The Case for Properly Certified PROFIBUS and PROFINET training
- Widely recognised qualifications confirm competence in engineering, design, layout and installation of PROFIBUS or PROFINET networks
- Essential pre-requisite to being able to work on the PROFIBUS or PROFINET systems of many large organisations
- Many companies will only utilise Certified Profibus Engineers, so if you are not certified you could miss out on future business opportunities!
- Evidence that your systems will be fundamentally sound and well-engineered, resulting in low life cycle cost
- Help avoid costly installation problems from the outset
Want to ensure reliable and trouble-free PROFIBUS systems?
Adopt the PI Chain of Integrity:
- Use only Certified Products
- tested at Certified Test Labs
- Installed by Certified Installers
- managed by Certified Engineers,
- to systems designed by Certified System Designers,
- all trained and tested by Certified Trainers at
- Certified Training Centres using PI-approved training course material and Learning Outcomes
Start at the very beginning …
As a first but essential step make sure that your engineering team is properly qualified by having them all attend the Certified PROFIBUS Installer Course, which is a one-day course covering the layout, design, installation, and maintenance of PROFIBUS networks. Approved by PROFIBUS and PROFINET International (PI), this internationally accredited certified training is considered an essential pre-requisite to being able to work on the PROFIBUS systems of many large organisations in, for example, the Water Industry, Transport & Logistics, Energy and Defence.
Who should attend the course?
The course is not just for installers. It is recommended for anyone who is involved in the planning, design, layout, installation, and commissioning of PROFIBUS networks. Although centred on the most widely used fieldbus technology, PROFIBUS, most of the course is equally applicable to other fieldbus technologies.
No prior knowledge of fieldbus systems is required. However, even very experienced fieldbus engineers who have previously attended the course say that they have gained valuable knowledge on how to avoid problems.
The course is specified by many companies across a wide range of industries as a pre-requisite for anyone working on PROFIBUS systems. The course is also a pre-requisite for attending the Certified PROFIBUS Engineer course and the new (introduced 2015) Certified PROFIBUS System Design course.
Why bother with Certified Installation training?
Fieldbus, and particularly PROFIBUS, provides reliable and cost-effective technology for a wide range of instrumentation and control equipment used in manufacturing, storage, building and process industries. However, fieldbus installation is fundamentally different from other types of electrical installation because it uses high-speed digital communications. When problems are encountered, they are invariably caused by simple errors in layout, cabling or connections. With certified training, such problems can be avoided at the outset, rather than after the installation is complete, when correction may require expensive re-routing or re-wiring.
The Certified PROFIBUS Installer Course gives a widely recognised and valued qualification that confirms the competence of trainees in the layout and installation of PROFIBUS DP and PA networks.
Completing the PROFIBUS set of Courses
Once qualified as a Certified Installer, trainees can move on to higher levels of training and certification. For example, the one-day Commissioning & Maintenance course covering commissioning and live fault-finding is very popular with newly-certified Installers, many of whom take the course the following day.
Then there’s the newly-introduced Certified PROFIBUS System Design Course, aimed squarely at anyone who is dealing with the design, specification or procurement of modern automation and control systems at the engineering or technical level. Good installation depends completely on good design – and unless the system designers hold valid certificates, how can an employer or contractor know that the design will take into consideration all the myriad factors that will lead to a fundamentally sound and well-engineered system that will result in a low life cycle cost?
This System Design course is also suitable for device manufacturers, system integrators and technical sales/marketing people who want to know the best way to put systems together. The course is aimed at the professional engineer level and a basic familiarity with control system terminology and the ability to perform simple engineering calculations is assumed.
Then there’s the Certified PROFIBUS Engineer Course, covering in depth PROFIBUS DP and PA network design and operation. This is an in-depth course covering PROFIBUS DP and PA network operation, design, commissioning and live fault-finding. It covers basic cyclic data exchange (so-called DP-V0) and DP-V1 extensions that are used in PA devices and more complex DP devices. Most of the course is involved with understanding and interpreting the various telegrams that pass between devices. The course builds on the Certified PROFIBUS Installer course and the Commissioning & Maintenance course and provides extensive detail on PROFIBUS DP protocols and PA profiles.
And the same is true for PROFINET
The Certified PROFINET Engineer Course is an internationally accredited in-depth 3-day course covering PROFINET network operation, design and commissioning. Increasingly used in highly automated production facilities, PROFINET is the leading industrial Ethernet standard with more than 10 million installed devices at last count.
Industrial Ethernet systems are being installed in factories and automation systems and they bring changes to enterprises in production or business operation, network access and security. Everyone involved in installing Ethernet- and Internet-based devices or systems for a production line should know the basics of Ethernet components such as network cables, switches, and PCs.
The course is designed for everyone who wants to know the theoretical and practical aspects of PROFINET. It is an in-depth course that teaches the details of what goes on in a PROFINET network and incorporates the Certified PROFINET Installer Course in the first day. Those who pass the written examination and practical test will gain a valuable and internationally recognised certificate of their competence to design and trouble-shoot PROFINET networks.
Continuing Professional Development
Once having gained these internationally recognised qualifications, it’s important that qualified personnel continue their professional development by gaining relevant experience in the field, through association with other qualified technicians and engineers and keeping up to date with the technology.
A good indication of dedication to best practice would be through active membership PI UK, the UK branch of PROFIBUS and PROFINET international. PI UK keeps its members up to date with news of the latest technical developments, free access to specifications, profiles, design guides and a lot of additional information on PROFIBUS, PROFINET and IO-Link as well as organising technical events and providing access to a Pool of Experts to provide additional help.
By these means, recently qualified trainees can progress towards full competence in their chosen field of expertise.
What is Competence?
Here is a very good graphic illustrating the essential components of Competence. The part played by training cannot be underestimated.
Knowledge
- Is acquired through training – both formal and on the job – and is required to enable people to formulate a plan of action to undertake a task or activity.
Skills
- are both physical and mental that experienced people often use subconsciously. Mental skills can be thought of as the abilities brought to bear on the formulation of a plan while physical skills can be thought of as the execution part of a plan of action.
Attributes
- are associated with personal qualities such as morality, determination, fastidiousness etc.
More Information
All of these courses are delivered regularly in the UK, as scheduled courses held by our PITCs or at the premises of customers for groups of 6 or more, and now even online. Check the Training Pages of the PI website for further details.
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