Automation suppliers without a solid training program miss a great opportunity to serve customers and also generate good-will and long-term relationships. Hearing that call, Bedrock Automation has announced that the School of Bedrock is now open for free technical training in Open Secure Automation (OSA). The School of Bedrock provides online virtual training in the essentials of implementing open standard 61131 engineering tools as well as all the Bedrock high-performance hardware and software products.
“In our constant pursuit to radically reduce lifecycle costs, Bedrock is transitioning training to a zero-cost virtual service. This will provide a great benefit to all users of Bedrock by eliminating a significant upfront cost of automation,” said Albert Rooyakkers, Bedrock Founder, CEO.
The core curriculum today is focused on the content that Bedrock Automation requires for certification in its technology, which had previously been delivered primarily through live workshops supplemented by email, video links and PDF exchanges. It is now significantly more automated and available on-demand.
“Trainees can now interact with all program elements through a single portal. They can work toward the certificate at their own pace. They can track their progress easily, pick up where they left off, and see the history of all their interactions. The whole process is very user-friendly visually pleasing and free,” said Bedrock Customer Service and Technical Support Manager Craig Allen.
The opening module includes a general introduction to Bedrock Automation and its Open Secure Automation offerings, including the Bedrock OSA, OSA Remote, as well as OSA Power products. It also covers the free IEC 61131-compliant integrated application development environment (IDE) and the Bedrock Device Management Tool which can be used to update all controllers and modules to the latest firmware with a single click.
The hardware portion of the curriculum focuses on the I/O and analog and digital Fieldbus management. The software curriculum covers working with variables and data types, ladder logic, sequential function charts, structured text, functions and user-defined types, a demonstrated understanding of which is necessary for certification.