Industrial Automation - It Doesn't Have To... #50

🎉 Celebrating 50 Episodes! Exciting Changes and Plans for 2025

In this milestone 50th episode of "Industrial Automation - It Doesn't Have To...", Brandon Ellis and Beth Elliott take you on a journey through the podcast's most memorable moments while unveiling big plans for the future!

🎙️ Here’s what you’ll discover in this special episode:

• Top 3 Episodes Revisited: Brandon and Beth reflect on fan favorites, diving into supply chain challenges, entrepreneurship, and industrial protocols.
  
  
• A Fresh New Look: Beth announces rebranding for 2025 - get ready for "elliTek's Automation Know How", promising interactive content that puts cutting-edge automation tools in the spotlight.
  
  
• Product Highlights: Watch as they showcase Elite Robots' welding cell, Pilz's safety radar system, and CKD's electric actuators in action.
  
  
• Expert Insights: Brandon shares why Siemens’ TIA Portal is a game-changer for PLC programming.
  
  
• Mark Your Calendars: Hear about exciting 2025 events like the elliVate series in Cleveland/Chattanooga and Bristol, and the can't-miss Automation Expo next fall.
  
  
• Free Training Opportunity: Learn about a FREE workshop designed to help you transition from Allen Bradley to Siemens S7 and upcoming SITRAIN courses (not free).

Join us for this celebration of innovation, efficiency, and safety in industrial automation as we look back, gear up for an exciting 2025, and continue to bring value to the automation community!

🎧 Listen now or watch on your favorite platform—don’t miss the journey ahead!

Reach out elliTek with any questions or comments. We'd love to hear from you!🤝

Website:  www.ellitek.com/contact-us
LinkedIn:  www.linkedin.com/company/ellitek-inc
Instagram:  www.instagram.com/ellitek
Twitter:  www.twitter.com/elliTek_Inc/media
YouTube:  https://youtu.be/4iNkZHaeA4E

Transcript

Brandon 00:00

Hello everybody, and welcome to Industrial Automation - It Doesn't Have To... I'm Brandon Ellis, I'm here with Ms. Beth Elliott.

Beth 00:10

Hey Brandon, happy Friday or whatever day it is out there.  

Brandon 00:16

When you're listening to this. So today it is Friday it is UT University of Tennessee ball game weekend and so we're excited about that but also it's Industrial Automation - It Doesn't Have To... our 50th that's right it's been it's been quite a quite a journey yeah 

Beth 00:38

It's taken us a little bit to get to 50, but when you do four a year, what are you gonna do? 

Brandon 00:44

When you told me it was 50, I was like, seems like it would be higher than that. We've done quite a few. So but it has been a little bit of a minute since we've spoken to you all out there. So we want to just thank you all for sticking with us and joining us through this year of 2024. 

Brandon 00:59

And while the cool thing to do this time of year is to as we go into the holiday season is to have a reflective, you know, look back kind of episode and the fact of the matter is, we're not going to do that. 

Beth 01:14

No 

Brandon 01:15

We're kind of gonna do that though there. I want to go. We're gonna go through a couple of our top just three But top three episodes and kind of things that were meaningful us for meaningful for us as we've done the podcast this season But also we're gonna be looking ahead and there's some interesting things that Beth's gonna tell us about that she's got in the mind of her marketing world that's gonna be happening in 2025. 

Brandon 01:37

So 2025 is gonna be an exciting, exciting year. It's already kind of started to be exciting now that this crazy elections over with. But you know, I think a lot of us are just ready to get on to Thanksgiving and Christmas focus on being thankful. But what better way to do that then with

Brandon 01:57

Industrial Automation - It Doesn't Have To episode number 50 

Beth 02:01

5-0 awesome, awesome. That's exciting. So what was one of your favorite episodes from Industrial Automation - It Doesn't Have To?

Brandon 02:11

Well there's there's there's quite a few. One of the things that I always come back to this and so we're not just looking at 2024? 

Beth 02:20

Oh no this... We're gonna talk about stay tuned, stay with us because we're gonna get this is just gonna be a very short portion of what we're talking about the past because...

Brandon 02:30

But I'm not limited to 2024? 

Beth 02:35

Oh, no, no, these are 

Brandon 02:35

I can do 50. 

Beth 02:35

Oh, absolutely. Because there were only four last this year. 

Brandon 02:39

Yeah, there weren't that... we did one a quarter this year. So, so if that's the case, you know, something I'm pretty proud of us on, because, because we, I'm not going to toot our horns too much, but let's see, where are our horns? 

Brandon 02:52

I'll toot our horns a little bit. Remember with me back a few years after the pandemic, when we were getting ready to enter the challenges of what we call the supply chain crisis, and you and I had a podcast then that was basically saying, guys, get ready. 

