Sam Hoff's Bio
President
Samuel M. Hoff, Chief Executive Officer, started the company from his home in 1991. Since then he’s expanded his business to more than 35 college-degreed engineers. Patti Engineering has engineering offices in Auburn Hills, MI, Austin, TX, and Indianapolis, IN.
BlogRoboticsUncategorized
Before a single robot reaches your floor, you can already know whether the cell will hit its target cycle time, whether the arm reaches every point without striking a fixture, and how much commissioning time the project will really need....
BlogRoboticsUncategorized
Choosing between a cobot and an industrial robot is one of the first real forks in an automation project, and it is easy to get wrong. The market pushes collaborative robots as the modern default, so plant engineers often arrive...
BlogRoboticsUncategorized
Choosing a robotics integrator is one of the higher-consequence decisions a plant engineer or engineering manager makes, because the integrator you pick owns the gap between a robot that works in a simulation and a cell that runs reliably on...
BlogData CentersUncategorized
A manufacturer moving into the data center market, building one, supplying equipment, or servicing the systems inside it, meets a control environment that looks familiar and behaves differently. According to the International Energy Agency, global data center electricity demand is...
BlogIndustry Insights
For years, a familiar piece of reasoning has quietly pushed needed automation projects into the following fiscal year. A plant needs a control system upgrade now, the capital request is sound, and then someone in finance points out that waiting...
BlogAutomation & Industry 4.0Industry InsightsUncategorized
You already know the line needs work. The control system is a generation behind, spare parts are getting harder to source, and every unplanned stop costs more than the last one. According to Deloitte, 88% of manufacturers surveyed expect smart-manufacturing...
BlogData Centers
Choosing a controls integrator for a data center is a different evaluation than choosing one for a factory. A production line can absorb a rough afternoon; a data hall cannot. So when you evaluate a data center controls integrator, you...
BlogAutomation & Industry 4.0Control Systems
Most plants already track overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), and most of those numbers are wrong. Not wildly wrong, usually, but wrong in the direction that hides money. One line reports 82% OEE while a hand count of good parts against...
BlogData CentersUncategorized
Global data center electricity demand is projected to more than double by 2030, driven largely by AI workloads, according to the International Energy Agency. A data center stays online only as long as its mechanical and electrical systems hold together...
BlogControl Systems
SCADA vs. HMI is one of the most common points of confusion on a plant floor, and it surfaces right where it costs money: in the scope of a project. Specify SCADA where a well-placed HMI would do, and you...
BlogControl Systems IntegrationFANUCRoboticsUncategorized
If you're evaluating integrators for a FANUC robotics project, you've probably seen "FANUC Authorized System Integrator" on firm profiles and proposals. But what does that credential actually mean, and how much should it factor into your decision? According to the...
BlogControl Systems IntegrationIndustry 4.0 / DigitalizationUncategorized
Most manufacturing plants run both HMI and SCADA systems. Many have integration friction between them: data inconsistencies, communication gaps, alarm systems that don't agree. Some have systems purchased in different budget cycles that were never properly integrated. Understanding how these...
BlogFANUCRoboticsUncategorized
Losing a FANUC robot program isn't just inconvenient. It means downtime, re-teaching, and in worst-case scenarios, starting a program from scratch on a line that's supposed to be running. Controller failures, firmware update complications, and hardware swaps are all common...
BlogControl Systems IntegrationIndustry 4.0 / DigitalizationUncategorized
If you run a manufacturing facility, your SCADA system is already collecting enormous amounts of data: temperatures, pressures, flow rates, machine states, alarm histories. The question AI asks of that data is different from what traditional SCADA asks. Traditional SCADA...
BlogFANUC
Palletizing is one of the most natural fits for industrial robotics. The work is physically demanding, highly repetitive, and predictable. A robot handles it faster, more consistently, and without the fatigue, injury risk, or labor retention challenges that come with...
Blog
Artificial intelligence-based tools provide remarkable insights leading to improvements in any domain that can be characterized with data. By investing in data integration strategies, industrial manufacturing stands poised to improve all facets of overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) from AI-based tools. ...
BlogControl Systems Integration
Control systems age faster than mechanical equipment. Learn more about the risks associated with control system obsolescence.
Continue reading...
BlogIndustry 4.0 / DigitalizationRobotics
For many manufacturers, automation is a game changer. The challenge? It has to be done right. Learn more about how to plan your first automation project.
Continue reading...
BlogCommunityCompanyMichigan
In this Employee Spotlight: Video Edition, we feature Dave Foster, Vice President of Engineering and Operations at Patti Engineering. With nearly 30 years at the company, Dave has been instrumental in guiding growth and success at Patti. The following transcript...
Blog
Service contracts are essential for ensuring automation system uptime by providing maintenance, technical support, and timely issue resolution. They serve as a safety net, minimizing downtime, reducing troubleshooting costs, and potentially optimizing system performance for long-term success. Patti Engineering provides...
