ANN ARBOR, MI-The umbrella trade association for the Robotic Industries Association (RIA), AIA, and the Motion Control Association (MCA) has changed its name from the Automation Technologies Council to the Association for Advancing Automation (A3).

“The new name more accurately reflects our mission, which is to be the global advocate for the benefits of automation,” says Jeff Burnstein, president of A3.

“As an energetic voice for the need to automate, A3 will focus primarily on why automating is good,” says Rich Litt, outgoing Chair of A3 who officially announced the change at the opening of the collocated Robotics Industry Forum, AIA Business Conference and MCA Business Conference in Orlando on January 19.

“RIA, AIA, and MCA will continue to focus on how companies and organizations specifically can apply robots, vision and motion control,” Litt says. A3 currently represents more than 650 companies involved in automation from more than 30 nations.

The A3 Board of Directors consists of industry leaders from the robotics, vision and motion control industries. The 2012-13 Board will be chaired by Mike Cyros, Allied Vision Technologies, who succeeds Rich Litt of Genesis Systems. Other members include Dean Elkins, Motoman Robotics; Greg Hollows, Edmund Optics; Catherine Morris, ATI Automation; Rusty Ponce de Leon, Phase 1 Technology; Stu Shepherd, KUKA Robotics, and Andy Vogl, Kollmorgen. Jeff Burnstein of A3 also serves on the Board.

For more information on A3, contact association headquarters at (734) 994-6088. For information on RIA, visit Robotics Online atwww.robotics.org. For information on AIA, visit Vision Online atwww.visiononline.org. For information on MCA, visit Motion Control Online atwww.motioncontrolonline.org .