“Speakers excellent and provided relevant knowledge without the company blurb! “

That was the comment from Kris Hardaker of United Utilities, reflecting the overall opinion of the nearly 70 delegates that registered for our PROFIBUS, PROFINET and IO-Link seminar held on Feb 25th at the Manufacturing Technology Centre, Coventry.

The second event of its type in the UK, this free-to-attend seminar addressed the key practical issues arising from the use of digital communications technologies in automated manufacturing and process industry applications. It was supported by a table top exhibition of the latest products from some 10 of our member companies, who were kept very busy in the breaks.

Covering the use of PROFIBUS, PROFINET and IO-Link in key application areas such as pulp & paper, chemical, utilities, pharmaceutical, packaging, printing, electrical and electronics assembly, robotics, automotive engineering, mechanical handling and logistics, control systems and energy management, the seminar focused on the practical aspects of using these technologies, from system design and safety considerations through to maintenance and fault-finding.

Supported by demonstrations of the actual tools used in configuration and maintenance, these seminar are of great value to Designers, Production/System Engineers, Instrument Technicians/Engineers and C&I Engineers involved in design, operation and maintenance of modern automated factories and process plant.

Here are a few more comments from attendees:

This day was very worthwhile for me as an introduction/taster, being new to the detailed subject matter. I hope to follow up with some hands-on training. At the moment I am not sure when that could be. I enjoyed all the presentations – we are lucky to have had these speakers which were all excellent – and felt that the venue was ideal. I spoke with Bob on a couple of occasions which was interesting and encouraging. Thank you once again, and to the whole team thanks for a great day. – Seumas MacLaren, WS Atkins
Very good. – Derry Falkner, Fives Landis
Great event, very interesting – Venue great. – Mark Harrison, Siemens
Very good. Excellent venue. – J R Hoggarth, MCS Control Systems
Very useful update and refresher seminar. – Ian Moss, CSV Controls Ltd
Very well organised and presented. – J B Stevens, MCS Control Systems
Great, thanks! – Martin Kidman, Sick (UK) Ltd
Very good. – Eddie Hickinbotham, Ocado
Great event, lots of useful information. – Adam Knowles, Ocado
Very good. – Mark Bunten, Cougar Automation
10/10. – Paul Considine, Wieland, Germany.
Very good. – Rob Carr, Dematic
Very professional. – D Edwards, Dematic

Don’t miss our next seminar!

Following the undoubted success of the first 2 of these events, we will be organising a number of follow up events during 2016. Click here to join the mailing list to ensure that you are kept informed of when and where these will be.

To give you an idea of what was/will be covered, here is the agenda from the Coventry event:

09.00	Coffee and Registration
09:30	Introduction and Profibus & Profinet Update	Bob Squirrell
09.55	PROFIBUS – Commissioning and Maintenance	Richard Needham
10.35	PROFINET Network Acceptance Testing	Peter Thomas
11.15	Coffee
11.35	Current Trends involving PROFIsafe	Peter Brown
12.15	PROFIBUS and PROFINET – System Design	Andy Verwer
12.55	Lunch
13.35	Device Calibration and Maintenance on a PROFIBUS PA Network	Andy Verwer
14.15	PROFINET for IoT, IIoT and Industry 4.0	Derek Lane
14.45	An introduction to IO-Link and its integration with programmable control systems	Peter Thomas
15.25	Summary/Questions
15.30	Close