Brandon 03:16

Cause we think this is, you know, in our industry with manufacturing, industrial manufacturing, I thought this is getting ready to be more than just an inconvenience. And boy, was it ever. And so that... the 2022 began the challenges, but nothing like 2023. 

Brandon 03:39

2023 for all of our vendors, other vendors, distributors, our competitors, everybody was affected. 

Beth 03:49

Yes, yes. 

Brandon 03:50

And so it was in this time, November of 2022 that we did that episode. And we were really firing off some warnings to say, listen, if we're wrong, you'll still be, you'll be even better off. 

Brandon 04:04

But just get ready and get ready because we were also talking about the potential of interest rates climbing, being harder, more expensive to do CAPEX projects and things of that nature. And boy, we nailed it. 

Beth 04:19

Yeah, and that was called Industrial Automation - It Doesn't Have To... Be Unexpected. 

Brandon 04:23

Unexpected. 

Beth 04:24

All right, all right. 

Brandon 04:26

So that one was fun for me because on the looking back because unfortunately, we turned out to be correct. 

Beth 04:36

Unfortunately, but...

Brandon 04:37

Hopefully somebody... 

Beth 04:38

Heeded your advice and yeah 

Brandon 04:41

So anyway that was one of mine. What about you? 

Beth 04:45

Well, I liked the one about you talking about entrepreneurship and how to, what to do to start your own business, or on the other side, if you've got people in your manufacturing facility that have that entrepreneurial spirit, how to utilize that and harness that energy. 

Brandon 05:06

Without them leaving. 

Beth 05:07

Yes, absolutely. Yes. 

Brandon 05:09

Yeah, being, I still have a... and I love those conversations, because I am an entrepreneur, right? Win, lose, or draw, I don't, I don't know where you would, would list me as far as success. 

Brandon 05:22

So far we both have jobs. So 

Beth 05:23

Hey, that's a success, 

Brandon 05:26

But, you know, I remember that episode because the, the one thing, preemptive thing, just to run through it really quickly is, saying, Hey, I want to start my own business.

Brandon 05:35

Well, that there's a couple of things about that being a sole proprietor where you're the only boss, you're the only employee, you're the only decision maker, that's one thing. Taking over a business from your, your, you know, when your, when your parents, your, your uncle or buying someone out or something like that, that's a whole another thing that's, you know, a business that's already in play. 

Brandon 05:55

And then, I'm going on the most people when they want to start their own business, they're thinking about being their own boss and kind of calling their own shots. Well, all that is true until you need employees. 

Brandon 06:09

And so that's where another thing comes in and, you know, a lot of people say managing employees, that's one of the most struggling or challenging things, but it's not challenging from the employees are bad standpoint. 

Brandon 06:23

Employees are very good. It's just scary.  

Beth 06:29

It is because you're responsible for another... Yeah, and to take that on. 

Brandon 06:32

Especially when you're small. I mean these large corporations you know unfortunately a lot of people are numbers, but on a small business standpoint when you're hiring someone as an entrepreneur, getting started, a startup, you're not just hiring this individual; you're hiring their spouse, you're hiring their kid, I mean not hiring but you're taking responsibility for them, their spouse, their kids, and it's all in your hands and that's a bit daunting. And so, you know, there's that part of it, but also, you know, there is two different, two different ways to get into business. You can, you can be given or earn your way through, again like family type ties to a business, taking over business or purchasing a business or you can start it from the ground up, and each of those has its own challenges 

Beth 07:17

Yeah, yeah, for sure. 

Brandon 07:18

That was a good episode. I enjoyed that. 

Beth 07:21

Yeah, and that was, It Doesn't Have To... Be Unmotivated. 

Brandon 07:24

Unmotivated, it does take motivation. 

Beth 07:26

It sure does. 

Brandon 07:26

And I will just throw this warning out there to anybody hearing this, if you're thinking I'll start my own business, so I don't have to work as hard 

Beth 07:33

Oh no 

Brandon 07:33

That is 100% wrong. 100% 

Brandon 07:39

What else? One more. We gotta do one more. 

Beth 07:42

Yes, I liked the one about the protocols and how you were able to break down how what a Fieldbus is and all that terminology. It's... 

Brandon 07:54

The most mistaken jargon in the automation and controls industry is Ethernet versus EtherNet/IP and the fact that they are not the same. In fact, they're not even the same thing, right? Yeah, we talked about the train and all that kind of stuff and how what Fieldbus is, Ethernet and EtherNet/IP, of course, was created originally by Rockwell Corporation, Rockwell Automation. 

Brandon 08:28

They developed that protocol, it's a protocol, it's a language. It runs, it is a language, a protocol, when you say protocol, language, they're the same thing. As far as the topology, it uses an RJ45 Ethernet based, Ethernet TCP/IP based packet. 

