Inspired by a post last month about what happens in the free PROFINET One-Day Training Class, here is an accompanying summary of the PROFIBUS version.
Similarly, the class commences promptly at 8:30am. For me, however, the day starts a couple hours earlier. There are a lot of things to prepare: ensuring the continental breakfast is served, checking the audio and projectors, preparing the demonstration board, and so on. Attendees typically start arriving about an hour before class begins to get some coffee, fruit, and a doughnut. They’ll talk to the vendors, and/or start skimming the 150-plus page workbook we provide for every student.
The material begins with introductions: Who is PI North America? Who are the vendors at the class today? What knowledge of fieldbuses does the audience already have? After that, we quickly jump into an overview of PROFIBUS. If you’ve been to one of our classes before, you know we try very hard to make the material as vendor-neutral as possible and there is very little commercial content. As the class progresses, we dive ever deeper into the technical workings of PROFIBUS, without getting too far down into the bits and bytes.
By the time we reach the middle of the day, we’ve already taken a mid-morning break for everyone to stretch their legs, and we’re all getting a bit hungry for lunch. At this point we’re right in the middle of demonstrating the set-up a PROFIBUS DP network. However, nothing stops a nice deli-style buffet and a slice of dessert.
We organize the material in a fashion similar to how it is applied in the real world: Designing, Configuration, Installation, Commissioning, and Maintenance. Somewhere between lunch and another mid-afternoon break we finish up talking about PROFIBUS DP and go through the same steps with PROFIBUS PA. Finally there’s a brief section on PROFINET before wrapping up with a Resources section. The Resources portion highlights the vast landscape of Guides, Documentation, Brochures, App Stories, Webinars, White Papers, and Certified Training classes we offer.
To keep the mood light and entertaining we give away raffle prizes, quiz prizes, and in general try to mix in some good-natured humor. If you haven’t attended yet this year, check out the upcoming schedule and register to attend either a free PROFIBUS or PROFINET one-day training class.
–Michael Bowne