control Engineering magazine and will not be returned. Winners will be contacted individually for additional information to be included in the cover story of the 2008 Automation Integrator Guide. Photographs for the cover will be taken by Control Engineering at our headquarters in Chicago.

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