Brandon 08:50

It's a communications packet and also the topology is using copper or fiber, but it's going across...  

Beth 08:56

The typology is the railroad track. 

Brandon 08:58

That was the railroad track, yeah. 

Beth 09:00

Yep, and the protocols are what goes in the train. 

Brandon 09:06

Inside the train cars. Because that's the language. And so that's the information that you're moving. So when someone says, I want to communicate Ethernet, it could be Modbus TCP, it could be EtherNet/IP, it could be EtherCAT, it could be a couple of others, right, PROFINET. 

Brandon 09:23

Those are all, when you say I want to communicate, it means you're going to speak a language. When you say over Ethernet, you're talking about how you're going to get the language back and forth. And so there's serial based languages and then there's Ethernet based languages because of the topology, trains need a track, railroad track, but cars don't do so well on a railroad. 

Beth 09:44

That's right. 

Brandon 09:47

So it's topology. Yeah, that was a fun, fun episode, but that one didn't have much of a cool title. 

Beth 09:53

That was number 33. 

Brandon 09:55

Just number 33. 

Beth 09:57

Yeah, because we... I just, I didn't have one then. 

Brandon 10:00

Doesn't have to be trains, planes, trains and automobiles. 

Beth 10:02

That's kind of too long though.  

Brandon 10:06

Yeah, those are three. Those are three good ones. You know, it's interesting is all three of those I see the dates here in the notes. Those are all from 2022. 

Beth 10:13

It is, isn't it? Very interesting. 

Brandon 10:15

It was a hard year, but it was a thinking year. Well, 2022 wasn't too bad. We were coming out of all the COVID junk, right? 

Beth 10:27

Yeah, yeah. So there was like a little bit of... 

Brandon 10:29

Everybody's like hey, we get to see people again. They're kind of coming out of the the cave, right? And coming in out of the darkness and reemerging into... 

Beth 10:36

And then realizing nothing's there. 

Brandon 10:39

There's nothing there. That's right. You can't buy anything. There's nothing on the shelf. It was an interesting time. Interesting time. Well, let's look ahead. So 2025. That's that's in the rearview mirror. We'll learn from that. And in 2022 and 2023. 

Brandon 10:50

And now 2024 is coming to an end. What are we looking forward to in 2025? What do you have in store for us? 

Beth 10:57

In 2025, we're going to do a rebrand and it's going to be called elliTek's Automation Expert, no, elliTek Automation Experts. 

Brandon 11:05

Okay. 

Beth 11:06

And so these are gonna, we're still probably gonna have about four episodes a year at once a quarter. 

Beth 11:10

But this one's going to be a lot more interactive, where we're gonna film like, with our ELITE Robots, their welding cell and you're gonna we're gonna have how it's done and do just exactly what we do to... 

Brandon 11:25

See what to expect. 

Beth 11:26

Yes. Yes. Yeah. 

Brandon 11:28

So kind of a how it works or how it's done or... 

Beth 11:30

Not how it's made. 

Beth 11:34

But let's do a little preview and kind of give people a taste of what to expect next year. So here we've got the welding. This is from elliTek's Automation Expo, and if you didn't make it, then you really missed out. 

Beth 11:51

It was a fun day. And we did. We actually struck arc in the... 

Brandon 11:57

During the training. That was one of the most exciting things. I remember. 

Brandon 12:01

Of course, we did our Automation Expo, and if you didn't get to come to the Expo, we'll be doing one again next year in the fall. We'll market that. Let me start this guy over. This was when I finally said, okay, guys, let's strike an arc. 

Brandon 12:18

Everybody that was there in our hall, even the other vendors, everybody just stopped and said, let's see this thing roll. You see this right here, where it's going off and on and off and on, so we were trying to dial it in. 

Brandon 12:32

What was happening was our wire feed was too slow. This is a MIG weld application. 

Beth 12:41

If you go to the number two, that's a different angle. 

Brandon 12:44

There you go, oh, different angle, good deal, good deal. So that's the other thing that's new for 2025 is Brandon is trying to control the video. So we'll see how this goes. 

Brandon 12:58

But what was happening was we were, and I think we got it fixed here. Yeah, see how it's a constant? And where it was kind of flashing before, the wire was not coming out fast enough. And so it kept, it would make contact and you have an arc and then it would, it would not because we were moving faster then the wire was coming out. 

Brandon 13:19

So we had to go in and change those. 

Beth 13:21

Do some tweaks on it. 

Brandon 13:22

Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Beth 13:22

Okay. 

Brandon 13:25

So let's, let's go back to this one. It's a cool little intro you got there. 

Beth 13:32

Well, I should have cut that out for this so sorry about that you guys. 

