The U.S. manufacturing industry is experiencing a significant rise in demand for system integration services as companies double down on digital transformation initiatives. The integrator market is projected to reach more than $9.2 billion by 2029, according to intelligence firm Markets and Markets, but some remain cautiously optimistic as advances in AI could drastically change the profession.
In an exclusive interview, Adrienne Meyer, CEO of the Control System Integrators Association (CSIA), discusses the biggest challenges facing integrators, the industries providing the greatest opportunity, and how AI will change the integrator's role in manufacturing.
David Mantey: What is the Control System Integrators Association (CSIA)?
Adrienne Meyer, CEO of the Control System Integrators Association (CSIA)CSIA
CSIA serves its members through a combination of standards, certification, benchmarking, peer networking, education, and industry promotion. Members gain access to the CSIA Best Practices and Benchmarks Manual, a peer-developed body of knowledge covering areas such as project management, cybersecurity, quality systems, financial management, and organizational leadership. The association also provides conferences, peer-to-peer education, networking, business benchmarking data, and the globally recognized CSIA Certification program that validates a system integrator's business and management practices through an independent audit. Through engaging with CSIA and its resources, integrators reduce risk, improve performance, and better serve their industrial clients.
DM: How has CSIA worked to advance the control system integration industry?
AM: CSIA has helped transform system integration from a largely informal technical service into a recognized professional discipline with established business and project management standards. Most notably, as mentioned above, the association has developed and continuously improved its best practices framework, giving integrators a roadmap for building sustainable, scalable businesses. By promoting proven practices in areas such as project execution, quality management, and service delivery, CSIA has helped elevate expectations for the entire industry.
Alongside this, CSIA has created a global community where integrators openly share lessons learned, work to benchmark performance, and collaborate on solutions to common challenges. The association's certification program has further advanced the profession by providing manufacturers with an independent way to identify integrators that meet high standards for business management and operational excellence. By helping to strengthen system integration businesses, CSIA also strengthens the manufacturers that depend on them.
DM: What are the biggest challenges currently facing your membership?
AM: When manufacturers pursue digital transformation initiatives that often combine industrial automation, cloud technologies, data analytics, cybersecurity, AI, and more, integrators are the key resource to help them complete these initiatives across an increasingly complex technology landscape. However, integrators themselves must stay current across these evolving multiple domains while managing their businesses successfully, navigating project risk, supply chain uncertainties, and evolving cybersecurity requirements.
To be successful, the core of any successful integration firm is its people. From my conversations around the country with integrators and the feedback we’ve received from our membership, it is clear that one of the most significant challenges facing many system integrators today is talent. Demand for automation expertise continues to grow, but the industry – like most of industrial automation – is faced with gaps due to retirement and a need to continuously fill a pipeline with qualified individuals. Recruiting, developing, and retaining talent has become a strategic priority across much of the industry.
DM: What industries provide the most opportunity?
AM: Recent industry data suggests that the outlook for system integrators remains strong overall. According to the J.P. Morgan/CSIA System Integrator Survey released to CSIA members in February 2026, several sectors are showing particularly strong momentum, including data centers, defense and military applications, semiconductor and electronics manufacturing, power and energy, and life sciences.
In particular (and probably no surprise to any reader), the opportunities at data centers are being fueled by the rapid expansion of AI computing, cloud infrastructure investment, and broader digitalization initiatives. These sectors require sophisticated automation, controls, cybersecurity, and data integration expertise, creating significant opportunities for system integrators. While the market will continue to evolve, these growth drivers position system integrators to play an increasingly critical role in helping industry navigate complexity, accelerate innovation, and realize the full value of digital transformation.
DM: How will the use of AI change an integrator's role in the manufacturing industry?
AM: AI will become another powerful tool in the system integrator's toolkit, but it will not replace the need for integrators. In manufacturing, AI has enormous potential to accelerate engineering work, improve predictive maintenance, optimize production, enhance quality inspection, and generate actionable insights from industrial data. As these capabilities mature, integrators will increasingly be asked to work with AI-enabled solutions within the context of an operation's broader automation architecture.
Therefore, the growth of AI adoption will only drive more value and importance to working with a quality system integrator. This is because manufacturers do not simply need AI models; they need trusted partners who can connect operational technology, information technology, cybersecurity, business processes, and human workflows into a complete solution. Integrators understand how factories operate, how control systems interact, and how technology decisions affect safety, reliability, and business performance.
System integrators will play a central role in ensuring AI delivers practical, measurable outcomes in industrial environments, and manufacturers can turn to the CSIA membership to ensure they are working with an integrator who has the infrastructure to support their projects today, tomorrow, and well into the future.
