NEWS
SAGE Group has secured double honours at the 2025 Inductive Automation Ignition Community Conference (ICC), taking home two Firebrand Awards, celebrating both technical leadership and community impact.
The Ignition Discover Gallery is a video showcase of the most innovative global solutions that utilise Ignition, Inductive Automation’s SCADA and IIoT platform. Projects that achieve high scores from the technical evaluation committee are awarded a prestigious Firebrand Award.
SAGE Group was recognised with a Firebrand Award for the digital transformation of the legacy Airport Management System at Sydney Airport, Australia’s busiest airport.
Sydney Airport welcomes more than 44 million passengers through its three terminals each year, with 59 carriers (domestic and international) providing services to the airport.
The Airport Management System is critical to the safe operation of the airport, connecting areas such as water supply, lighting, aerobridges and elevators.
Pictured L-R: Nick Minchin of SAGE Automation, Inductive Automation Chief Technology Evangelist
Travis Cox, and Engineering Systems and Technology Manager for SAGE Group, Steven Bailey,
accepting the Firebrand Award for the Sydney Airport project.
The AMS upgrade project involved replacing aging SCADA and historian platforms with a new system that integrates with more than 630 field devices.
The result is a unified, intuitive system that improves operational visibility and enhances cybersecurity.
See the full project outline and hear from the project team in the Discover Gallery.
Nick Minchin, Senior Systems Engineer at SAGE Automation, was the recipient of the 2025 Community Impact Firebrand Award, an award recognising valuable contributions to the IA Community.
Pictured L-R: Inductive Automation Chief Technology Evangelist Travis Cox with Nick Minchin,
Senior Systems Engineer at SAGE Automation, and this year's recipient of the Community Impact
Firebrand Award.
For more than a decade, Nick has been implementing Ignition for SAGE clients during the day, then jumping on to the IA Forum later at night to help someone halfway across the planet, purely because he wants to.
Nick is known as an accomplished Senior Systems Engineer at SAGE Automation and has now been recognised for his significant contributions to the IA Forum, for mentoring engineers and engaging with community members from all over the world.
Nick’s knowledge comes from the sheer amount of time he spends developing solutions and solving challenges in live Ignition projects. Under Nick's mentorship, SAGE Automation has grown from having two Ignition developers to supporting around 90 engineers with Ignition experience.
His passion for making Ignition the best product possible has seen him make more than 200 feature requests and close to 300 bug reports.
In 2024, with the help of the Inductive Automation Australia team, SAGE arranged a simple meet-and-greet at Inductive Automation’s Folsom HQ with Chief Technology Evangelist Travis Cox and Chief Technology Architect Kevin McClusky. What the Inductive team didn’t realise was that Nick had spent the flight from Australia compiling a 13-page list detailing how Ignition could be better.
Learn more about Nick’s contributions to Ignition in the Discover Gallery.
Ignition has been gaining momentum in the industrial environment in recent years. Across the SAGE Group companies, more than 120 Ignition projects have been completed for clients across manufacturing, energy, water and mining.
“We’re so incredibly proud of the recognition of the exceptional work of our engineers, the project team working with Sydney Airport, and Nick Minchin, at this year’s ICC Firebrand Awards. These achievements are a testament to the expertise and dedication of our team, who consistently deliver innovative solutions that make a real difference for our clients and the wider community,” said Adrian Fahey, SAGE Group Managing Director.
"I’m grateful for our clients and project partners who make ambitious projects possible, and for our ongoing partnership with Inductive Automation. This recognition at ICC reflects SAGE Group’s depth of experience with critical infrastructure and manufacturing across Australia, and our proven track record with Ignition SCADA projects,” said Mr Fahey.
SAGE achieved Premier Integrator status with Inductive Automation in 2019, meeting the highest standards for training, certifications, and successful Ignition deployments.
With this latest recognition, SAGE Group continues to build on its history of delivering results that matter across critical infrastructure.
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