Brandon 13:36

But it was really an exciting time for us to really do what we were doing there. 

Beth 13:45

I think you can pause it if you want. 

Brandon 13:47

Yeah. So you can see there. It's just it's just man and that weld... now let me tell you something I'm just gonna go ahead and do a little ad and just just advertising on this. That weld cell, ELITE Robot, that robot has roughly a I think it's a 1.8 meter reach. It's a I believe a 10 or 12 kilogram payload. But the robot which means it can, I mean it's it's almost 2 meters. So just under 2 meters, 2 meters, of course, is roughly 6 feet and so it can reach and quiet quiet It's got a good reach. 

Brandon 14:17

The second thing is the welder also is part of the ELITE Product, I guess you would say. So that ELITE cell comes all in one - all in one, so the end of arm tooling for it. So if I back this up, 

Beth 14:30

It's a complete solution. 

Brandon 14:31

It is. And so you can see, you can see here that we've got the... we've got the End of arm tooling holding the weld head and all that kind of stuff and then off to the side is this welder and it's a gargantuan welder So that's the one first thing we learned when we were playing with it is we had three-eighths inch, which is pretty pretty thick metal that we were welding. And at first, the first time we did it just didn't get to know it, we blew through the back of it. It could weld easily up to one inch plate. 

Beth 15:03

Oh, wow, 

Brandon 15:04

And so this is a and it's a liquid cooled. It's got the built-in reservoir. You can do external water supply for the cooling. It's got the wire feed system. Everything the whole system - end of arm tooling, bracketry, the weld system, plus the wire feed system, plus the robot with controller and teach pendant and everything $46,000! 

Beth 15:26

What?!?

Brandon 15:26

Yes.

Beth 15:28

Oh, you can't even get some robots for that.  

Brandon 15:30

Well, you can't get a welder for that. So and it's all built into the pendant and so you know there's a few things to set up on the front of the welder but most everything is in the is through the robot pendant they're totally integrated it's really awesome. 

Beth 15:42

That's amazing. 

Brandon 15:43

And so you know and there's always pros and cons to every brand out there and not just you know not every brand even some of the brands we have we have pros and cons for each one and that's what we have wonderful application engineers to help our customers figure out which which one is the right tool for them, right.

Beth 16:02

Yes, yes. 

Brandon 16:03

But but that's one of the things about ELITE is it is absolutely stupendous when it comes to ROI. 

Beth 16:13

Absolutely. Because I mean you can't even hire a person for under, I mean for less than that.  

Brandon 16:21

Yeah. Well, and then also, you know, this is a fully collaborative robot, and so, you know, as far as, as far as that drag teach capability and things of that nature, that's what's so exciting about it is, is being able to see it. 

Brandon 16:33

Also, they have one, they have a magnetic base that's available with it. So you can actually, if it's a steel part, you can actually stick it to whatever, I mean, maybe a vertical surface, it may be a... 

Beth 16:44

Yes, I've seen the videos of them putting it upside down in a construction area. It's really neat. 

Brandon 16:50

And then you just come in and teach your paths and tell it to go to work. It's pretty interesting, pretty interesting 

Beth 16:55

So let's go on to PILZ.

Brandon 16:59

So PILZ. So I'm excited about PILZ and this is the PILZ radar system. So we had this at the Automation Expo as well. And also one of our elliVates that we had. And so again, this ties in more with the robot stuff, but it's a safety rated radar, which the reason that's a big deal is, you know, we have safety light scanners and PILZ makes those kind of things. 

Brandon 17:21

Safety like curtains. But when, so why would you use a safety rated radar? Well, if you're in a situation that's got any kind of any kind of particulate in the air, whether it's dust, very dusty water vapor or water or smoke. 

Brandon 17:38

So if you're welding, you know, this kind of thing, radar is impervious to that, but your  light scanners, they get affected. And so it can, it can, it can not, it can render a safe cell that's protected by a safety light scanner or safety light curtain. 

Brandon 17:53

It can render it not as safe. If you've got particulate in the air, a heavy amount of particulate. And so that's where, that's where PILZ came up with this with the safety rated radar. And so it's pretty interesting, but you can use it for so many other things too, other than you, yeah, here you see it's raining and we're still, you know, so that's an AGV type application with a crane. 

Brandon 18:15

And let me start that over. You know, in that case, it was a crane moving a part outside in heavy rain. 

Beth 18:27

Okay. 

Brandon 18:27

And so just like you would normally on an AGV have usually light based scanners that are looking out to make sure nobody's in the way and slow down things of that nature. 

Brandon 18:36

It won't work in the rain. So radar is impervious to that. And so that's reason, and they're really compact, really slick. And then of course they all can line up and you can put them in series, you know, put six of them in series, things of that nature, time them in with safety relays, PLCs, things of that nature. 

