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. PROFINET provides the fundamental task of providing data to IIoT. (For a 46-second video explanation of the relationship between Industrie 4.0, IoT, IIoT, and PROFINET visit here.) PI North America calls this fundamental task the “PROFINET of Things” and it provides the framework for the class.
The class covers the range of applications that PROFINET is used with: factory, process, and motion control. PROFINET also has a depth of features and most of them are covered in the class.
Each application space and feature has its own section that includes an explanation of what it does and how it does it. The “how it does it” portion is not really required to use PROFINET, but the class is attended mostly by control engineers who want to know how. There are demonstrations using PROFINET devices, application stories, and competitive comparisons to round out the section.
The class has no prerequisites, but a minimal knowledge of Ethernet is expected. For those lacking that knowledge, a PI North America webinar called “An Introduction to Ethernet for Control Engineers” is recommended prior to attending.
For 2016, these cities have been selected (hyperlinked cities are open for registration the rest are in the process of being scheduled):
| CITY | 2016 DATE (CALENDAR WEEK) |
|---|---|
| San Diego, CA | Feb 2 |
| New Orleans, LA | Feb 18 |
| Silicon Valley, CA | Mar 1 |
| Kansas City, MO | Mar 15 |
| Greenville, SC | Mar 29 |
| Oklahoma City, OK | Apr 12 |
| Portland, OR | Apr 26 |
| Philadelphia, PA | May 10 |
| Milwaukee, WI | Jun 22 |
| Cincinnati, OH | Wk 24 |
| Cleveland, OH | Wk 35 |
| Boston, MA | Wk 41 |
| Nashville, TN | Wk 43 |
| Houston, TX | Wk 45 |
| Detroit, MI | Wk 47 |
| Jacksonville, FL | Wk 49 |
And Montreal, date TBD.
For a semi-serious look at how the cities are selected, visit the PROFIblog post “Picking PROFINET Cities.”
Still curious? This two-and-a-half minute video provides an outline of the class day:
PROFIsafe Certified Designer Training will be held in March in Germany. Prepare your staff to add PROFIsafe to your products with this English-language, fee-based class. Students that pass all tests will be certified as “Certified PROFIsafe Designers.” Details here.
For a list of global classes, visit our international website.