This month there is news from PI UK, PI Germany, PI South Africa, and PI Australia. PI UK is supporting UK’s first Industry 4.0 Summit and reports on their recent Manchester seminar. PI Germany celebrates well-attended seminars in 2016 and looks forward to 2017. PI South Africa announces a new PI Training Center. PI Australia in cooperation with University of Technology, Sydney announces a seminar introducing Industry 4.0.
PI Brazil has had a full slate of meetings and activities including some featuring PI Chairman, Karsten Schneider. On November 9, PI Italy held their final PROFIBUS and PROFINET event of 2016 in the industrial district in southern Italy. PI Middle East is hosting another PROFIday featuring the food and beverage industry on November 15.
The PI North America "year" revolves around our annual General Assembly Meeting held every September here in Scottsdale, AZ. This year's installment marks the 22nd anniversary, since the organization was founded as the PROFIBUS Trade Organization in 1994. With the 2016 GAM now in our rearview mirror, we can reflect on the progress made during the year leading up to, and during the event.
The General Assembly Meeting is an opportunity to meet face-to-face with members, end-users, and the press. Principally an open forum for discussion, the event provides members with access to other members in a noncompetitive setting. This year was particularly engaging with many notable presentations on the current state of the organization as well as its future direction.
In addition to providing our members with a forum for discussion about past and future activities, the General Assembly Meeting is an opportunity to hear from end-users. End users present their cutting edge applications using the PROFIBUS and PROFINET technologies. Of note were the number of case studies involving wireless and safety that push the boundaries of what's imaginable through automation.
News from Australia and India: PI Australia held their annual member meeting and looked back at the year’s achievements, including a new membership high. PI India demonstrated a seamless multivendor system at SPS Automation India 2016.
Highlighted this month: Australia has 30 certified PROFINET and PROFIBUS training classes scheduled for the remainder of 2016. PI Middle East has an upcoming seminar focused on food and beverage in their Dubai office. IO-Link has enhanced their workshops. And many classes are on the schedule for the balance of 2016.
PI North America hosts its annual members meeting starting September 27. Seats are still available. A new webinar “Introduction to PROFINET” has been archived. Free PROFINET one-day training classes in the USA continue after a summer break. PROFIsafe Certified Designer Training and PROFIsafe Refresher Seminar are scheduled in Germany but in the English language. Germany will be hosting a number of German language classes.