Brandon 18:53

It's really cool. It's a cool product that they've got. By the same token, we can talk a bit about some of PILZ and packaging and how that comes into play. And so, you know, again, doing some of the motion control based products, the safety based products, safety gate systems, the magnetic safety switches and those things. 

Brandon 19:14

And that's, that's largely what PILZ is known for, is just having the, just the best in class as far as safety, safety devices. 

Beth 19:24

I like this video a lot. It shows where everything goes.

Brandon 19:30

Where you put it, where you apply it. And the fact is if you're in industrial manufacturing, you got to have safety. 

Beth 19:36

Absolutely. Yes, 

Brandon 19:38

And there's just I dare say there's not a company with as many years of expertise and as good a product base or product background in safety based products than PILZ. 

Beth 19:52

Yeah. Yeah, 

Brandon 19:53

So we're excited to have them on board 

Beth 19:55

Absolutely, and if anybody gets the chance to hear Joseph speak then they need to take advantage of that.

Brandon 20:01

You know, that's one of the things we're gonna... So Joseph did a little a little little 30-minute 

Beth 20:05

Tech Talk 

Brandon 20:06

Tech Talk at our Automation Expo, but this... in 2025 we're gonna be doing a workshop with him probably two different workshops one one that he does. 

Brandon 20:18

It's a one-day workshop. It's just a good overall. If you need your people or you're within a plant and you want to come up to speed on some of the safety requirements and all of the all the necessary things that are needed, especially if you do have an OSHA inspection or have an incident or something like that to be prepared for that. So Joseph does that. But PILZ also offers a and it is there is a cost associated with it, 

Brandon 20:45

but it's a multi-day Certified to become a certified safety... And I can't remember there's a couple of different certifications. But we'll be working on offering that as well through our training center here in Knoxville. 

Beth 21:00

Nice. Nice. So our next one would be CKD. 

Brandon 21:05

CKD. Now CKD... This is actually our very own Alan Penticuff. And that little CKD. He's actually we don't have the audio here but he's actually walking...

Beth 21:19

He's explaining, he's telling me what it's doing. 

Brandon 21:21

Yeah, and so he's got... this is a system where one of our multi-axis CKD systems, this is electric actuator. So this that's your drives, your mode, you're controlling everything, and they all stack together. 

Beth 21:31

I see a Siemens SITOP up there. 

Brandon 21:34

Yeah, SITOP power supply, that's right. And so what's happening here is... unfortunately this panel doesn't have a PILZ e-stop monitoring relay in it but that would be a PILZ normally. But what that what he's showing is how the actuators work and so you can see where they're moving things back and forth and for this this specific customer we assisted them and they're they're trying to remove the air from the plant, compressed air and so they're trying to go move away from from pneumatic based cylinders.

Beth 22:08

Make it more energy efficient. 

Brandon 22:10

Yes. And CKD, of course, does all the air cylinders and things of that nature, but they also do fantastically well, electric actuators, these compact electric actuators. And so that's what that is. Again, let me pull that back so we can watch 'er again. 

Brandon 22:26

That multi-axis, that's their new really densely aligned, again, that's three axes of motion, three different actuators. They're controlling right there's the drives, the encoders, the whole nine yards.

Brandon 22:38

And he was showing there that it's actually taking, this is CC-Link coming in, and so CC-Link is a Mitsubishi based protocol. But it supports EtherNet/IP, CC-Link, PROFINET, those kind of things. But yeah, so everything's done very easily, the wiring is minimized because it's Fieldbus and all the cables are coming in, and it's really, really, really compact. 

Beth 23:05

Yes. Very nice. 

Brandon 23:07

And it works like most may expect, it's got position based systems, or you can just command it to go to certain positions at the speeds and things of that nature straight from your PLC code. 

Brandon 23:19

So that's what that does. So it's a nice, you know, the electric actuators from CKD are one of the main reasons that I gave them a call originally to say, let's get you on the line card. But also, I can't say enough about the pneumatic stuff. 

Brandon 23:35

Their pneumatic, actually, that really is the truth if I'm being totally transparent. I have a close friend of mine, we've known each other for 20 plus years, who's one of the head maintenance guys from one of our large industrial customers, manufacturers. 

Brandon 23:52

And he told me that compared to, they have multiple valve, pneumatic valves in the plant. But he said CKD outlasts them all. 

Beth 24:02

Oh wow. There is a testimonial on our website that one of the engineers said that they have CKD products in that have lasted more than 20 years. 

Brandon 24:14

And it's interesting because you so that really got my attention, right? 

Beth 24:18

Oh, absolutely, 

Brandon 24:18

You know, certainly 

Beth 24:19

Cost savings 

Brandon 24:22

Well yeah. Absence of downtime. Because... and you talk to them and it's almost like MacGyver or I say grandpa farmer kind of stuff, you know, where they say yeah the with with CKD. 

