Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Manufacturers are racing to adopt AI scale automation and do more with fewer people. But here's the none of this works unless someone actually connects the systems, the software and the shop floor.
That's where system integrators come in. And right now, their role is more critical than ever. So what are they seeing? Where is the industry headed and how do they fit into the future of manufacturing?
Today, we're joined by Adrian Meyer, CEO of the Control System Integrators association, to break it all down.
Control Alt Manufacturing.
Hello, hello, hello, everybody. And welcome back to the Ctrl Alt Manufacturing podcast, Resetting and Rethinking Manufacturing. Our little podcast where we're helping explore some of the people, technologies and strategies that are driving the digital transformation of manufacturing.
I am Gary Cohen. Joining me, as always, is the very wonderfully probably tanned Stephanie Neal. Hey, Stephanie. How you doing?
[00:01:07] Speaker B: Good.
[00:01:07] Speaker C: How are you?
[00:01:08] Speaker B: Gary, I feel like I haven't seen you in a while.
[00:01:10] Speaker A: It has been a while, but it's been a while for a very good reason. Where are you coming back from?
[00:01:15] Speaker B: I just came back from the Bahamas. But, you know, it wasn't just like a trip to the beach. This was an amazing. I don't know if you know this about me, but I'm a little bit of a foodie, okay. And, I mean, we all love food, but, like, I have a friend who has a food blog and we go to, like, food competitions. Like, I'm the one sitting there going, yay, look at that, look at that chicken she just made. But we went to the, the Nassau Paradise Island Wine and Food Festival, and it had all these celebrity chefs and we went to amazing dinners and we drank a lot of wine and I'm feeling a little sluggish today because I just got back last night and, and the reason that I'm late, because I was, I remember I was supposed to come back earlier, but we had a little bit of a weather incident happening in between there, and so sad. I got stuck in the Bahamas.
But, you know, I, I told you, I said, remember? I'm like, I, I have to get off the islands because I, so I went to Miami, which, again, I'm so sorry. It's really hard.
[00:02:22] Speaker A: I know, I know. You give and you give and you
[00:02:25] Speaker B: give, you give and give and give.
[00:02:27] Speaker A: I know it's tough. I, I, that's how I felt, too. I was like, if, you know Miami for a day, you could do worse than that. I mean, you live in Boston and it's snowy there, so, yeah, not so bad. I didn't know about the foodie thing. We'll have to. We'll have to discuss that a little bit more on a future podcast.
Yeah, I was working the whole time you were gone, so that's.
[00:02:47] Speaker B: Well good. Somebody has to.
[00:02:48] Speaker A: I guess so.
Well, let's talk about today's podcast. I'm really excited about this one because we have with WTW Media Control Engineering, we've been partners with CSIA for a while. Great organization.
We go to their conference every year. And so we have Adrienne Meyer, who is the, I don't know if I can still say new CEO. I think she came on last June, so she's still, you know, still in her first year here as the CEO. But I think it's a. Also a really interesting time for her to come on because Stephanie, you and I would. Everybody's been talking about digital transformation for forever, but there have been a few outside factors that are really sort of hypercharging this transformation, whether it's smarter factories or more connected systems or the AI boom that's happening right now.
So this is something where, you know, everybody's really focused on these changes that are coming into manufacturing robotics.
But as I said in the intro, it doesn't really deliver value. And we've talked to a bunch of people on this podcast about this unless it is properly integrated and deployed and scaled. And a lot of companies don't really know how to do that. They want the technology to come into their. They know they need the technology, but they don't really know how to, let's use the word, integrate that technology, which is where the system integrators really come in.
[00:04:15] Speaker B: I know. And I mean, I think we, I mean, we bring this up all the time. And it was probably part of the reason that we launched this podcast in the first place, obviously, because digital transformation is happening and it's. And the technology is changing rapidly. And we say it all the time, the system integrators, often over.
We just go right to the technology vendors, what are they doing? What do they have? But then it comes time to implement it and it's like, who's going to do that? Well, the system integrators are critical to the process, and so we need to shine a spotlight on them and give them the kudos that they deserve. And that's part of what we do in this podcast. And that's why I'm so excited to have Adrian on here. And I wanted to say, too, we're taking the podcast on the road.
