Controlsoverload.com Provides Improved Q&A Forum for the Controls and Automation Community

Date Posted: 1/8/2010

LONDON, ON, January 8, 2010 – Employees of JMP Engineering Inc recently introduced a web based tool aimed to help technologists improve their efficiency through knowledge sharing.

When engineers and technologists first enter the controls field they learned everything by reading a manual or by trial and error. If some cases, someone else in their company may have used the technology before and could help them. For many, they invested hours trying to figure things out. Until recently, that was generally accepted and viewed as the normal learning curve.

Enter Jeremy Sluyters, Scott Whitlock and controlsoverload.com - where Web 2.0 meets Controls Engineering. “When you start typing your question into controlsoverload.com, it automatically searches the existing database of questions to see if it’s already been asked. As the amount of content on the site grows, the chance that you’ll get your answer immediately grows as well. If the question hasn’t been asked before, posting your question is a single click away. When you get answers, registered users can vote them up or down. The best answers rise to the top, so you don’t have to search through 7 pages of forum posts to find the most relevant or correct answer” explains Jeremy Sluyters, Process Engineering Manager.

“Questions are also tagged by technology. Whether you are an integrator, vendor or end user you’re able to see all the questions related to your automation products. For instance, create the page for all Allen-Bradley technologies. If you want, you can subscribe to the RSS feed for the same page” says Scott Whitlock, Controls Engineer.

Will it catch on? Scott Whitlock believes yes. “The technology is already a huge success story for traditional PC programming, along with other topics like parenting and personal finance. It works. People participate because it’s really useful. The point of controlsoverload.com is to make us more efficient, as an industry. We waste less time figuring out how to do the simple stuff, like how to copy symbols out of a PLC into Excel and vice-versa.”

To find out more or join in please visit;
www.controlsoverload.com, twitter: @controloverload, RSS: controloverload.com/feeds

About JMP Engineering
JMP collaborates with the world’s foremost companies applying domain expertise gained from integrating automation, controls, and information solutions in over 8500 projects. They deliver direct and immediate impact on production performance, quality, safety and profitability. JMP’s capabilities have been recently recognized with several industry awards including Control System Integrator of the Year and the Microsoft Impact Award for Data Management Solutions. With branch offices across North America, over 100 professionals on staff, and strong project management capabilities supported by CSIA certification (System Integrator Association), JMP is able to meet the needs of their regional and international customers both efficiently and affordably.

For more information contact Paul Wilson - VP Sales and Marketing, JMP Engineering Inc.
P: 519.652.2741 x226: pwilson@jmpeng.com