Walt Boyes

Most of you know that I am a science fiction reader and writer in my spare time. My friend, Jim Baen, the great editor and publisher, passed away last night after suffering a massive stroke two weeks ago. He was 63. You can read about it on my other blog: The Big Yellow Book. … [Read more...] about A great one passes…

Don't complain about the lack of quality qualified people entering automation as a career choice, do something about it...and start when they are young. Here's another automation company that has "got it." KUKA ROBOTICS SPONSORS HIGH SCHOOL MINI-CHOPPER BUILD PROJECT PROMOTING TECHNICAL EDUCATION Project Designed to Expose Students to High Tech Manufacturing Techniques Clinton … [Read more...] about (no subject)

I received the following email from Lee Swindler, whose presentation at the Honeywell User Group Americas conference we profiled, both on this blog and in the "electronic show daily" we produced. Lee's email is reproduced in its entirety: -----Original Message----- From: Swindler, Lee R. [mailto:Lee.Swindler@Equistarchem.com] Sent: Thursday, June 22, 2006 8:43 AM To: … [Read more...] about While I was off in HART land…

At the end of my keynote presentation today at the HART Communication Foundation's Member Meeting, I issued the following challenge. "I want to challenge you, vendors and end-users alike," I said, "to make sure that it doesn't take five years to come up with working wireless standards. I challenge the HART Wireless Working Group to have a published specification by the end of … [Read more...] about Your Humble Editor Issues a Challenge!

From a Reuters story: A worker accidentally tripping a shut-off switch at a major Ontario plastics plant will cost Nova Chemicals Corp. $11 million in lost profit, the company said on Wednesday, because it won't be able to fulfill some contracts because of the blunder. A contractor's employee installing a structural steel platform at an ethylene plant in Corunna, Ontario, … [Read more...] about Oops!