Databases
Before I get into today’s topic I’d like to mention a software project I am working on. For those of you who have subscribed to my blog via Mastering The Machine or otherwise, I have already sent you an e-mail. …
Author: Frank
Electrical Engineer and business owner from the Nashville, Tennessee area. I also play music, Chess and Go.
Raytheon Missile Material Handling Application
In my previous life as a project engineer at Wright Industries (a Doerfer company), I worked on some projects that I couldn’t talk much about, being either government-related or potentially breaching confidentiality agreements. The project discussed in this post was …
Excel – Automate your Automation
Probably the most useful tool I have in my arsenal when doing preliminary design is Microsoft Excel. In many of the projects I have worked on over the last couple of years since I left Wright, the company I was …
CAD and Wire Numbers
Today’s topic concerns an area that affects engineers, technicians and sometimes even office personnel and yes, management. A major part of building anything involves accurately designing and describing the thing that is to be built. If all of the required …
Genba
Have you ever been to Genba? Let me take you to a mystical, wonderful land that far too many people overlook in their travels. Genba is a Japanese word that means “the actual (or the real) place”. To understand a …
Ladder Logic 302: Data Tracking and Structure Data Type
Today’s post is the second “advanced” topic I have covered on PLC ladder logic, The first being toggle circuits. It is often necessary to track data on individual parts through a machine or production line. If using devices like barcode/datamatrix …
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A Change of Direction
For the past 20 years I have been involved in the automation and machine-building industry in one form or another. In 1996 when I had a lot more energy and less common sense, I started my own integration business that …
Efficiency and Multitasking
There is a great emphasis in today’s workplace on getting more done in less time. In simplified terms efficiency as it relates to individual productivity is the amount (or cost) of work performed in a given period of time. While …
Ladder Logic 301: Toggle
Today’s post is the first “advanced” topic I have covered in this blog. By advanced, I mean that rather than covering basic information on Ladder Logic and program structure like I did in my 100 Series, or general programming routines …
Your Career…
So… what do you do? Whenever I travel and meet new people this is a question I regularly get asked. It used to be a fairly simple question to answer… “I sell automation equipment”, or “I run a small machine …