Here’s how we keep our clients’ operations running

Every engineer has, at some point, tried the universal fix: turn it off, turn it on, hope for the best. Recently, though, Haslop & Mason gave a room full of engineers, technicians and maintenance staff a slightly more reliable method: three days with Rockwell Automation, learning what's actually happening inside the box before they touch the switch.

Every engineer has, at some point, tried the universal fix: turn it off, turn it on, hope for the best.

Recently, though, Haslop & Mason gave a room full of engineers, technicians and maintenance staff a slightly more reliable method: three days with Rockwell Automation, learning what's actually happening inside the box before they touch the switch.

Hosted at our office in Gqeberha, the training session covered ControlLogix system fundamentals, giving attendees a practical grounding in the platform that runs much of modern industry.

ControlLogix is Rockwell Automation's flagship controller platform, the brain behind countless automated machines and processes. From automotive to food and beverage, water treatment to mining, if a machine in our region is automated, a Logix controller is probably behind it.

"In industry, downtime is measured in money. The difference between a fifteen-minute fix and a four-hour standstill often comes down to whether the person at the panel can navigate the controller, understand the data and find the fault, " says Masixole Maxamba, our Senior Account Manager.

That's the gap this course closed. Attendees worked through the ControlLogix hardware, from controllers and I/O modules to power supplies, before building projects in Studio 5000, configuring tags, setting up EtherNet/IP communication, and learning to read ladder logic and locate faults, all on demo equipment.

"The training kits we use here show exactly what the guys already have in their plant," says Prince Shabangu, Rockwell Automation’s Strategic Support Engineer, who led the training. "With online training, you don’t get that. Here we’ve got simulators, live PLCs and real controllers, so I can demonstrate something, and they can repeat it themselves. That’s practical. When they go back to the plant, they’re able to apply exactly what they’ve learned."

"From what I knew before and what I know now, there’s a huge difference," says senior technician Aviwe Kaka, one of the attendees. "We deal with PLCs and sensors daily, so we’re using the same system at work, just that there’s an extra door open now, with a lot more information behind it."

For Masixole, it's the willingness to get things wrong that makes it stick. "Being able to fail is a necessary step before you gain the confidence to succeed," he explains. "Attendees can safely build, test, break and succeed in a risk-free environment.”

As a Rockwell Automation Speciality Distributor, our job doesn't end at the sale; it's making sure "turn it off and on again" isn't the best plan your team has. Training like this is what turns a stall tactic into an actual fix, and a room full of people who know why the light came back on.

Get your operations running without the guesswork.