PROFIblog

Sep 11 2008

Escaping Ike

loading… San Antonio was a good venue for the PROFIBUS class this week.  But I was happy to leave before any hurricanes headed there (or missed it or went elsewhere).  The class seemed typical, but the course evaluations always surprise me some.  The surprise here was that 3-4 people said the class was “too long.” …

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Sep 8 2008

PTO GAM Report 2008

loading… [Updated] Time continues to fly by.  The PTO General Assembly Meeting was over a month ago and I’m just finding time to report on it now.  You didn’t really have to wait though since Control Engineering reported on it as it ended: “PTO reports high growth, cross-industry collaboration.”  And Automation World wasn’t far behind:…

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Aug 17 2008

Training Classes

loading… Where has the time gone?!  It feels like I just got back from the Siemens Automation Summit and now it’s three weeks later.  In between then and now, we’ve had a PROFINET one-day training class here in Scottsdale followed by a PROFINET Developer Workshop here.  Oh, we had our 14th annual PTO General Assembly…

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Jul 25 2008

Automation Summit 2008

loading… I’m spending Friday afternoon in an airport again, Chicago O’Hare Airport.  I’m on my way home from the Siemens Automation Summit. It was held on Chicago’s Navy Pier this year.  The trade press was here and you will find their reports on their respective web sites and blogs.  They report on the major speakers…

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Jul 18 2008

Mature Convergence with IT?

loading… After posing the rhetorical question: “Why then, have a minority of industrial users developed mature convergence with IT systems in the present competitive environment?” the article in Industrial Ethernet Book, “Converging IT with industrial networks,” goes on to provide some suggestions for fostering that convergence.  Another way to promote that convergence – invite your…

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Jul 7 2008

IT, Automation, and Security

loading… “The war between plant operations and IT is over. Here’s a look at the major trends in information technology that are having a direct and growing impact on plant operations.” So begins Rob Spiegel’s article “Blending Plant Operations with Enterprise Management” in Automation World.  While I think his assessment is a little ahead of…

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Jun 30 2008

So an engineer walks into a theme park…

loading… So an engineer walks into a theme park and while the kids are waiting in line for the kids’ coaster he carefully analyzes the mechanical construction details and postulates how the controls work.  Mechanically, it’s round tubular steel tracks, supported by round steel tubular columns.  The columns are embedded in cement footers with a…

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Jun 19 2008

“And the winner is…”

loading… An attendee from our Anaheim PROFINET one-day training event made a comment to my blogged report which I’m promoting to this post to answer: “As a former automation engineering in the process industries, and a DeltaV user, I have been pre-programmed to believe that FF was the only way.  After a few years in…

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Jun 17 2008

Offhand Noise Comment

loading… Funny coincidence: yesterday I mentioned using fiber optics for noise immunity (and thinking I probably should have expanded that thought) and today’s email brings reference to an article at Control Design, “More Than a Backbone.”  The article meets my deserves-a-mention criteria by presenting some useful information… and using one of my favorite p-words –…

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Jun 16 2008

Anaheim PROFINET Training Report

loading… It was old-home week for me last week in Anaheim.  I lived in Orange County from 1994 until 2000 while working at Wonderware.  So after catching up with some other Wonderware alumni on Tuesday, it was off to the training class on Wednesday. I think we have these PROFINET training sessions down pat, but…

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