February 2nd, 2010
Here’s something interesting that I stumbled across last week, courtesy of our friends at Electrical Business magazine.
As you may be aware, the 2010 Winter Olympics kick off on February 12 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. And while any Olympic event is exciting and generates a lot of buzz for a variety of reasons, now we can all track how much energy the games themselves are generating.
And I don’t mean energy from the crowds cheering during an exciting game of hockey or celebrating a record setting performance on the speed skating track, I mean the actual energy consumed by the venues.
BC Hydro and the Vancouver Organizing Committee have announced the launch of an online tracker that monitors energy consumption of the various venues, in real time! You can check out the Venue Energy Tracker here.
Now, while this is a neat concept and the graphs are interesting, it also shows how much energy is being saved through sustainable practices. You can see how much energy in kWh has been saved, as well as how much greenhouse emissions have been prevented.
While there is some activity now at the venues, preparing for the games, it will be interesting to see the stats once the games start and everything is in full swing.
Tags: Electrical Business, Electrical Industry, Olympics, resources
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January 20th, 2010
Back in December, Electrical Construction & Maintenance (EC&M) magazine published an article about Troubleshooting Motor Circuits V4. This wasn’t just any article however; it was a special Product of the Month feature and appears on page 5 of the December 2009 issue. You can also read the article online.
Our good friends at EC&M did a lot of research into the program. They interviewed Warren Rhude, the President of Simutech Multimedia as well as one of our customers, Jim Ramming from Vatterott College in St. Louis.
The article, titled “Troubleshooting Training Software Is the Real Deal” is a great piece of writing that really showcases the program and what we are all about here at Simutech: creating realistic simulations that can really help teach troubleshooting skills.
Check out more information about Troubleshooting Motor Circuits, or buzz over to to EC&M online to see the article.
Tags: EC&M, Electrical Industry, motor circuits, simulations, simutech, Skills Series, software
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January 6th, 2010
Here’s hoping everyone had a safe and happy holiday season!
Just thought I would write a quick entry to welcome everyone to 2010, and wish you all a wonderful and prosperous year.
We’ve been doing some house cleaning here at Simutech, and have been busy preparing for the upcoming year. We got some great things planned.
Check back soon, as a new post will be up in a couple of weeks!
Tags: simutech
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December 2nd, 2009
With 2009 coming to an end, I decided it would be a good idea to take a moment or two and reflect back on the year that was in the Simutech world.
We had plenty of exciting events around here this year and while it was a challenge, I have managed to narrow down the year’s events and news into a list of the five biggest stories.
Without further ado, I present to you Simutech’s Top 5 of 2009, in no particular order.
Launch of Troubleshooting Skills Series V4
In September, after almost a year of intense development, we released the completely redesigned and rebuilt Version 4 of the Troubleshooting Skills Series software.
With more faults, enhanced content, new demonstration videos, improved simulation capabilities, regional settings, and a better evaluation system, this version of the software has set a new benchmark for electrical training simulation-based software.
Release of Troubleshooting Industrial Controls V1.5
Shortly after the V4 launch, we launched an updated version, V1.5, of the FPS 3000 Troubleshooting Simulator software and changed the title to Troubleshooting Industrial Controls.
This version included improvements to the accuracy of individual components as well as the entire simulation. We also included a complete European version of the simulator which conforms to IEC standards.
Receiving a Canadian Award for Training Excellence
One of the biggest events of the year for Simutech was the trip to Toronto to accept our Canadian Award for Training Excellence (CATE) for Troubleshooting Industrial Controls.
Our program was honoured as the only GOLD Award Winner in the External eLearning Category.
The award was presented by the Canadian Society for Training and Development (CSTD) at the President’s Dinner and Awards Gala as part of the CSTD and IFTDO World Conference.
Finalist in the Product of the Year Awards
In November we announced that our Troubleshooting Skills Series V4 software had been named as a Finalist for the 2009 Product of the Year awards, presented by Plant Engineering magazine.
As an entry in the Productivity and Training Software category, being named as a Finalist by the panel of industry experts recognizes that Simutech’s software can help plant managers run their operations smarter, safer, and more efficiently. The winners are voted on by Plant Engineering readers, and the announcement takes place in early 2010.
Product Review in Electrical Business Magazine
Back at the beginning of the year we were lucky enough to get the FPS 3000 Troubleshooting Simulator (now titled Troubleshooting Industrial Controls) reviewed in Electrical Business Magazine.
Reviewed and written by Editorial Advisor John Vickery, of Vickery Electric Contracting, the review gave a glowing a review of the software. You can read the review here.
So there you have it, the five biggest stories from the Simutech world in 2009. Here’s hoping that 2010 has even more great events in store!
Tags: awards, CSTD, Electrical Business, Electrical Industry, FPS 3000, Plant Engineering, Product of the Year, simutech, Skills Series, software, Troubleshooting Industrial Controls
Posted in Electrical Industry, General, Products | No Comments »
November 19th, 2009
I know it’s been a few weeks since my last post, about the CSTD Awards, but now I have some more big news to share:
The Troubleshooting Skills Series V4 software has been named a Product of the Year Finalist in Plant Engineering’s annual competition! This is great news, and everyone who was involved with the development of the programs is very excited.
Now, a little about the awards themselves…
Every year (this is the 22nd annual contest), Plant Engineering magazine recruits a panel of industry experts to judge the entries in the competition, in a number of varying categories. These judges select finalists in each category. The final voting is then done by qualified readers of the magazine, and runs through until the middle of December.
The winners will be announced early in the new year, with the top three from each category receiving Product of the Year trophies at the 2010 Manufacturing/Automation Summit in Chicago at the end of March.
The awards honour the top new solutions available to help plant managers run their facilities safer, more efficiently and more effectively. Obviously we feel that our troubleshooting software can help accomplish these goals, so we entered the Skills Series in this year’s competition.
Here’s hoping that the readers of Plant Engineering understand the value and benefits our software delivers, and here’s hoping that we’re going to Chicago next spring!
Tags: awards, industry, Plant Engineering, Product of the Year, simutech, Skills Series
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