[00:05:00] Speaker A: We are.
[00:05:02] Speaker B: We're going to the CSIA 2026 conference in Baltimore on May 4th to the 8th. And so we're going to be talking to the folks that really make this happen. And you know, we have the System Integrator of the Year award. We're going to be talking to some of the winners there and talking to some of the people that are on the panels at this conference. So we'll, we're going to have some great information to share with the audience.
[00:05:28] Speaker A: And let's be clear here, when Stephanie says we're going to be there, that is true, Stephanie and I are going to be there. But along with us is going to be the Control Alt Manufacturing podcast. So we're going to have a little podcast studio set up where we're going to be talking to system integrators and other people who are at that conference, which is the first time we've done that. And we are excited. So you know, if you're going to be at the conference at the CSIA conference in Baltimore in May, look for us. You'll see Stephanie and I with our little Control Alt manufacturing banner, looking for interesting people to talk to. So that'll be, that'll be really fun.
[00:06:00] Speaker B: Yeah, come by, say hi, we can have a little, maybe have a little interview, you never know.
[00:06:04] Speaker A: Little chatty chat. Yeah, exactly. So, and that, that brings us to today's guest who I actually met at the CSIA conference last year in San Diego. I, I think before she'd even started the job. And that's Adrienne Meyer, CEO of csia, a role she stepped into, as I said of June of last year.
She comes to this position with more than two decades of experience leading trade associations, membership communities and standards based organizations, especially in industrial automation. So while she is new to csia, relatively new, she brings a deep understanding of how industries organize, how best practices get adopted and how communities like this can actually help drive real change. She also has an MBA from the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business and the Certified Association Executive Designation, which is essentially the gold standard for leadership in the association world.
Adrienne, that is enough preamble. Let's go ahead and bring you in. Welcome to the podcast.
[00:07:01] Speaker C: Thank you so much. It's delightful to be here. And as I was listening to the introduction, I was thinking, you know, we need to figure out how to bring the Bahamas and the CSA conference together.
[00:07:12] Speaker B: That's a great idea.
[00:07:13] Speaker C: And then Stephanie can talk to us about all the food we should be eating and you know, just meeting of
[00:07:19] Speaker A: worlds there it's really the main reason we brought you here today. We want to discuss where the conference is going to be in 2027.
[00:07:26] Speaker B: I wanted to ask you about, like, what was being served there in terms of food selection.
[00:07:30] Speaker C: Great food, great food. Yep, yep, yep. But we will have an announcement on the 2027 conference at the end of the 2026. But we're planning for the future, so Bahamas now. It's on my list. Excellent.
[00:07:45] Speaker B: So, so happy that you're here, Adrienne. Why? Like why? I know that Gary gave a little intro with the bio, but tell us a little bit about yourself in your own words.
[00:07:54] Speaker C: Happy to see you. It was a lovely intro.
So my name is Adrienne Meyer. I took the role of CEO of the Control System Integrators association in July 2025.
And yeah, as you mentioned, although I'm new to the system integration world, I'm not new to industrial automation or association management.
Prior to joining csia, I was with odva, which is the standards development organization that manages the Ethernet, IP and device net technologies, SIP safety, SIP security and the like.
And I was in there for 21 years and progressively increasing roles from membership to marketing to accounting and finance, and most recently their VPs. So I've been involved with kind of every facet of association management through there.
And also because of that tenure, I've seen industrial automation change from really the adoption of Ethernet on the factory floor to now everything you guys are talking about on this podcast. Virtual PLCs, digital transformation, digital twins, AI, et cetera. You know, it has been a fascinating journey to watch that. And yeah, I was joking with a member recently because the Hannover Messa Hannover Fair is coming up.
I had, I've done 20 of those. I'm not going this year, but I felt like leash I should have gotten like a little Disney button at that time, you know, my 20th is it.
So I have been able to. Been fortunate to be able to see the industry progress over that time.
[00:09:33] Speaker B: Yeah. So now in your role at Control System Integrators association, tell us a little bit about the purpose of the organization and what system integrators get out of it. And you know, why should they be a member of it?
