Denmark
Karsten Schneider, PI Chairman, in Denmark
Our international chairman was invited to the “Digital Connectivity in Manufacturing” SESAM Seminar as a keynote speaker, where Mr. Schneider will talk about TSN in PROFINET. Another speaker at the conference is Stefan Hoppe, Vice President of the OPC Foundation. The conference will take place in Copenhagen on March 1st.
Two-Day PROFINET Course
PROFIBUS Denmark members have the opportunity to attend a two-day PROFINET course on May 2-3, 2018. The course is organized in cooperation with Au2mate in Silkeborg. Au2mate develops automation and industrial IT solutions and expanded its activities in 2016 with an education department, Au2mate Academy.
The course takes place in Danish, and the course is a combination of theory and practical exercises. Upon registration with the PROFIBUS Denmark secretary, one participant from each member company will get the course at a price of DKK 1,600. More information at www.profibus.dk. If the course gets sold out, we expect to repeat the same course later this year.
Brazil
Brazil Users Meeting
The first Users Meeting of PROFIBUS / PROFINET / IO-LINK / and AS-INTERFACE organized by PI Brasil took place last October. The event brought together managers of associated and invited companies, both users or those aiming to use the technologies soon. It featured demonstrations of PROFIBUS and PROFINET, based on those looking for improvements in manufacturing processes and integration with Industry 4.0, thus helping to increase the competitiveness of industries.
The meeting also allowed members to join, and they were able to freely display products and distribute informative material in mini-stands set up next to the auditorium. In total, 13 companies participated: Authomathika, Balluff, Baumier, Cabos LAPP, DLG Automation, Envisia, Festo, IFM, Pepperl + Fuchs, Sense, Sick, Toledo & Souza, and Westcon.
PROFINET and PROFIBUS Seminars
In September, PI Brasil held seminars in two units of Raízen and another at Special Dog, to promote the PROFIBUS and PROFINET technologies. On Sep 26th the Barra unit of Raízen Energia in the city of Barra Bonita brought together 28 local professionals and others from the Bonfim, Santa Helena, São Francisco, Costa Pinto, Santa Cândida and Ipaussu power plants. Professionals from electrical maintenance, instrumentation, automation managers, industrial operations, and automation analysts attended the event.
On Wednesday Sep 27th, the Special Dog Foundation, located in Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, hosted the seminar. Besides the employees themselves, professionals from other companies in the region were invited to participate. Fifteen professionals, including automation technicians, engineers, maintenance managers, instrumentalists, electromechanics, supervisors, and IT analysts, gave presentations in the morning. The presentations were: Fundamentals of Profibus DP / PA Technology; Good Practices for Installing Profibus Industrial Networks; Asset Management; and Profinet Technology Overview.
Canada
2017 was JCOM Automation Inc.’s first full year of operation as a certified PROFIBUS training center and what a year for training! They had 14 training classes from Vancouver to St. John’s and many points in between: Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Toronto, Sudbury, Peterborough, and Montreal. Most of the training classes were the PROFIBUS troubleshooting and maintenance course. Also, two certified PROFIBUS DP and PA network engineering classes and two Essential Ethernet training classes were conducted. The Ethernet training class is a crash course on Industrial Ethernet and gives you the essential information on what you need to know to implement a project on different Industrial Ethernet protocols. Interestingly enough (and no surprise to PI), when you put the protocols side by side you really see the strength of PROFINET!
India
UL Group, the PICC (Profibus International Competence Centre) of India, on 19th& 20th, January 2018 was invited for a Vendor Meet held at TATA STEEL LTD. (TSL), under the theme “Success through Technology Partnership”. The main purpose of this event was to share a common platform with their Suppliers, Contractors, Consultants, and Service Providers and to chart out a course for the future, considering both the expectations and capabilities of their organizations.
As a step in meeting this goal, UL Group provided every solution in the field of PROFIBUS including products, training, maintenance services, and solutions, all under one roof. TATA STEEL appreciated UL Group’s more than 10 years of incessant promotion of PROFIBUS in their plants and also in general as the desired technology for Indian industry. UL Group was recognized as the most dependable vendor neutral and technology-focused front-runners for PROFIBUS.
UL Group is an active member of PI in India and continued their enthusiastic contribution through membership drives, free technology seminars, and participation in exhibitions in last year.