Brandon 24:33

I had a guy tell me this. With CKD, I could pull the valve out, take the screwdriver pull it apart, take a good rag, and clean everything off in there with the o-rings and then push them back in close it up. And I'll get another year out of it. 

Beth 24:44

Nice. But for other things... Compared to other products how does, I mean... 

Brandon 24:49

The other products, you can clean them off all you want, they're done. 

Beth 24:52

Oh, okay. 

Brandon 24:53

And already they're getting, you know, so the CKD was extending past their lifetime. And then if they pulled it off and cleaned it off with just a shop rag and pushed it back together, they said confidently, we won't have to replace that for a year. 

Beth 25:08

That's awesome. 

Brandon 25:09

And so then what they would do is they would say, okay, I did the rag treatment. Let's put that on the schedule sometime in the next 12 months for PM and we're going to change those valves out when we get a chance. 

Brandon 25:21

And so downtime, if all it takes is, I mean, that's the tractor. That's the farmer concept, right? The tractor breaks down. You grab the grease gun and a big old wrench and out there in the field and figure a way to take some wire, pull it around, whatever. 

Brandon 25:35

And then you finish the job. And so in manufacturing, downtime is the number one enemy of every manufacturer. And so that was the most impressive thing was when, not from CKD, from the maintenance guy who's been doing this forever and certainly is not afraid to tell me the truth. 

Brandon 25:58

And that's what he told me. And then I saw the electric actuators and all that kind of stuff said, you know, this is the right product for us. So we've had a lot of customers have a lot of good, good, good experiences utilizing CKD. 

Beth 26:12

Nice. Well, that's all the videos that I have right now. But I do want to let people know that we will be talking about some Siemens products we haven't decided which one yet or maybe seeing how the whole system works together that's what I would love to do just a whole...

Brandon 26:33

How they all fit. 

Beth 26:33

Yes, yes.  

Brandon 26:33

That's the thing, you know, Siemens makes everything.

Beth 26:36

They do. 

Brandon 26:37

I mean they really do. I mean you could probably just go out, go out in your yard and find something that's made and manufactured, Siemens probably makes it.

Beth 26:46

Well, when you're at the doctor's office... 

Brandon 26:51

Yeah, they got the whole Healthineers side, the whole, the whole deal. And so they have a they, with a lot of our manufacturers, they they make fantastic products, and they're puzzle pieces, which needs to be integrated with other puzzle pieces to make the whole thing work. With Siemens, they can be probably the majority of the puzzle with all the products that they make. 

Brandon 27:12

And so it's difficult to just say, let's talk about this. But it's also, we're actually staying under our, we're shooting to stay under our 35 minutes which I'm always the one that gets us off track. 

Brandon 27:26

And if you get me started on Siemens products, it'll go for an hour. 

Beth 27:31

It would, wouldn't it? 

Brandon 27:33

Certainly that's something I want us to talk about as we go through this. So I'm looking forward to the rebrand. 

Beth 27:40

Yes, yes, and what I'm going to do is we'll have some different graphics and stuff so people can cast their ballots on whichever favorite they like and whichever gets the most votes, we'll use that. 

Brandon 27:56

As far as the logo? 

Beth 27:57

Yeah, yeah, and the artwork for it, yeah. 

Brandon 27:59

Which logo? Alright, that could be interesting. That could be a lot of fun. 

Beth 28:06

And I also wanted to let people know that the 2025 SITRAIN schedule is up on our website. 

Brandon 28:13

That's right. 

Beth 28:14

So if you go to elliTek.com and head over to the technical training page, you can see all the SITRAIN classes that elliTek will be hosting next year. 

Brandon 28:23

And so SITRAIN is specifically Siemens training, and it is official Siemens factory-based training. 

Beth 28:30

They get certified education credits for that. 

Brandon 28:32

Get education credits, it's the real deal. There are, you know, even with Siemens, but with other things, and we do some training here with our own trainers, but this is certified training, and so... 

Beth 28:47

Hands-on, instructor-led. 

Brandon 28:48

And so even if, I mean, certainly if you're, you're, you're part of a manufacturer or you have, have people working for you in the manufacturing world or in the systems integration, machine build world, and you want to get to know Siemens, this is the way to do it without having to travel, airline tickets and hotel stays and things of that nature, because it's here in Knoxville at our own training center, 

Brandon 29:09

which we call elliTek University. Secondly, though, even if you're not in a situation where your, your boss or your manager wants to put you through, but you're wanting to better yourself, these classes are available for anyone, just like, just like taking a college class or, or something along those lines. 