[00:09:50] Speaker C: So the CSA is really the home for control system integrators. It was started in 1994. So we've been in business for over 30 years by a group of system integrators. Really kind of at the advent of the industry that I like to describe them as having a laptop and a dream they, they were really great engineers and they knew how to do the work that was required. They didn't have experience running businesses or setting up businesses.
And the cool thing about the origin of CSIA is that a group of integrators, around 30 or so of them, came together to build something that could elevate all of industry. And this ethos, this vision really continues today here at csaa.
Integrators become members to learn from other integrators on how to become run the most successful businesses possible.
I've been traveling around, meeting with integrators, meeting with members, understanding what the value is and how we can continue to build on that at csia. And I had two integrators use the exact same phrase where they said CSIA is where people speak their language, they don't have to explain the nuances of the challenges that they're facing.
And it's a highly collaborative and welcoming community. I think, you know, Gary, when we met last year at the conference, I was on vacation from my previous role and was, I needed to see what, you know, what it was that I was diving into. And it really blew me away how collaborative and welcoming and inclusive this community is of other, you know, other integrators talking about the challenges and the issues that they face. And so here at csia, we kind of depends on, you know, who you are from like a marketing professional maybe coming to us to attend our special interest group kind of peer meetings where they're going to discuss on crafting a budget or for marketing activities that they can present to management. For those that are managing people, it might be how they're helping their staff avoid burnout.
For the founders that are just starting to grow, one of the core products that CSIA delivers is our Best Practices and Benchmarks manual, which is a framework of 10 different areas of a system integration business and how to set them up for success.
So they may be working on implementing that and getting certified to that.
And then for founders that are looking to exit, there are a lot of different presentations that get done for them to understand the value of their business and strategies along those lines. So you've got all these different collaborative and educational opportunities.
And then also because we're the home of system integrators, it is a way to promote your business. We have the Exchange, we've got our own podcast, and we've got some other ways that integrators can get out there into the market.
[00:13:09] Speaker A: You mentioned the collaboration there. It absolutely is on display when you go to that Conference.
But I guess one way to ask the question is, why should people join this? But what I've heard from people before is, isn't that a little strange? Because isn't it really just a group of competitors there? So how does this work and how does the collaboration work?
So what have you seen in the organization and why does it work so well, even though really these are people vying for the same kind of business?
[00:13:40] Speaker C: So I have said this before, so pardon me for repeating something that you may have heard me say, but when I came on board at csa, I don't remember if it was the previous CEO, Jose, or others in the association, but they said to me the phrase, you give one idea and you get 10 back in return.
And I thought, well, that's pretty clever marketing phrase.
And the weird thing was that just like that system integrators that CSA members speak their language, this is actually something I've had members repeat to me to tell me the value of. Well, this is why I'm part of CSA.
I put in one idea and I get 10 back. And in fact, one of our board members, Wright Sullivan, at one point, he said, I give one idea and I get 20 back. And I thought, I'm already improving the return on investment here. That's fantastic.
[00:14:40] Speaker A: Change the marketing.
[00:14:41] Speaker C: Yes, but they've confirmed that they're really serious about this benefit of membership, that when you open yourself up to connections with your peers, you learn so much more about your business and yourself than you thought was possible. And I really, you know, the original members of this association came in with that ethos and they understood that you need to work together to build something great. You can't do it alone.
And so, yeah, even though integration companies do compete with each other, of course, it's sort of like, I think of it as kind of like a diamond that you can kind of turn it a little bit and you get a different facet. And so each integration company has their own core competencies, they have their own markets, they have their own focus. And so whether it's regional or industry or, I do panels, I don't do panels, and the like, they're all slightly different from each other. And so it makes it a little bit easier also for them to come together, collaborate, learn from each other. And then also most importantly, say, hey, I'm, I'm in New Mexico and I've got this, you know, you have this specialty and you're in Oregon and I, I need to work with you. And so they develop those relationships as well.
[00:16:02] Speaker A: Yeah, I have a little bit of a background from a journalistic standpoint in industrial cybersecurity and I went to an industrial cybersecurity conference last month and that used to be a big thing there and still is, is, you know, there's these proprietary companies that are buying for the same business and doing the same thing and there were walls up between them where we don't want to tell you what we're doing.
