In 2013, not long after leaving Wright Industries and going back out on my own, I taught my first PLC class for Automation Training, a Canadian company. I drove to Raleigh, NC, unpacked the equipment and set it up. It …
Everything that is accomplished in industrial automation requires design. It may be written on a napkin, but there is still thought required before starting a project. Industrial Automation Design Tools: CAD: My first CAD tool that I used was Autosketch, …
When I started my first company in 1996, I would take just about any job that came my way. At first, these were generally small jobs modifying PLC code or adding features to machines. Two of these jobs stick out …
I am an entrepreneur. I have worked for myself for 22 of the last 28 years, and have had to dodge and pivot often along the way. Sometimes I try new ideas (like starting the Automation Academy site 4 years …
As with any field of study, industrial automation and system integration requires specific skills that need to be mastered to progress to the next stage of learning.
OEE, or Overall Equipment Effectiveness, is the percentage of manufacturing time that is productive. It is composed of three parts: Availability – The percentage of time the process is running during planned production time Performance – The percentage of production …
I recorded this video while driving from my home in Lebanon, Tennessee to visit a customer in Knoxville. It is the day before the one-year anniversary of the tornado, and I just kind of discussed the stuff that I have …
As I approach the one year anniversary of the tornado and the onset of Covid-19, I can’t help but think of how my training approach has changed. Automation Training classes have been few and much smaller, and of course they …
In 2013, I created a document called Mastering the Machine, a 26 page e-book about planning and building a machine or production line with an emphasis on documentation. I had just started my business again after spending 6 years working …
If someone asks me what I do and I answer “System Integration”, sometimes I get a blank stare. System Integration is defined in Engineering as bringing together the component subsystems into one system and ensuring that the subsystems function together …
