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Hi, I’m Frank!
My name is Frank Lamb, and I’m the guy who designed the Automation Academy. I’ve been involved in industrial automation since I graduated from the University of Tennessee with my Electrical Engineering degree in 1993. Before that I spent 8 years in the US Air Force, where I originally learned electronics.
I didn’t graduate High School, and really had no idea what I wanted to do as a career. I would have appreciated some guidance back then in the late 1970s, but of course we didn’t have the internet or communities like this.
I started my first business in 1996, the original Automation Consulting Services, Inc. in Knoxville, Tennessee. I made every mistake in the book, so I can give you some good feedback and a long list of “don’ts” when it comes to starting a business. That is where I learned to design and build machines, and wrote a lot of my first PLC and HMI programs.
I worked for a large custom machine builder, Wright Industries, for 6 years after closing my original business in 2006. I learned how the “big boys” do machine building, controls and applications there before I restarted my company in 2012.
I started contracting to an engineering company and consulting in 2012, then started teaching PLC, HMI and SCADA classes for a company called Automation Training in 2013. I opened my own training facility in 2016 here in Lebanon, Tennessee and taught material from my own published books.
In March, 2020 a tornado destroyed my training facility, and Covid-19 hit a couple of weeks later. I worked out of my house for a few months, and then bought an old house in Lebanon, Tennessee to do my work out of. In August, 2020 I decided to create this membership site and put my resources and training courses online. I intend to keep growing it and adding more material, I hope you enjoy it!
If there is something I can help you with, let me know!
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6 Replies
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That’s an interesting background you have, Frank. Like you in your youth, I still have no idea what exactly it is that I want. I know I don’t want an office job or to trudge through my days as a production worker, and certainly not as a sales associate(!). That’s unfortunate your training facility was knocked out of commission, but at least you’ve rebounded by undertaking an ambitious initiative. Don’t give up the fight. There’s definitely a void in affordable and practical automation classes. Most online resources for PLC programming that I’ve seen are just not up to snuff, especially video tutorials. Stay ambitious and keep busy.
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Thanks Jet. Part of what drove me to do this is exactly what you said, a lack of inexpensive training options. I wrote a couple of books, and just due to economic realities they are priced out of the range of most people who want to learn industrial automation. For instance, booksellers automatically get a 55% discount on books from the printer. To leave room for profit for both the publisher and the author, a book that costs $18 to print quickly becomes $60. Video tutorials are free on YouTube, but often cost $100 or more for a DVD or a typical streaming course.
Udemy is an exception, I don’t know if you checked them out. People put courses there for $49-$99, then Udemy can discount them to $9.99 on a whim. Paul Lynn made some decent income there for years, and his courses are pretty good, but even he eventually got tired of it and created his new “PLC Dojo”.
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This is a test….Add to it….
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Boo BuddyBoss! Fix yer plugins.
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This reply part is the only part I’m having trouble with, but it’s a pain. I’m going to try embedding forums in the groups to see if it works differently.
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Hi Frank. Just saying hi! Thanks for building an interface for the Industrial Automation community! Your books continue to be invaluable references on a daily basis.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by skotsquared.
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