But then you go to these conferences and it's like if we actually talk to each other about what we're doing, we can move this industry forward so much faster because we are now sharing best practices and sharing things that we're seeing adversaries do. And so that kind of cooperation is really like, if you can get over the dollars and cents of it, it really is so much more helpful to really any organization,
[00:16:48] Speaker C: of course they keep the things that are closest to the chest close.
[00:16:51] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:16:52] Speaker C: But yeah, there is just this real spirit of collaboration on what they've learned and what they can share to make the industry better. Yeah, it's a great group of members. I feel so fortunate because you make a leap and you don't know and these companies are so passionate and committed and cool to work with that. I just really feel fortunate here.
[00:17:17] Speaker A: Yeah, I went to this conference room I think for the first time two or three years ago and Mark Horning, who is, who has been control engineering for many, many years now, probably as long as CSIA has been around, said, you're going to love this conference. It's really good. And you know, it's always like, yeah, whatever, and it's really, yeah, it's really good. It's been fun. I've gone every year since.
On that note, you've now been in this job for eight, nine months now in the industry. What are you hearing from your system integrator members in the community about their opportunities and their major needs right now?
[00:17:47] Speaker C: Okay.
So yeah, since I started, one of the things it's been important to me is to build in as many face to face visits with integrators as possible.
And I've been on board now eight months and I think I've met with gone to about 12 different facilities. I've got another three at the beginning of next month to visit and I've also had focus groups in areas like Latin America where we've brought members together to chat with regard to what CSIA can provide them. They are hungry for as much information as they can consume on changing trends, which is why we're Our upcoming conference that you mentioned, our focus of the conference, our theme of the conference is Navigating Change.
They need information on using and being used by AI, what their customers are doing with, what they can do with it. They need an understanding of customer sentiment and economic conditions.
And as we've discussed, they need to connect in with integrators to get real feedback on how business is going and that is what we work to provide at csia.
[00:18:58] Speaker B: So just to piggyback on that idea, navigating change, I mean, there's always obstacles to overcome, but are you also getting feedback on integrators on the direction of the market and the opportunities that are there?
[00:19:16] Speaker C: Yes. So CSIA works to run a survey twice a year with JP Morgan and our most recent one was published in February. So the timing of the podcast is fantastic. This is an exclusive benefit we provide our members so that they understand where the market is going. It's a pretty robust survey overall. There is an improved sentiment versus where the industry was in May 2025, although to acknowledge there was a lot of uncertainty at that point.
But the survey showed that automation trends are stabilizing, that customer capex expectations are improving and that the backlog, visibility and lead times are now normal to high.
Those that were surveyed see that, you know, in the US that tariffs. They're expecting to have a positive impact on shoring trends, but that's not going to happen tomorrow. That's going to take some time, which is what our May 2025 survey showed as well.
But there was also a notable change in customers seeing the increased number of customers that are making incremental brownfield improvements to their existing facilities.
[00:20:40] Speaker B: So given that information from these studies that you guys are seeing, does that change the direction of CSIA at all over the next few years?
[00:20:49] Speaker C: That's a good question. CSIU's membership is strong, as I mentioned. So as I'm looking at where the organization is going over the next few years, my first step is to solidify the foundation for growth.
We have a very strong base in the US and in Latin America and scattering of members around the globe. So what we want to do is make sure that our benefits are clear and understandable globally and that we also adapt to regional needs. So since networking engagement are so important to our members, we are working on ensuring that it's easy and understandable on how to engage with the association, what collaboration opportunities we have, how members feel welcomed, how we can bolster our staff to provide that personalized touch point that our members expect from each other that kind of ethos that came in, how we can deliver it as a staff as well.
So I'm working on building out our membership team to support that.
And so with those sort of foundational structures, we're going to continue to do what we do, which is help integrators run strong businesses, developing educational network opportunities and doing that on a global basis.
