“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” This is known as the prayer for serenity, and it seems now, more than ever, that this simple prayer holds an immense amount of weight. Currently, there are many external factors that we can’t control affecting our industry and as a result our livelihoods. Two big issues industrial suppliers are dealing with today are the supply line breakdown and component shortages. These issues are being felt by suppliers across the country, resulting in many out-of-stock items and low inventories. Many put the blame on Covid 19 and the associated lockdowns but whatever the cause, these global problems are out of our control. So, we decided to focus our energy on what we could control and find ways to make the impact less frustrating for our customers. A few ways we did this was working with our PLC partners to help locate needed chips, finding new and available component sources, keeping real-time inventory status upfront on our store so customers have an ETA on products, and updating customers with any changes to delivery status. We continuously update our forecasted information as we receive customer orders and changes from our vendors all to keep our customers in the know and make part procurement as painless as possible.
This issue of NOTEBOOK is loaded with informative articles such as our Tech Briefs, which discuss VFD and power supply technologies and what to consider when selecting one for your application. The Cover Story delves into open-source control and puts the industrialized ProductivityOpen controller to the test in a real-world project. The User Solutions show how the ProductivityOpen controller helped facilitate AIoT (artificial intelligence of things) for greenhouses, and how Do-more BRX PLCs are used to automated retro travel trailers. The Business Notes feature recent product and company awards we received, and our Student Spotlight section shows how students at the OSU Institute of Technology used AutomationDirect products to create an optimum underwater habitat for fish and plants. You’ll also find information on our newest products, such as the new line of WAGO Pro2 power supplies, CLICK PLUS PLCs’ new motion capability, IO-Link compatible Contrinex photoelectric sensors, the new DURApulse GS10 micro-AC drives, and lots more. As always, the Break Room is stocked with fun and challenging brainteasers, so give them a try and see how many puzzles you can solve.