Brandon 29:28

I mean, you can enroll, there is a cost, but you can, you can, there's a cost for college as well. And, but, but you're, you're going to get a certification that can be used, and you can add it to your resume. 

Beth 29:41

Absolutely. Yes, I would. 

Brandon 29:42

Yeah, absolutely. 

Beth 29:43

I'd put it on my LinkedIn on your certifications on LinkedIn and all that too. Yeah 

Brandon 29:47

And considering that Siemens is the number one automation controls company, automation and controls company, drives, motion, the whole nine yards, number one on the planet. 

Beth 29:57

That's amazing.

Brandon 29:57

It goes a long way. And so, 

Beth 30:00

But if you are an Allen Bradley user and you are looking to go to S7 

Brandon 30:07

yeah 

Beth 30:07

do we not have a workshop coming up? 

Brandon 30:12

We do have a free, and it is absolutely 100% free. It's a full day. I think we're bringing in lunch. We're going to have real equipment. It's real hands-on. That'll be in January. And so instructor-led. But here at elliTek in Knoxville, a full day workshop. 

Brandon 30:33

There is no cost to this. We do have a limited number of seats. 

Beth 30:36

That's what I was going to ask. 

Brandon 30:37

Yeah, yeah. There is limited numbers. We can't take everyone. So if you want to sign up with that, get in touch with us and get signed up for sure quickly. 

Brandon 30:46

Because that'll fill up pretty quickly. You know, the interesting thing, I was having a conversation the other day and I am a long, long time, like many in the U.S. I'm a long time Allen Bradley user as far as PLC programming and whatnot. 

Brandon 31:01

And of course, I'm also an old guy now. I'm having to come to grips with that. So us old guys tend to, in human nature, is to tend to go with what we're familiar with. And so I really love the Siemens TIA Portal platform and things of that nature. 

Brandon 31:19

But you always compare it to what you learned first. And so for me, that's Allen Bradley. And for many, that might be the case. But I am seeing, especially among the younger folks, those of us that, you know, that we kind of stick with what we know. 

Brandon 31:35

I get that. I get that. I can relate to that. But the younger crew, I was talking to a young man. He was in his, I think he's in his 20s, you know, and he's in his career. So mid to late 20s, he's been out, you know, working in the industry for three or four or five years. 

Brandon 31:52

But he had gotten a chance to work with Siemens, specifically with TIA Portal. And when I mentioned, you know, to another engineer who was in the conversation, who I've known forever. And again, he, like me, is an older gentleman, you know, been doing this for a minute. 

Brandon 32:10

And he's kind of like, I don't know, you know, I've heard great things about Siemens. But, you know, I kind of kind of stuck with what I've got. And the young man started just kind of nodding his head, just back and forth, nodding his head and kind of looking down. 

Brandon 32:23

I was like, what's up? He's like, Siemens is awesome. And I said, what? He said, I know Allen Bradley. We learned everything. He said, Siemens is awesome. And I said, really? He said, I would use Siemens instantly. 

Brandon 32:38

Now, I'm not trying to bad mouth anybody. It's just it's not something we're used to hearing here in the United States. But so why is that? TIA Portal. Again, I told you, we're going to stay on our 35, so I don't want to keep keep rolling. 

Brandon 32:52

But TIA Portal is a it's a framework that everyone, everyone, everyone, every PLC manufacturer out there has been trying to master. And you know, five, six years ago, actually 10 years ago, Siemens got into it, developed it 10 or 12 years ago. 

Brandon 33:11

And so they've had 10 or 12 years to perfect it. And it's perfect. Now, they're always improving. So they would say, nope, nothing's perfect. There's always you always do better. But it is a framework that houses not just your PLC code, but all your HMI code, all your drive setup and specification for both VFDs and servo drives, all of your networking setups, all of your security, everything. 

Brandon 33:36

It's all in there. It's all in one framework. And so you never leave that world. And as a result, now what we call tags, for those of you out there that are programmers, you'll understand when I'm saying tags. 

Brandon 33:49

Your tags are shared. You can just pop them back and forth between HMIs, PLCs, drive, whatever. It all just works. 

Beth 33:57

Efficient Engineering. 

Brandon 33:58

That's right. I wish I had coined that. 

Beth 34:01

Well, I think that's a Siemens term.

Brandon 34:03

It is. So anyway, so this workshop is for those of us that know AB and are more comfortable in the AB world, the workshop gives you a chance to see, okay, this is how you would do it in the AB world. Let's show you how you would do it in the Siemens Step 7 TI Portal world. 

Brandon 34:22

And I love that because I learn based upon, well, this is how I always did it. How would you do it? That's exactly what it's going to be for the full day. 

Beth 34:30

That's perfect. That's going to be a good day. It's going to be a good day of learning. 

