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Cover Story
New Standards in Motor Efficiency: What Motor Users Need to Know
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New Product Focus
AutomationDirect Adds Pneumatic Tubing and Fittings
All New Product Focuses

Product Snapshots
C-more Remote Access Feature, Cable Ties and Tools, Photoelectric Sensors, Solid and Colored Wire Duct, ProSense Line expanded, Pilot Devices, Encapsulated Transformers, Hollow Shaft Gear Boxes,
Wire Tools, NEMA Premium Motors, SureStep Motion Control
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Product Management Corner
C-more Remote Access and Control

AutomationTalk
Webinars
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Tech Review
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AUTOMATIONDIRECT PRODUCT AND COMPANY NEWS

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05-15-2009 --- THE FUTURE OF TECHNOLOGY
SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

Who: Diyan Zagarov

From: Bulgaria

Attending College: Lanier Technical College, North Georgia

Diyan Zagarov grew up in Bulgaria. Growing up, Diyan thought of himself as the adventurous type and often felt the desire to travel and see the world. However, he grew up under the shadow of the Soviet Union, so for a long time traveling outside of his native Bulgaria was very difficult.

As a teenager, Diyan joined the Bulgarian Air Force. Because of his high academic ability and aptitude for engineering, the Bulgarian Air Force sent him to college. After five years of intense study, Zagarov earned a bachelor’s degree in Avionics with a specialization in electrical engineering. In all, Zagarov spent 15 years in the Bulgarian Air Force performing maintenance and repair on Russian MIG fighter jets and Czech L-29 and L-39 training jets.

After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Bulgarian government moved more towards socialism and was then recognized by most Western European nations. As a result, travel became a possibility for Diyan. He entered a government-sponsored lottery, and by the luck of the draw, won an opportunity to live and work in the United States. Although it was a very difficult decision, Diyan decided that the opportunity was too good to pass up. So, he moved with his family to Lawrenceville, Georgia.

Diyan now works at Rock-Tenn, a paperboard and corrugated packaging manufacturing company with a location in Norcross, Georgia. The managers at the facility soon saw that Diyan had exceptional technical ability. Diyan recognized, however, that he lacked training on the plant’s automation equipment, especially with PLCs. The best place to receive this type of training in Northeast Georgia is Lanier Technical College. So, Diyan enrolled in the school’s Industrial Systems program to learn how to program, network, and maintain PLCs. .......Click here for the complete story.

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01-15-2009 --- THE FUTURE OF TECHNOLOGY
SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

Who: Joseph Michael Blakely (Joe)

From: Toledo, OH, USA

Attending College: University of Washington (Seattle, WA)

Major: M. S. in Aeronautics and Astronautics,
graduated December 2008

What first got you interested in your area of focus?

I have been deeply fascinated by air and space vehicles for as long as I can remember. When I was a young child, my parents frequently took me to air shows near Toledo, to the local Air National Guard base to watch jets take off and land, and to the Kennedy Space Center to watch space shuttle launches while we vacationed in Florida.

In my early education, math and science were consistently my strongest subjects. I spent much of my free time outside of school taking things apart to figure out how they worked. Long before attending the University of Notre Dame as an undergraduate, I knew that I wanted to be an engineer, and, given my interest in flight, aerospace was
definitely the best fit.

What has been the toughest challenge in your higher education?

As one reaches the higher levels of education, motivation to complete work comes less from instructors and professors and more from the individual student. Setting and adhering to personal goals and deadlines in research and schoolwork is challenging, but it instills a sense of responsibility that is hugely beneficial to an aspiring technical student.

What career/job/industry do you hope to be involved in after graduation?

Ideally I would like to work in the aerospace industry on electric propulsion devices for space travel.

What do you think is the most important issue facing the world/our country today, and do you have any opinions on possible solutions?

Human reliance on renewable resources for energy production has long been a controversial subject. It has sparked economic tensions, debates on global responsibility, and even war. In time, nuclear fusion will likely provide a cheap, clean, and safe alternative to fossil fuels. Seawater, the most abundant substance on the planet, would provide the primary fuel source. Also, with proper material choices, most radioactive waste would have a significantly lower half-life than from fission reactors.

Describe how the idea for your application of AutomationDirect products came about:

Previously, manual operation of the ZaP Flow Z-Pinch Experiment was the only method of operation. This method was fairly operator-intensive and was open to both variability between pulses and the possibility of human error. Designing and implementing an automated operation system had long been a goal of the project, and DirectLOGIC PLCs proved a userfriendly, cost-effective solution.

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10-29-2008 --- NEW PRODUCT REVIEW FEATURE ON WEB SITE

Our Web support team is currently testing a new product review feature on the AutomationDirect Web site www.automationdirect.com. Customers can now read and post their reviews on GS drives, IronHorse motors and C-more operator interface panels. Simply click on the product category's "Reviews" tab or navigate to the item page of one of the selected products. There, you can read the reviews from other customers. You also have the opportunity to add your own reviews. If it proves popular, we plan to add reviews to more products in the future. Check it out and give us feedback on this new feature.
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09-20-2008 --- NEW FEATURES FOR
AUTOMATIONDIRECT CUSTOMER FORUM

Since its introduction in 1999 as part of the primary Web site, the AutomationDirect Customer Forum (http://forum.automationdirect.com) has emerged as a valuable resource for automation professionals to explore application ideas, share knowledge, and solve problems. There have been over 5,000 threads containing over 24,000 posts on topics ranging from PLC programming to motion integration. Feedback from the forum has also played a direct role in the development of new and enhanced products.

AutomationDirect recently moved the forum to a much more modern and robust software platform. In the transition, we were able to preserve and import all user accounts and posts from the old forum, and the look and feel should be familiar to anyone who has visited the forum in the past.
.......Click here for the complete story.

More News ...
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