New staff member - February 2010

Tony Spearing joins i4 Automation

Having spoken to most of you during my time at Pneumatic Lines I thought that I would drop you a line with some more exciting news, to say that I am now working for i4 Automation alongside a previous colleague Andrew Johnson-Chapman.  We will be concentrating on providing innovative solutions to common industrial applications, such as using a combined PLC & HMI instead of the more traditional solution based on separate items.  On a more simple front we have looked at solving that Serial to USB issue and can provide a range of programming leads for Mitsubishi Electric PLC’s that plug directly into a USB port!

Some of the advantages of a combined PLC & HMI are obvious, such as reduced costs for the hardware and a single programming package and cable, however some are not so obvious, screen update times for instance are vastly reduced.  We also use the word FREE a lot, the programming software is FREE, the .Net communication drivers are FREE, the OPC Server is FREE and the Microsoft Excel® communication driver is FREE.  The cost of collecting data from these units, even via modem, is very cost effective and simple to achieve.  Even the cost of our Mitsubishi programming cables, while not free, are very reasonable.

I hope that we can continue to provide you with solutions and support in the future.

Tony Spearing