Brandon 34:33

That's also going to be a bit of a precursor for a SITRAIN, which is actually a four-day, I think. 

Beth 34:41

It's a four-day class and it's going to be in February. 

Brandon 34:44

That's in February. Now again, that's SITRAIN. So that's certified training. It's not free. It is four days, I believe. And but the whole premise is AB to STEP 7 TIA Portal. And so, you know, the Siemens stuff. 

Brandon 34:58

And so it, this workshop is a great thing to do free, get free lunch and get your hands dirty with stuff to see it. And then if that's something you want to jump into and say, yeah, let's commit to this and see what we can do. 

Brandon 35:09

The February class is going to be right on its heels. 

Beth 35:12

Yep. That's perfect timing, that's perfect timing. So there's a few other dates that people need to save for next year 

Brandon 35:17

okay 

Beth 35:17

So there's gonna be an elliVate in the Cleveland / Chattanooga area 

Brandon 35:24

elliVate is when we do an evening based get together so we'll have food and we'll have some fantastic presenters and that'll be down in the Cleveland / Chattanooga type area. 

Beth 35:36

Yes, in May. And then we'll have another elliVate evening event in the Bristol area. Fall-ish. 

Brandon 35:42

Late Summer.

Beth 35:42

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then our Automation Expo. 

Brandon 35:45

In the fall. 

Beth 35:45

Yes, yes. And to give people a taste of what they missed if they didn't make it, let's play the Red Nation Robotics. 

Brandon 35:53

Red Nation Robotics okay we got them 

Beth 35:55

It's such a fun video. 

Brandon 35:57

So here, what we got, let me just walk this through. So Red Nation Robotics, see that thing moving around really quickly, throwing those rings? For those of you watching the video, for those of you on audio, Red Nation Robotics is the First Robotics group from Hall's High School. 

Brandon 36:09

And they are just really, really, really, really amazing, smart, amazing people. Watch that thing go. And so you can, we at our Automation Expo, we had in the back parking lot, of course you can see the Rittal demo trailer out there as well. 

Brandon 36:27

But so everybody, during lunch, they got to do a presentation for us. And we were all just ooh and an aww and watching this as it picks up these little rings where the things that they're dealing with and then launches them across and into a target very accurately. 

Brandon 36:41

And that thing moves around like a crazy spider, right? And we just really got a kick out of watching. But they did such a great, great job. They did a presentation for us. Yeah, yeah, there you go. RNR 4576. 

Brandon 36:56

It was a great job that they did. So I want to thank them for taking part in our Expo. 

Beth 37:00

Yeah, and if you're just listening to this, just head over to elliTek's YouTube channel. These videos should be up there. 

Brandon 37:05

Yeah, you can see what you've missed. 

Beth 37:06

Exactly. I will have a Rittal video at some point. 

Brandon 37:10

Yeah, well, Rittal is one of the ones we're happy to represent with all the just amazing. It's not just an enclosure if it's a Rittal.

Beth 37:19

That's right. 

Brandon 37:20

And that's me. That's a Brandology statement because they give, if you want to use a surface, they give you a way to do it. 

Brandon 37:28

If you want a busbar to make your job easier, they can give you a way to do it. And I've just been really impressed with them as a company as well. All right, so let's wrap it up. 

Beth 37:38

All right, well, Industrial Automation - It Doesn't Have To... # 50. That's a wrap. 

Brandon 37:45

Happy 50th, Beth. 

Beth 37:46

Right back at you, Brandon. 

Brandon 37:48

All right, guys. Thanks.  

Brandon 37:49

Thanks for joining us. Happy New Year because the next time we talk it'll be 2025. I hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving. Find somebody to thank and be thankful for and I hope you have a fantastic Christmas and even happier, happier, happier New Year. 

Beth 38:07

And don't forget to follow elliTek on your favorite social media platform so you can get alerted to the next episodes and our upcoming events. 

Brandon 38:16

That's right. So, elliTek.com, E-L-L-I-T-E-K.com, or you can call us anytime at 865-409-1550. Is that right?

Beth 38:28

1555. 

Brandon 38:32

1555. Edit that out. All right, so thank you very much. Have a great 2024 and we'll be seeing you on the next year. 

Brandon 38:39

Hey guys, thanks for checking out today's episode of Industrial Automation - It Doesn't Have To... I hope you enjoyed it. 

If so, make sure you give us a rating that's pretty doggone high and do that everywhere you listen, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. We'd really appreciate it. Also, don't forget about our website. 

That's www.elliTek.com. That's E-L-L-I-T-E-K.com. If you want to reach out to us there, you can fill out our contact form. We'd appreciate it. Also, you can email us at info@elliTek.com. And certainly for those of you that still like to dial the phone, give us a call, 865-409-1555. We'd love to hear from you.