Nick Hitchcock's Bio
Texas Director of Operations
Hired in 2008, Nick Hitchcock has served in several engineering and management roles in the company’s Austin office. Starting out at the Michigan office, and moving to Texas in July 2010, he now serves as the Director of Texas Operations.
Asset TrackingBlogSiemens
Unleash the true potential of industrial automation with Siemens SIMATIC WinCC OA, the robust SCADA system with transformative capabilities and seamless integration with Siemens S7-1500 PLC. WinCC OA revolutionizes data visualization and control, empowering businesses to achieve peak performance and...
BlogControl Systems Integration
Get insight into Siemens S7-1500S Software Controller from Patti Engineering expert Nick Hitchcock What is the Siemens S7-1500S Software Controller Siemens’ S7-1500S Software Controller is a virtualized PLC that runs on an industrial PC. This PC-based automation can be programmed just...
Blog
In the world of automation, choosing the right machine vision system can make all the difference. With the proper framework, companies can achieve faster, more accurate quality checks, and greatly enhance the efficiency of their production lines. With broad industry...
BlogRobotics
You probably already know that traditional industrial robots can be used in places that are too dirty, dangerous, or dull for humans. In fact, manufacturers have often used them for applications like lifting car frames, palletizing heavy items, or spraying...
BlogControl Systems IntegrationIgnition
Since deciding to join the Ignition certified integrator program and investing in training, our engineers have really grown to like Inductive Automation’s SCADA platform, Ignition. Our engineers have been finding many different use cases that take advantage of everything that...
BlogRobotics
A common misconception about Robot Return on Investment (ROI) is that labor cost savings achieves an acceptable payback period. This is often not the case – simply replacing a human operator with a robot is not always a smart decision. A robot needs to fit into the...
Asset TrackingBlog
We recently completed a robot cell project for a machine manufacturer which was the result of collaboration between a few teams. Our customer designed and built the machine. Two specialists designed the two stations within the cell. The Patti Engineering team was...
BlogIndustry 4.0 / DigitalizationSiemens
Virtually testing improvements in your plant allows you to test changes with just a few clicks. Siemens Tecnomatix® Plant Simulation is a great tool for generating reports on product flow, labor usage and other data analytics about your plant. Shahrokh...
BlogControl Systems Integration
There are many factors to consider when deciding on a vision system in your automation system. Three of the biggest are hardware, lighting, and lenses. Hardware Machine Vision sensor resolution How does the sensor resolution affect my machine vision? The...
BlogIndustry 4.0 / DigitalizationSiemens
This week, we released our first app on the MindSphere Store. MindSphere is the open cloud-based IoT operating system from Siemens. The CNC Performance Improvement and Predictive Maintenance app allows more accurate planning of machine maintenance. Originally developed for a...
Blog
We recently completed a robot cell project for a machine manufacturer which was the result of collaboration between a few teams. Our customer designed and built the machine. Two specialists designed the two stations within the cell. The Patti Engineering team was...
BlogControl Systems IntegrationSiemens
It’s one of the most recognizable icons in the world and, as part of a $30 million dollar renovation project, the Statue of Liberty had its obsolete, 30-year-old rescue elevator replaced by a TESI elevator with the latest Siemens control...
BlogCompany
Blog post by Marc Bourque, Electrical Engineer What is arc flash, and why should you be concerned about it? What is arc flash? Arc flash (also called a flashover) is an uncontrolled release of energy. The name arc flash pretty...
BlogFANUCRobotics
We've had a new office mate this week in our Austin office! This FANUC LR-Mate is getting ready to inspect parts on an upcoming project. He's got a payload of 7kg and you won't need a safety cage around this little guy....
BlogControl Systems Integration
Blog post by Marc Bourque, Electrical Engineer What is Remote I/O? Remote I/O is the ability to control inputs and outputs that are not near the PLC. Most remote I/O devices use some sort of network connection to control multiple...
BlogRobotics
Blog post by Ian Mogab, Controls Engineer Often times you may hear of manufacturers opting to replace their human workforce with robots in order to increase productivity. However, there are some drawbacks to doing this; robots are not good at...
BlogRobotics
Blog Post by Ian Mogab, Controls Engineer What are UR robots? UR robots, or universal robots, are collaborative robots, meaning that if they are configured correctly they can work alongside humans without a safety enclosure. This allows for added productivity...
BlogCompanyTexas
Blog post by Steve Palmgren, VP of Texas Operations Exactly 6 years ago today, I found myself trying to "help" our cats in the parking lot of a gas station at 2am on our 28-hour nonstop drive to Austin from Michigan. ...
BlogControl Systems Integration
Blog Post by Patti Engineering Senior Engineer Nick Hitchcock, P.E Recently, we worked on a project to monitor and control equipment over distances. In our case, we were controlling and monitoring water wells spread throughout a city. Originally, the wells...
BlogControl Systems Integration
Blog post by Shahrokh Yousefi, Controls Engineer, Patti Engineering Texas Office The Object-Oriented (O-O) approach to programming has long proven successful in software applications, but is not common in industrial automation software development. There are many benefits to this approach...
