Industrial Training - Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC)
Industrial Training - Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC)
PLCs control the world’s infrastructure, yet most do not know the risk they are taking. I have been making the world aware as much as I can, ever since I started my own industrial training company 15+ years ago. PLCs control our water, power, traffic lights, elevators, and every machine in every industry. Yet most people working on and with PLCs have not had our safety and reliability focused PLC training yet. People learn in college or from PLC vendors how the PLC works, how to program, but not what are best practices, how to work with and program them safely and reliably.
The world has taken the approach ‘here is a drill, go drill something with it’. In line with this metaphor, instead of teaching say safety, what is the best bit to use with what material, how to drill better quality holes, faster.
I have tried to educate the industry about the great risk they are unknowingly taking via my video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4qg10yfp-s and articles like http://www.bin95.com/maintenance_management_plc.htm and my most recent article http://www.bin95.com/Industrial-network-security.htm and I have also been published in major trade magazines. Even though our company has the top internet presence around the world for industrial training, we have hardly made a dent in educating the world about the risk.
With the recent Stuxnet virus that shut down a nuclear SCADA system, more attention to PLC risk has been made than all my years of effort. But the general public is still un-educated, think Stuxnet was the worlds first PLC virus, when actually it was not, it was just a computer virus, not a PLC virus. SCADA is just a computer software program, just like windows, your browser, Microsoft Word, etc.
So if you need an industrial training expert or PLC expert for advice, I am you man.
Don (Follow me on Industrial Skills Training Blog and on Twitter @IndTraining .)
PLCs control the world’s infrastructure, yet most do not know the risk they are taking. I have been making the world aware as much as I can, ever since I started my own industrial training company 15+ years ago. PLCs control our water, power, traffic lights, elevators, and every machine in every industry. Yet most people working on and with PLCs have not had our safety and reliability focused PLC training yet. People learn in college or from PLC vendors how the PLC works, how to program, but not what are best practices, how to work with and program them safely and reliably.
The world has taken the approach ‘here is a drill, go drill something with it’. In line with this metaphor, instead of teaching say safety, what is the best bit to use with what material, how to drill better quality holes, faster.
I have tried to educate the industry about the great risk they are unknowingly taking via my video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4qg10yfp-s and articles like http://www.bin95.com/maintenance_management_plc.htm and my most recent article http://www.bin95.com/Industrial-network-security.htm and I have also been published in major trade magazines. Even though our company has the top internet presence around the world for industrial training, we have hardly made a dent in educating the world about the risk.
With the recent Stuxnet virus that shut down a nuclear SCADA system, more attention to PLC risk has been made than all my years of effort. But the general public is still un-educated, think Stuxnet was the worlds first PLC virus, when actually it was not, it was just a computer virus, not a PLC virus. SCADA is just a computer software program, just like windows, your browser, Microsoft Word, etc.
So if you need an industrial training expert or PLC expert for advice, I am you man.
Don (Follow me on Industrial Skills Training Blog and on Twitter @IndTraining .)
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