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Friday, April 18, 2008 |
Here's another Zen Habits post about living mindfully. The first couple talk about doing one thing at a time and slowing down to do more. I don't have ADD, but sometimes I feel like juggling several things at once. I had a boss once who was always slow and deliberate, concentrated on one thing at a time, and did more than anyone I ever knew. Twenty years later, and I'm still learning.
5:25:09 PM 
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Jim Cahill has an interesting post that brought back memories of classes I've taken on cabling and connections. Looks like he's going to a Web 2.0 conference next week. Hope I hear all about it when I'm in Austin at the end of the month.
5:20:51 PM
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I wrote about the Siemens ExiderDome a couple of times from Mexico including the explanation that you won't see a "dome". Now that I have the Webcast out of the way and some of my May issue work done, I'll revisit and give you a sort of virtual tour. Before beginning, I must make a short analysis. Siemens has long been known, at least in the US, as a company with great technology and, shall we say, less than great marketing.
I think that its competitors will be shocked, if they are not looking, when they discover that the company is really getting its marketing act together. This traveling technology expo is an example. The worldwide marketing group has done some significant planning and execution. A lot of behind the scenes stuff with planning, materials, working with local sales offices--and most especially local partners. When the expo comes to your area, you'll find that most people have been invited, although there will be days that are open to the general public. The exhibits have been designed for quick change over. So, if one day the audience is automotive, then the displays will reflect that. If food and beverage, some will be changed. Same if process. Speaking of process, my knowledge of Siemens in the process automation market is definitely colored by my US base. So I had thought of the company as a relative newcomer. Not so, chided Siemens Energy & Automation VP of Communications Tom Varney gently over dinner Monday. The PCS 7 is getting close to 20 years. The company has significant process experience (and the display shows that they make about everything except valves apparently).
So, when you go through the registration area and look up you see a three-story building essentially built from cargo containers with a facade. You go up the steps and enter into a large foyer populated with kiosks. The information on the kiosks will change to be appropriate to the group attending. The tour group is led into a second large room with the walls on three sides constructed with panels that rotate from wall covering to mirror to screen. A high tech movie is shown.
The tour begins at room 1. In this tour, it was the Siemens Building Technologies and Totally Integrated Power demonstration. Unlike the ExiderTrain of four years ago, there are plenty of demos and products to see. The next room was motor control and some networking and safety included. Room 3 was power transmission with gear boxes and AC and DC drives including Robicon medium voltage drives. Four is the motion room with various motion control and CNC demonstrations. Next is the Totally Integrated Automation room with programmable logic controllers, PC-based control, distributed I/O with Profibus and Profinet demonstrated, plus some wireless products. Room 6 was the operator interface and HMI room, while room 7 was the process automation room. Room 8 concluded the tour with a business-oriented video.
There is time for some question and answer during the tour. After the tour, attendees will be offered refreshments and a chance to go back to whatever areas interest them for more in-depth conversations with product experts. If someone shows deep interest in a technology area, they may be offered a chance for a longer conversation. So, if you attend with a project in mind, this will be the place to get answers all in one place.
5:16:40 PM
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Carl Henning's grandson is at the FIRST Robotics Competition. Congratulations.
4:46:07 PM
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© Copyright 2008 Gary Mintchell.
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