The Big Toys
Hello from Atlanta, Georgia where I am about to teach a 4 day class on Siemens’ TIA Portal. I have been away from home for two weeks trying to finish up my project down at American Beverage Depot in Miami …
Author: Frank
Electrical Engineer and business owner from the Nashville, Tennessee area. I also play music, Chess and Go.
Wonderware
As many of you know from reading this blog, I spend about 40% of my time teaching software programming classes for Automation Training, a Canadian company. I started out teaching the Allen-Bradley SLC and ControlLogix platforms and Siemens Step 7 …
Random Thoughts 2
Today’s post is written entirely out of guilt. I have been in Minnesota teaching a Siemens PLC class for the past week, but before that I was actually home in Nashville for two weeks straight. So there’s really no excuse …
Non-Native Devices: .eds and .gsd files
When designing a control system, sometimes it becomes necessary or advantageous to communicate with devices that were not made by the PLC manufacturer. If these devices need to be placed on an Ethernet, DeviceNet or Profibus network there are methods …
Finding Project Resources
When mapping out a new machinery or system project it is critical that the correct decisions are made before beginning design. The choices of products, vendors and service providers can make or break a project before it even gets off …
Ladder Logic 303: PLC Forensics
Today’s topic involves a project I have been working on over the last few months. The project consists of adding process equipment including tanks, pumps, valves and instrumentation to an existing system… while it is running. Because production runs 24 …
On Site Panelbuilding
Hello from Miami again! I do feel bad for all of you who are stuck in the frozen Northland, my home town near Nashville, Tennessee is supposed to get 8-12 inches of snow in the next couple of days. Its …
Applications and Inventions
This week’s post is intended to explain a little bit about the applications process machine builders use when quoting custom machinery. Just because a machine is customized to produce a specific product doesn’t mean it is unique or necessarily qualifies …
SCADA and HMIs
I often get asked when teaching my Siemens and Allen-Bradley classes the difference between SCADA systems and HMIs. While there can be some overlap, especially now with enhanced HMI capabilities on CE computers or thin clients, there are some fairly …
Automate 2015
Back before I got into the integration and machine building business, I worked for a couple of different controls distributors/manufacturer’s representatives. Prior to the invention of the internet by Al Gore, industrial trade shows were the best way for vendors …