[00:22:16] Speaker A: So we're recording this for everybody out there, recording this in kind of late ish March. So the next big thing coming up, and probably coming like a freight train for you, is the CSAA conference, as we mentioned, May 4th through 8th in Baltimore. Come visit Control Alt Manufacturing.
What should we know about that event? Tell us about the event.
[00:22:34] Speaker C: I am super geeked about this event. You know, I am so grateful to the member community for being so supportive and working to put this together collaboratively. We have over 30 system integrators that are going to be delivering educational sessions from how system integrators can use AI to run their businesses more efficiently, to practices to integrate required cybersecurity regulations to technology improvements such as digital twins, people management, best practices, even, you know, even more than that. So on top of that, we have two world class keynote speakers. Dan Heath, who I'm sure a lot of your audience knows, a New York Times bestselling author, is going to talk about his latest book, Reset, which works perfectly with our navigating change. It's how you can identify and make incremental changes in your life for improvement.
Really, you know, our audience is hungry for actionable. They don't want to hear fluffy things. They want to hear how you can actually make changes in your business. So that's what he's going to provide.
And in addition, Alex Czoski, who has delivered an economic update at the CSIA conference before, is going to be Talking about the 2026 economy, how to adapt.
We're going to have formal and informal networking opportunities, all sorts of fun. And then for the diehards that want to stick around. Unfortunately, the Baltimore Orioles did not consult me before they plan their schedule.
[00:24:10] Speaker A: I checked, by the way.
[00:24:13] Speaker C: So the next the available game during that week is on the Friday night.
And we do have people that will. The conference is officially from Tuesday evening to Friday lunchtime, but we always usually offer something for people who want to stick around or don't have a flight till the next day. And so we have gotten a, a package of Orioles tickets and we're all going to go to the game and have some fun. And in fact, we had to reorder the tickets a few times because right now I think we have 70 people that have signed up for the game. That's after the conference and I think we've got, I don't know, 350 or so people that are registered as of recording right now with another six weeks to go. So we usually have hundreds and hundreds of people come to the conference. And yeah, it is just an amazing opportunity to learn and network and do this in a really condensed period with those that care about system integration. So if you haven't registered, go to the CSA website and check it out.
[00:25:15] Speaker B: That sounds like so much fun.
[00:25:17] Speaker A: I know, I always, whenever I travel I always look to see if the baseball team is in town. I was like, oh, they're not there while I'm there.
[00:25:23] Speaker C: But you can stay till.
[00:25:26] Speaker A: So maybe I'll stay.
You mentioned a few times that the theme of this conference is navigating change. Very appropriate theme.
Do you think that the role of SIs in the industry or perhaps maybe the fundamental nature of the SI business is changing right now?
[00:25:41] Speaker C: Well, yes and no.
Yes. In that control system integrators are no longer focused solely on PLC DCS programming and panel building. They're, they're increasingly expected to deliver data centric networked AI aligned automation solutions. So this means system integrators not only must understand controls, but also IT networking, cloud interoperability standards. And with this demand to deliver end to end digital transformation capabilities, the role now overlaps substantially with IT security, data engineering, robotics, system support.
So in that framework, yes, but in another framework, no. The system integrator is always going to be the key partner for manufacturers and industrial end users when they need to automate a process. And integrators are going to help you think broadly about that and do what they do best, which is integrate.
[00:26:49] Speaker B: And so I was looking through the sessions and I noticed, Adrienne, you're going to be on a panel with the title the New R and D Rip off and Duplicate. That's an interesting spin. What will that discussion entail?
[00:27:01] Speaker C: Well, I have to give credit to Frank Riordan, who's the founder of DMC in Chicago, who's a member of our board of directors for that title. It's a phrase, Rip off and duplicate is something that he uses and I think it's the, you know, it does represent csia. How can we learn from each other most efficiently so that the spirit of that idea is the, the title is that give the one idea, get 10 back of CSAA. So the panel is a panel of integrators from around the world. We've got right now, one from the U.S. mexico, Italy and Colombia who are going to talk about how they leverage the tools of CSIA and the resources of the organization to scale their businesses.
All of the panelists are CSA certified, which is a status that a business can achieve once they implement the CSA best practices and successfully pass an independent audit. And they're going to talk about how that certification mark is a mark quality for industry and how they've been able to both grow as businesses and leverage the certification as they are winning businesses.
