Guide to the Automation Body of Knowledge

Nicholas P. Sands, PE, CAP, ISA Fellow, is currently a senior manufacturing technology fellow with more than 27 years at DuPont, working in a variety of automation roles at several different businesses and plants. He has helped develop several company standards and best practices in the areas of automation competency, safety instrumented systems, alarm management, and process safety. Sands has been involved with the International Society of Automation (ISA) for more than 25 years, working on standards committees, including ISA18, ISA101, ISA84, and ISA105, as well as training courses, the ISA Certified Automation Professional (CAP) certification, and section and division events. His path to automation started when he earned a BS in chemical engineering from Virginia Tech.Ian Verhappen, P Eng, CAP, ISA Fellow, has a BS in chemical engineering with a focus on process control. His career has included stints in all three aspects of the automation industry: end user, supplier, and engineering consultant. Verhappen has been an active ISA volunteer for more than 25 years, learning from and sharing his knowledge with other automation professionals as an author, presenter, international speaker, and volunteer leader. Through a combination of engineering work, standards committee involvement, and a desire for continuous learning, Verhappen has been involved in all facets of the process automation industry from field devices, including process analyzers, to controllers to the communication networks connecting these elements together. A Guide to the Automation Body of Knowledge is a small way to share this continuous learning and pass along the expertise gained from all those who have helped develop the body of knowledge used to edit this edition.