DMC proudly hosted the inaugural Chicagoland Siemens User Group (ChUG) meeting at our office on April 7, 2016. The event was the first in an ongoing initiative to grow the local Siemens User Community.
The first ChUG meeting drew a fantastic turnout of around 30 attendees that came from as far as Michigan, Wisconsin, and Alabama. The group included end users, OEMs, and integrators interested in improving their automation engineering capabilities and sharing best practices. Siemens representatives also attended to share resources and support the event.
Program
The evening began with mingling around a great spread of appetizers and drinks. It was fun to meet others in the industry in a casual setting outside of conferences or sales encounters. Everyone enjoyed learning about other people's projects and companies. As one attendee said, "I'm just glad to know these other Siemens users exist!"
We began the program with a group brainstorm on what topics to cover in upcoming ChUG meetings. There was great feedback in shaping the direction of content for future meetings.
Next, I led a technical presentation on PLC diagnostics. The content covered the basics of diagnostics as well as some tips for more advanced users.
Upcoming Meeting Topics
As a result of the brainstorm presentation, we generated this list of potential topics for future meetings:
- Success Stories – Share a case study demonstrating how you used Siemens hardware or software
- Bring a Challenge – Present a current problem to the group and get input from your peers on ways to approach it
- Lessons Learned from “Touching a Hot Stove” – Share some cautionary tales to help others learn from your experiences
- Siemens Technology Roadmap – Siemens product experts present future product direction
- Deep Dive Topic – Specialized topics, similar to those that may be presented at the Automation Summit
- Eureka! Moments – Did you discover something really cool that made your life better? Share it with the group!
- Visits to Other ChUG Member Sites
Next Steps
If you’d like to present on one of the topics above or any other topic, or have suggestions for improvement, please let me know. Also, if anyone is interested in taking on a leadership role with ChUG, please speak up! We'd like to start forming a committee in the near future.
The current plan is to hold ChUG meetings every other month. Look out on our blog for an announcement of the next ChUG date.
We're excited to help build the local Siemens user community through ChUG, and we look forward to sharing challenges and best practices as a group. We hope you can join us for the next meeting!
Learn more about DMC's partnership with Siemens.