And I also, I guess I want to highlight, I didn't cover this in my previous answer to your question, but we're gonna bookend this new ripoff and duplicate panel with a panel at the end of the conference which we have traditionally held called Lessons from touching a Hot Stove, which is based upon a Mark Twain quote about cats touching hot stoves. But pretty much, you know, you touch a hot stove, you're not gonna go near a cold stove. But you know, what we want to do is empower our membership with the lessons that all of us have learned so that they don't have to make them twice.
And so we open the conference with how one can utilize the resources the organization, understand the benefits of certain things that they can really work on implementing and then also learn from other integrators there. And at the end of the what works and what doesn't work. So the hot stove is a panel of integrators who very generously and bravely talk about what they did that they should not have done and the lessons they learned from it. So these panels I think really highlight how CSA members are so open and unselfish with the knowledge at this conference.
[00:29:32] Speaker B: Yeah. And what they lessons learned and that could be business related, that could be integration strategies or anything.
[00:29:42] Speaker C: Anything. Yep, yep. So come and you'll hear it.
[00:29:45] Speaker B: Yeah.
So there's also bigger picture things happening that we have to deal with like the workforce shortage and the rapid AI adoption. And so where do system integrators fit into solving some of these bigger picture challenges?
[00:30:02] Speaker C: Well, as I mentioned, the best partnerships between manufacturers and system integrators are the ones that are true partnerships that system integrators serve as an essential bridge between these aging legacy infrastructure and modern automated AI driven technologies. And in the face of severe workforce shortages, system integrators enable manufacturers to automate manual tasks, increase productivity, upskill existing staff to manage these advanced AI enabled systems.
So skills provision that brings specialized technical Skills for implementing and managing new technologies and filling the gaps with client organizations is something that integrators bring. They bring educational support that help end users understand and evaluate new technologies.
They bring cost management that helps provide strategic advice on how to integrate new technologies cost effectively, which could mean phased upgrades versus complete overhauls. For example, they'll work with you to really help you evaluate so integration expertise that helps create automation platforms and optimize communication. They really are kind of the package and that bridge that can help manufacturers facing these issues.
[00:31:33] Speaker A: We've talked about technology throughout and obviously it's impacting the industry a ton.
What are some of the what technologies are creating some of the biggest opportunities for integrators right now? And then obviously I have to ask the flip side. Which ones are creating the most disruption and are they the same ones?
[00:31:50] Speaker C: I think I probably can answer artificial intelligence to every question you answer or
[00:31:56] Speaker A: are they the same one?
[00:31:58] Speaker C: You're going to have heads nodding yes, that is yes.
Regarding the technology itself. Creating opportunities AI supercomputing platforms and multi agent AI systems are rapidly reshaping industries. As you know, they've had these conversations on here. They're creating enormous integration demands particularly around orchestration, compute optimization, workflow redesign.
And these advanced AI systems require integrators to help enterprises redesign infrastructure, connect disparate data ecosystems and perhaps most importantly build responsible AI governance frameworks.
So business opportunity wise we hear about the opportunities and challenges in Indian industry and it is no surprise that data centers that house a lot of the capabilities here are the hottest topic for integrators right now. In fact, we're running a session at the CSAA conference specifically on the business opportunities at data centers and when that the JP Morgan survey that I mentioned this year when it was run, one of the questions they asked was
[00:33:19] Speaker B: if
[00:33:19] Speaker C: your firm operates in multiple end markets which are showing the most activity in new orders.
And the answers were data centers, semiconductor and defense.
When they asked what is putting near term trends aside, where do you think the long term growth is for end market?
It's the same three answers, slightly different order, same three answers.
So to answer your flip side regarding disruption, it is kind of the same answer.
AI is moving tools to autonomous systems. It's fundamentally changing workflows, decision making architecture. And this disruption comes from a reduced need for the human in the loop operations and AI autonomously reconfiguring systems and demand for new integration skill sets. AI integration skill sets.
