Today was the busiest day so far. I heard one booth’s denizen remark that Monday was the worst Monday ever. He blamed the weather; it was a beautiful sunny day. Someone else said that Germans hate to travel on Mondays and Fridays. (I’m hoping they’re right about the Friday part since I have to take the train to Frankfurt Friday). Organizers of the PI booth weren’t quite so pessimistic. Tuesday was definitely busy and this morning was wall-to-wall people.
The PI booth is all-new this year. I especially like the 10-foot tall PROFINET wall made of translucent glass. It has 91 devices from 22 manufacturers arranged from controllers on top, through drives in the middle, to IO on the bottom. I like it, but looking up at the controllers gives me a crick in my neck.
Unfamiliar to North American show attendees is the concept of the “Automation Lounge.” Upstairs above the presentation theater is a bar. (Yes, you can have a beer there in the afternoon.) And it’s an excellent place to sit down and discuss the latest news.
We had a couple interesting dinner conversations. We learned the location of the avant-garde restaurant where the service includes a massage (in the train station). We heard the latest takeover rumor. (No, it was not that Schneider was increasing their participation in ODVA prior to buying Rockwell. I didn’t hear that rumor until day 4.) We talked about blogging. Is it passé? What’s next? Podcasts? Video? Hmm, video. This prompted me to try taking a few short videos – stay tuned for Day 4 blogging with videos. Day 4 ended but I’m a day behind on the blogging. What I need is more meetings and more business dinners and less sleep (not).