If You’re New to Manufacturing Automation…

If you haven’t been around the manufacturing floor like I have for the last forty years, let me give you some advice. I’m a guy that loves to learn. I’ve learned Chi Kong, Tai Chi, scuba diving and meditation. I’ve studied the adrenal system, brain function and dysfunction and why we love. I have very eclectic tastes. I read once that a woman’s brain, when pregnant with her first child, shrinks, reconfigures itself and expands again with a neuronal network optimized for motherhood. Isn’t that wonderous? Isn’t that an incredible little factoid? Along with deep study of OPC UA, EtherNet/IP and PROFINET IO, I’ve learned thousands of interesting little factoids.

I know about all those technologies and all those interesting little facts because I read a lot. My mother tells me that I always wanted her to read to me. I not only like to read, I go to seminars, I have marketing, sales and life coaches and I watch a YouTube video almost every day.

Take this to heart: Continuous training is absolutely critical to your success in life. One idea in a video might improve your health or your relationship. One sentence in a book can lead you to a new career. One page in a marketing newsletter can make you wealthy ($100,000 wealthy – it happened to me). One side conversation at a seminar can lead to a new product or business. Yes, all this costs money – especially when you don’t have money – but what’s it worth to you to have a new career, better health, improved relationship, new product, new business or an extra $100,000? You’re not getting any of that by doing the same things you did yesterday and the day before.

Continuous learning has been a part of my life for around 40 years. I’ve found it’s part of the fabric of every successful person’s life. If you want to be successful, healthy, gainfully employed or just want to enjoy life, you need to make it an integral part of your life, too.

That’s more true today than ever. More true in manufacturing than at any other time in history. There is a tsunami of massive cultural changes, vastly new customer requirements and innovative new networking technologies. There’s more coming: OPC UA, Time Sensitive Networking, PackML and Cloud based virtualization.

You could decide to close your eyes to all this – but I’ll guarantee it will just show up on your door stop when you least expect it and when your’re least prepared. But if you’re like me, you’ll want to get the foundation you need to handle what’s coming in the future. You’ll want to understand today’s technologies to position yourself to understand tomorrow’s technologies – the technologies that are going to dramatically change how we do business on the factory floor.

If that’s you, plan to be in Pewaukee, Wis., on May 9-10. When you come to this training, you’ll have a unique chance to go deep on all these foundational technologies: EtherNet/IP, Modbus TCP, PROFINET IO, ASCII communications and the secrets to PLC connectivity. Today, everything we do on the factory floor is centered on moving data – I/O, Networked data, ASCII data – in and out of PLCs. Before you can even think about where to go with these future technologies, you need to understand these foundational technologies.

This event is where you, as a relatively new person in manufacturing, can learn the basics of today’s technologies. It’s a unique, no holds barred event. We’re technology agnostic and we have no sacred cows. We’ll tell you what’s best about these technologies and where the warts are. It’s the only place where you’ll get it straight. You won’t get that from your distributor, PLC vendor or most technology providers.

Learning is key to your future success. It’s always been that way, but today technologies move faster than ever and this is a unique opportunity to get advanced training in all the key foundational automation technologies.

Your next step is to visit rtaautomation.com/product/rtatraining or call (800) 249-1612. It’s a small classroom setting with plenty of time for individual questions and instruction. You’ll even have time for private conversations about the unique challenges your company faces. We’ve offered this seminar before and it’s been a sellout, so don’t delay. Sign up for this unique training today.

John

PS – If you attend, I’ll tell you that story of how I made $100,000 from a one page email newsletter.