To understand our goals for 2016, it helps to look back on 2015, a year of milestones reached and surpassed. Some involved big numbers, like passing the 10 million node count for PROFINET. Others were more intangible, like our broad coverage in the trade press.
Lunch for 1,263 please. In 2015, PI North America fed 1,263 students lunch at the 17 PROFINET one-day training classes. A similar crowd is expected in 2016. Industrie 4.0, Internet of Things, and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) are everywhere now, including these PROFINET classes. Additional classes and events include the fee-based PROFIsafe Designer Training coming in March. Become a “Certified PROFIsafe Designer" by passing the tests there.
Often students at the PROFINET one-day training classes wish for a hands-on experience. Given the class sizes, this is not practical. For an in-depth, hands-on class, PI offers Certified Network Engineer classes. read more about these week-long classes. New in North America are customized Developer classes offered by the PIC. These classes are tailored to individual development teams who are adding PROFINET to their product.
Why have an entire section of PROFINEWS dedicated to Regional News? It matters for three reasons. First, it shows the strength of the PI organization on a global scale. Second, if you are a device vendor, it encourages you to explore other such markets with the expectation of local support. And finally, if you are an end-user, it assures that if you start operations in another country there are already experts in place.
PI Middle-East held a successful PROFIday in Dubai, UAE in November. Topics included PROFIBUS system design and PROFINET network validation with experts from around the world. Another event is planned for January in Sohar, Oman. Register today!
The adoption of PROFIBUS and PROFINET in Brazil is growing rapidly. Two multi-billion dollar companies, Ambev, the world's fifth largest beer producer and Raizen, one of the world's largest sugar and ethanol producers, are both investing in the technologies.
HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College, has become the first American school to join Phoenix Contact’s EduNet program. EduNet is an international education network that brings together schools and industry in the field of automation technology. The EduNet program includes donating equipment for the lab. This gives students hands-on access to several Phoenix Contact ILC controller and PROFINET starter kits, the same type of equipment they might use once they graduate and work on the manufacturing floor.
News this month from: Germany, where a successful PROFIsafe workshop was held; Italy and Poland, with IO-Link workshops; France, who is hosting three events in early December; and Australia, where they prepare for the 2016 Automation Innovation Summit.
