If you didn’t attend the programs in February, then let me give you a major takeaway I got out of two wildly different topics. We need to keep the interests of future generations in mind when planning our projects today. We can’t wait for the next generation to correct the errors we have made.
Let’s rewind. Back on February 8th (in case you missed it, check out the YouTube Link below), we had Ryan Duffy and Jeff Blair share some lessons learned from the harsh 2021 winter in Texas that caused so many energy issues with power outages across the state. Here is the thing that stood out to me, while 2021 was catastrophic, there were warning signs from previous winters in Texas. Had the right people spoke up, last winter’s events would never have not happened to the level they did. Ryan and Jeff probably would have then had some other topic to discuss, and you’d probably be reading a different article today.
Moving on to February 23rd, we had Dr. Bia Henriques discuss the trends and roles automation is taking in the global food supply chain. The presentation was eye-opening on many levels (once again, in case you missed it, check out the YouTube Link below). If farmers, of both the corporate and family type, use automation tools and data techniques to their fullest extent, the strain on the global supply chain would greatly ease. If this opportunity is missed, the sporadic empty shelves at the local grocer will become more common in the future.
Let me add this, I am well oversimplifying these examples and not giving the speakers enough credit for their tremendous presentations (SERIOUSLY – go watch these now at YouTube if you missed them), but the takeaways were clear – we can’t kick the can down the road. Catastrophic things happen if we do not act now.
Now is the time to plan for the future. To make this place better for the next generation. Now, as you can imagine I can go one of about thousand different directions here, but I’ll keep it to ISA St. Louis. Behind the scenes over the last 2 years we’ve tried to implement tools that will allow the next group of leaders to build on the new foundation we have built for our historic Section. Just look below at all the ways we can now interact with our membership: ISA’s new site and Connect launched, we added Instagram, updated our LinkedIn profile to a company page, and started regularly putting our program content to YouTube (at the speaker’s discretion and approval). While that is all great, there is more work to be done.
We are trying to increase our Educational outreach and offer our professional expertise down to the High School level as well. We continue to go to events in the area like last week’s Career Fair at the Engineers’ Club to recruit the next generation of Automation Professionals. We look across our Membership base to identify new and upcoming leaders. We are also using a lot of time management and meeting techniques learned throughout the pandemic to keep our volunteer operations running as efficiently as possible.
Hindsight is 20/20. Hopefully you consider ways to get involved in making the ISA St. Louis Section a place where we continue to discuss cutting edge automation technologies and trends so the next generation of Automation Professionals can continue to make our Section, and dare I say the world, a better place for all of us.
Cheers!
Cory N. Kniepp
ISA St. Louis Section, President
Not an ISA Member yet? Click here to join today: https://myisa.force.com/ISA/s/join-renew
Our Social Links:
https://isastl.org/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/isastl---international-society-of-automation-st.-louis-section/
https://www.instagram.com/isa_st.louis/
https://twitter.com/isastlouis
https://www.facebook.com/IsaStLouisSection
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKCgtVWoshDg_D6rbOJsgrQ
https://connect.isa.org/community/sectionslist (Search for St. Louis)