Once in a while, I get to say something I really am pleased about. This press release from GE has been a very long time in coming.
Charlie Gifford and I have been friends for many years, and we've worked together on projects long before we began our respective current employments. Charlie is one of the most underappreciated automation and MES experts in the entire world. Many people use his work, and many people have no idea it was Charlie who came up with the ideas in the first place.
Way to go, Charlie. You deserve this.
GE Fanuc's Charlie Gifford Receives Outstanding Contribution Award From MESA
Association Promoting Innovation and Best Practices In Operations-Centric Enterprise Solutions Recognizes Achievement In Technical Initiatives and Work
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA, NOVEMBER 5, 2007
GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms, a unit of GE Enterprise Solutions, today announced that Charlie Gifford, GE Fanuc's Director of Lean Production Management, was presented with the MESA Outstanding Contribution Award - Technical Content 2007 at the organization's annual conference in Orlando, Florida.
MESA International is an association of manufacturers/producers, solution providers and industry professionals, promoting innovation and best practices sharing, with a goal of delivering valuable knowledge around operations-centric enterprise solutions. The award is presented by the MESA Board of Directors and committee chairs representing industry and thought leaders from across the manufacturing enterprise solutions arena.
"It is a great honor to present this award to Charlie Gifford," said Matt Bauer, Chairman of the MESA International Board of Directors. "The association's efforts are focused on information technology use to support the real-time events occurring during the production process. Charlie's work serves to further these efforts and benefits all of our members."
"Charlie is one of the foremost experts in integration standards in the industrial marketplace and is well known throughout the industry for his work with MESA, ISA and other industry associations and standards," said Sheila Kester, Director of Production Management Solutions for GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms. "He plays a critical role in the industry and within GE Fanuc by translating industry and customer needs into practical standards and Best Practices. His tireless efforts are greatly appreciated within GE Fanuc and by our customer base."
Gifford has been a representative on MESA's Technical Committee for many years in addition to his standards work:
"¢ Chairman, ISA-95 Best Practices Working Group
"¢ Chairman, ISA-95 Part 4 Quality Ops Mgt Working Group
"¢ Member B2MML/BatchML Working Group
"¢ Alternate Voting Member, ISA-88
"¢ Voting Member on ISA-95 and ISA-99 Committees
"¢ ISA-95 Representative for ISA-95/SCOR Alignment Working Group
"¢ Representative, Mfg Interoperability Guideline Working Group
"¢ Representative, NIST Smart Assembly Working Group
In addition, he speaks, teaches classes and authors papers for MESA on the areas of ISA-95 Best Practices, Justifying Plant Systems, Developing a Metrics Framework and more. And, he is the chief editor and contributing author of The Hitchhiker Guide to Operations Management, ISA-95 Best Practices Book 1.0.
"I am very proud to have received this award and to be recognized for promoting technical knowledge in the industry," said Gifford. "My efforts on behalf of GE Fanuc are designed to maximize the potential of our solutions' work on behalf of our customers."
