Our recent free seminars in Manchester attracted over 50 delegates.

The first focused on the use of PROFIBUS and PROFINET in Factory Automation and was hosted by Siemens A&D with speakers from MMU, VTC. It addressed a spread of topics from practical steps towards a successful PROFIBUS Project through to configuring a PROFINET installation to include integration of PROFIBUS and PROFisafe. The event was very much "hands on" and included demonstrations of configuration and fault-finding using the latest tools.

"Very informative event ... with excellent demonstrations and presentations." "Good positioning of Profibus, Profinet, Profienergy and Profisafe." "Very useful few hours that helped my understanding. Thank you" were just a few of the comments made by the audience.

The second seminar was Process-industry focused. Hosted by Endress+Hauser with speakers from ABB, MWH, Siemens and VTC, some 50% of the seminar time was dedicated to live demonstrations and most of the remainder taken up with practical advice based on actual experience. The seminar covered component selection, network design and project management with live demonstrations of fault finding and maintenance, device integration and commissioning and host Integration to CMMC.

Comments from the audience included: "A lot of good information presented, excellent venue and facilities." "Very nice venue, good demonstrations, good balance of practical demonstrations plus presentations." "Well organised, good venue. Level of presentations just about right."

Several delegates attended both days. "Thanks again for an excellent 2 days in Manchester. I found the "networking" opportunities to be at least as valuable as the presentations and demos - and they were pretty useful!" commented one.

Watch this space for details of the 2011 series.