The future of Water Industry Process Automation & Control

Water Industry Process Automation & Control is a LinkedIn Group that started in May 2011. Since then, as a niche group, it has grown considerably in size and has a dedicated following of almost 7,700 members. As well as the normal activities of a LinkedIn Group where discussions of very aspects of the professional world are debated on a daily basis the group has been publishing a monthly magazine, WIPAC Monthly, almost since the beginning.

A few months ago, as the group manager, I announced that the group would be growing beyond the boundaries of LinkedIn (but still staying true to its roots) by launching as a membership organisation. The first of these stages was to relaunch the group website which was done cheaply in the very early days of the group with very little knowledge of how to build a website. This first stage has mostly been done now (although websites such as this are never really complete) and the website (in an unfinished form) has been launched and is available now at www.wipac.org.uk

The website offers a number of things freely to anyone including:

• Industry news relevant to the group's membership centered around the aspects of inline instrumentation, Big Data, analytics and all aspects of Water 4.0
• The WIPAC Directory allowing people in the industry to select the technologies that they are looking for and search the members of the group to see which companies sell which measurement technologies as well as seeing details about the companies themselves in company feature pages.
• Industry events of both WIPAC and other associated organisations including the Sensors for Water Interest Group (SWIG), WWEM and WEX Global
• There are also details about What WIPAC does including organising the WWEM Instrumentation Apprentice Competition, the WIPAC Flow Forum and the WIPAC Learning Zone which are all due to take place on 21st & 22nd of November at WWEM
• There is also all the details of what the organisation is all about how to join the WIPAC Membership organisation including the formation of a Board of Directors for the company which will initially be formed from six supply chain companies who will in turn decide on how to form the rest of the board from the members of the company.

There is of course more work to do and partnerships are being formed to strengthen the organisation as a whole and the website in particular with a whole section on knowledge management still to complete although development plans are in place for completion before the New Year. As the membership grows the WIPAC Directory will grow in strengthen and depth with more choice for visitors to the website as the number of showcase pages grow.

There are also plans for WIPAC Events with workshops and webinars planned for next year for the membership to benefit from and attend.

What all of these shows the journey that LinkedIn Groups can achieve through the hard work of some really dedicated group managers.

If your in the Water Industry then visit the website and see what you think but bear in mind its in its beginning stages. Any comments will be gratefully received...