Interesting read - early PLC era

[monkeyhead]

http://www.barn.org/FILES/historyofplc.html

Dick Morley talks about hauling the MODICON 084 around in the trunk of his pontiac on the way to an early customers site, and using QA tests including a tesla coil and a rubber hammer.

"At one time, the programmable controller meantime before failure in the field was 50,000 hours"

Neat little tidbits like the above quote throughout the article.

 

[rsdoran]

You just now getting to that?

 

[Peter Nachtwey]

Notice how many times they admitted that they couldn't see the future.

That is what hurt them in the end. They were still clueless into the 90s. By that time AB had the advantage and wasn't about to let go.

 

[monkeyhead]

You just now getting to that?

I always heard the quote about GM requesting the 'electronic replacement for hardwired relay systems' back in '68, but never heard anything about the company that actually came through on the deal, other than the name, so I decided to look it up and thar' she blows.

If there's a sylabus that I'm supposed to be following for 'Blue collar punk rocker supporting his family tries to develop a career - Section 101' then please forward it to me and I'll be more diligent.

 

[monkeyhead]

That is what hurt them in the end. They were still clueless into the 90s. By that time AB had the advantage and wasn't about to let go.

Business savvy didn't seem to be much of a concern to them... I guess that's why engineers don't typically run the show in the capitalism fest that is America.

 

[rsdoran]

Business savvy didn't seem to be much of a concern to them... I guess that's why engineers don't typically run the show in the capitalism fest that is America.

Not much to say....a person raised and educated in a free society that does not believe in the type of government that gave him that opportunity.

SAD.

 

[Peter Nachtwey]

And what is wrong with engineers?

I guess that's why engineers don't typically run the show in the capitalism fest that is America.

A good engineer can do anything. The key is that a good person can do anything. The business majors only take a fraction of the math and the modeling classes that engineers do. Optimizing and modeling is something that engineers understand. Engineers understand getting the best return on investment (ROI). I think the diffenece between engineers and business majors is that they think only in terms of optimizing money in the short term.

Ron, what event is there in Chicago?

 

[monkeyhead]

Not much to say....a person raised and educated in a free society that does not believe in the type of government that gave him that opportunity.

SAD.

I'm sitting here with a red star with a sickel and a hammer tattooed on my forhead cause I said the word capitalism! I must not believe in the American Way... It's obvious by the way I said capitalism... GO KIM JONG IL'! GO HUGO CHAVEZ! GO FIDEL CASTRO! Seriously... give me a break. You are so far off that you don't even know what ballpark you're in right now...

If you would stop letting your imagination fill in the details, you'd see that I was implying that some amount of business sense is required to survive in our system (wether or not you agree with the system is irrelevent). These guys come off as the type of nerds who are so obcessed with making their system the best that they forgot that they have to play the business game as well.

I hate talking to people on the internet... Next time I get the urge, I'll remember to forget.

 

[Peter Nachtwey]

Give Monkey head a break.

Knocking engineers doesn't make one a commie rat. A good engineer can do anything, not everything.

 

[keithkyll]

Thank you, monkeyhead, for an excellent article. The last sentence ((as well as the entire article) can be used to answer other posts debating PC vs. PLC's.

 

[rsdoran]

MY first post was kidding, nothing more.

My second was a reaction to your comment.

I guess that's why engineers don't typically run the show in the capitalism fest that is America.

What kind of fest are we suppose to have? This sentence, as written, implies there is something wrong with capitalism.

For some reason I doubt engineers run things regardless of what type government is involved, that is why there are always bureaucrats. Dang hard term to spell, but in a way it applies to businesses to but they just say management, bean counters, etc.

Engineers crunch numbers to make something work, the capitalists or bureaucrats crunch numbers to finance the engineer.

Since when does anyone give anyone a break on this site? My apolgizes if I sounded too offensive but when do I not?

 

[rsdoran]

Ron, what event is there in Chicago?

None that I know of, sorry for that. Terry is suppose to be there at that time and I plan to meet him...if possible for me at that time.