Terrance Brinkley's Bio
Michigan Director of Operations
With a natural affinity for control systems integration, Terrance Brinkley has been an asset to Patti Engineering since 2004 and now leads his team as the Director of Michigan Operations. A native of Pontiac, Michigan, Terrance graduated from Michigan State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in both Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering.
BlogMichiganMitsubishi
Patti Engineering is excited to commission a robotic cell that will enhance hands-on engineering education for Kettering University in late summer 2024. The project was completed largely through reduced-cost donations from Patti Engineering, Mitsubishi Electric, and Keyence Corporation. The two-station...
BlogIndustry 4.0 / DigitalizationSiemens
Digitally Testing Code When and how can you use industrial automation simulation software? How to Launch PLC Simulation in TIA Portal Simulating HMIs for Efficient Setup and Debugging TIA Portal's PLC and HMI Simulation Software Recap Siemens PLM Plant Simulation...
BlogControl Systems Integration
Programming Wonderware SCADA Use the Wizard Creating Symbols Use the Query for Alarm Systems Using Scripts This blog post was originally written in 2018 and the tips and tricks were based on Wonderware technology at the time which may still...
BlogFANUCIndustry 4.0 / DigitalizationRobotics
Have you ever wanted to try some new ideas to improve your robot cell efficiency? Many people think of testing robot arm paths when they think of ROBOGUIDE Simulation software, but there are a number of other changes and ideas...
Asset TrackingBlogIndustry 4.0 / Digitalization
In many ways and for many reasons, facilities are being asked to become nimbler and adapt to change more quickly. Digitalization has given us much more flexibility in our personal lives. Do you remember when meeting a friend somewhere meant...
BlogControl Systems IntegrationSiemens
This blog post was originally written in 2017 and is still relevant for those using Siemens S7 PLCs and the other products named in this article. However, Siemens stopped production of the legacy S7-200 a number of years ago and...
BlogControl Systems IntegrationMitsubishi
Blog Post by Terrance Brinkley, Director of Michigan Operations The Mitsubishi Electric GOT 1000 HMI offers the ability to create complex recipe data right within the HMI. It’s a great feature and in the right situation, it can make programming...
BlogControl Systems Integration
It may seem like a lifetime ago that we watched VHS tapes or were excited about the option to play “snake” on our new cell phone, but actually, it has only been about 20 years. Since then, technology has advanced...
BlogControl Systems IntegrationSiemens
Thanks to our relationship with ThyssenKrupp System Engineering (TKSE), Patti Engineering is excited to be part of the TKSE team implementing the equipment to build the auto industry's first 9-speed transmission in the Chrysler Transmission Plant in Kokomo, Indiana. This...
BlogControl Systems IntegrationMitsubishi
Quality built industrial equipment can often outlive the PLC and other industrial controls that make it operate. Patti Engineering has a long history of performing control system upgrades to keep valuable capital equipment in operation well past the intended life...
BlogCompany
“A goal without a plan is just a wish,” Patti Engineering VP of Operations Ken Kutchek reverberates, from French writer and poet Antoine de Saint Exupéry, to his audience at various industry conferences. The starting point for any end user...
BlogControl Systems IntegrationSiemens
Reliability Sticking with a legacy system means taking a gamble that you can still rely on your system, its parts, and its maintenance. We had one customer who was calling us every couple of months because their PLC had...
BlogRobotics
by Joe Palace, Senior Electrical Engineer When a robot performs an application, a process, or a validation check on a part, it relies on that part being the same size and being in the exact location before it does its...
BlogIndustry 4.0 / DigitalizationSiemens
Siemens Tecnomatix® Plant Simulation is a valuable PLM software tool for engineers working at a manufacturing facility and for engineers building or modifying manufacturing machinery. Blog post by Terrance Brinkley Siemens Tecnomatix® Plant Simulation is software from Siemens which creates...
BlogControl Systems Integration
When writing software, it’s important to write code that is organized and contains descriptive comments. This helps the code be more readable when the programmer goes back to it to make changes or debug. However, not just the original programmer...
BlogControl Systems Integration
Bottlenecks. They handicap your throughput, mess with your utilization, and throw a wrench in your schedule. Sometimes the solutions can be very obvious – and sometimes obviously prohibitively expensive. Ways to Reduce Bottlenecks From moving stations to tweaking code, there...
BlogIndustry 4.0 / DigitalizationSiemens
The SIMATIC S7-1500 TM NPU (neural processing unit) is the new AI (artificial intelligence) module from Siemens. It enables you to bring AI into any SIMATIC S7-1500 PLC without a separate computer. This new technology was released in late 2019; Patti Engineering...
Asset TrackingBlog
What is worth my time? When programming onsite, what is worth doing: continuing to troubleshoot hardware or writing a new function? Anyone who has worked with technology knows that it sometimes grants you unexpected results. When working onsite, solving those...
BlogControl Systems Integration
by Dan Bock, Controls Engineer Vision systems are tricky; they need to be reliable and accurate in any possible scenario. Even in a favorable environment for a vision system, without proper testing, it is possible for the vision system to...
BlogRobotics
Blog post by Nick Sadro, Controls Engineer I was recently working on a large project where I was responsible for programming several Yaskawa Motoman robots for material handling and dispensing applications. Over the course of a few months and many...
