The purpose is to ensure consistent course content in automation and assure that automation engineers have the same skills worldwide.

The Automation Federation (AF) board of directors approved the participation of AF as project leader for a new manufacturing technology project within the Intelligent Manufacturing Systems (IMS) program. The purpose of this project is to develop an international network through which the Automation Competency Model (ACM), developed by AF and the US Department of Labor in 2009, can be disseminated, promulgated and updated. This network will be called the Automation Competency Model Network (ACMN).

Through the ACMN, partners in non-US IMS regions and in other countries worldwide will be encouraged to adopt the ACM, adapting it as necessary to local circumstances and using it as the basis for developing training and education curricula as appropriate. This project will operate as an open network, and additional partners from IMS regions with expertise in automation competencies will be actively encouraged to participate.
Several IMS partners expressed their interest in being part of the ACM Network, and are joining the ACMN project, including Switzerland’s University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI) Institute CIM for Sustainable Innovation (ICIMSI); Mexico’s Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM); and Mexico’s government agency, ProMéxico.

Organizations interested in learning more about or becoming a part of the ACMN, should contact Mike Marlowe, Automation Federation managing director/director of government relations, at mmarlowe@automationfederation.org.