And you also have, you know, I believe you had a focus on cybersecurity recently, you've got the potential for many more cybersecurity incidents. As, you know, IoT edge AI expand, digital systems become more exposed. So integrators must evolve from basic security provisioning in those regards to building continuous adaptive security architectures.
[00:34:54] Speaker A: Terrific.
[00:34:55] Speaker B: Which is a totally different skill set. Right. From the control panel that we were talking about.
[00:35:00] Speaker C: Yeah. Which is what makes an organization like CSA important to bring together integrators so they can continue to build on their knowledge.
[00:35:09] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Fantastic, Adrian, great stuff. It was a pleasure. Pleasure having you on the podcast.
And you should let Stephanie and I know which hotel in the Bahamas we should book for 2027.
Just let us know you can do
[00:35:23] Speaker B: it off on the pod.
[00:35:24] Speaker A: You don't have to do it right now, just off the pod. We'll take it offline, but just let us know which sunny location we should book our hotels at for 2027, 8 and 9.
[00:35:32] Speaker B: I have some recommendations if you want to consult.
[00:35:35] Speaker C: Well, so a little sneak peek. I can't say where, but the 2027 location is going to be super fun and also warm. So I'll leave it there. Come to the CSA conference in 2026 and you'll find out where it is.
[00:35:50] Speaker A: Fantastic. Thank you so much for being on with us. And we're excited to see you in May and obviously to continue the partnership with csia.
[00:35:58] Speaker C: Thank you. Thank you so much. It was great to chat with you.
[00:36:00] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:36:01] Speaker B: Thanks, Adrian.
[00:36:03] Speaker A: All right, Stephanie, Great. Great stuff.
Yeah, it's. I mean, there are two things I wanted to mention.
Number one, you know, obviously, as I mentioned, Mark has been. Mark Hosky's been doing this forever.
[00:36:18] Speaker B: He.
[00:36:18] Speaker A: The first one I went to, he mentioned that hot stove panel. He was like, if you can stay for the last day, go to that panel. You may not be able to write a lot about it because people may not want you to talk about the things that they did wrong, but you are going to learn so much. And so, yeah, I've tried to go to that panel a lot. It is absolutely worth your time.
The other thing is that, you know, I always do this. Somebody says something and I'll write one phrase down and I'm like, oh, I really like that phrase. The one that Adrian said today that I liked was system integrators that are using AI. And being used by AI, I think is a really good way to. Because, I mean, it's sort of what all of us are doing. Right. Like, we're all using AI. Even from a journalistic perspective, we are using AI, but we are also being used by AI and so yeah, it's
[00:37:06] Speaker B: double edged sword of the whole feeling that totally.
[00:37:09] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:37:09] Speaker B: But you know what, I went to this conference years and years and years ago. I have not been, I haven't been there in a while. So I am so excited to go and so appreciative of the partnership that we have and that CSI and Adrian are allowing us to again do our podcast right from the show and to extend, you know, the education to our audience. But if you can be there in person and you're there and yet, and you, you see Gary, you see us, please stop by, please say hi and we're there to learn as well.
[00:37:45] Speaker A: So yeah, and if we're in the middle of recording, don't, don't knock it, don't, don't come into the recording, but wait till afterward and then say hello to us. But yeah, we, we'd love to meet you while we're out there. And we're, we're definitely excited about the, the conference.
And yeah, if you're enjoying the Control Alt Manufacturing podcast, which if you're still listening here at this point, you probably are, definitely check out our other sites, our other engineering sites, whether that's engineering.com, control, engineering, plant, engineering, consulting, specifying engineer, design, world. We have all kinds of great information. And a lot of this is, it's talking either about directly the work that system integrators are doing or the kind of work that system integrators are doing. So it's all valid and useful information. So we got some great sites there and you'll find other podcasts that are on there as well if you like getting your information in podcast form.
[00:38:37] Speaker B: Yeah, and thank you so much for tuning in, as always.
[00:38:41] Speaker A: I stopped talking because you have to close it. I can't do it.
[00:38:44] Speaker B: Oh, yes. Well, you know what I always say.
Have a wicked good day.
[00:38:49] Speaker A: Bye everybody.
[00:38:51] Speaker C: Sam,
