Opto 22 exhibited at the ATX – Automation Technology West show this week in Anaheim. The show was one of five shows held at the Anaheim convention center, all centered around a general theme of manufacturing and packaging technologies. With that many shows under one roof it was a bit overwhelming to try and absorb all of the cool new tech being showed off. I've never seen so many robots under one roof.
I love working trade shows. There’s no better to way to get in front of that many existing and potential Opto 22 users in such a short amount of time. The breadth of applications you come across is amazing. One of the coolest applications an attendee stopped by to discuss focused on a new business venture he was getting into.
He opened the conversation by letting me know that he had uncovered a dire emergency with consequences so severe and terrifying I hesitate to share them here.
My fellow beer lovers, we've got a problem. There’s a shortage of hops in the beer industry right now and it’s only getting worse. With the explosion of microbreweries across America, different hop varietals are becoming harder and harder to source. I do a bit of home brewing myself and I can confirm that the local homebrew shop is frequently out of my personal favorite, Amarillo hops. No hops means no beer. And fewer hops means higher hop prices and higher beer prices. All work and no beer makes Matt a dull sales guy.
So how do we avert this potential catastrophe? Greenhouses. More specifically, very large, high tech, fully automated, controlled and remotely monitored hop greenhouses. The attendee I spoke with was looking for a solution to automate his 60,000 acre greenhouse. His background wasn't in automation but he needed a solution he could understand and implement quickly.
Enter SNAP PAC and PAC Control, Opto 22’s weapons of choice for getting new automation programmers actually building and programming a system faster than anything else in the market. Not to mention the flexibility SNAP offers with built-in networking, email, logging, and a plain-language programming interface. Now add groov to the mix for mobile monitoring and control (that’s right, see, monitor, and control whatever you want from your phone or tablet with no programming at all) and you've got a rock-solid and reliable combination perfect for just about any automation and control application.
Oh, and did I mention we give PAC Control away for free? You can download it right here. Want to take groov for a spin? There’s a free and fully functional trial available here.
One more potential catastrophe avoided with the help of SNAP and groov.
