H&P Insights: Staying Certified; Keeping it Clean; A3 Unites its Organization
Staying Certified
Gaining professional and technical expertise in any field is an accomplishment. Staying current as that technology evolves is equally daunting. In the fluid power industry, the International Fluid Power Society helps by offering technical certification for everyone involved in fluid power and motion control.
On its website, IFPS notes that its certification provides “an objective, third-party assessment of an individual’s skill level. Certifications are portable and recognized industry-wide. To keep pace with changing fluid power and motion control technologies, certifications must be renewed every five years.”
Certification takes time. It’s also a valuable tool. It’s one area that should be embraced by practitioners and encouraged (and funded) by the employers of fluid power industry professionals.
Keeping it Clean
Fluid filtration is one of the most important factors in a hydraulic system. And as John Fleming notes in this month’s Hydraulics & Pneumatics magazine, cleanliness in fluid power systems is crucial to long-term system success.
“Dirt is the greatest enemy of hydraulic systems, since it generates wear that results in shortened service life of components,” Fleming writes. “The cleaner the system, the higher its service life expectancy. Therefore, it is imperative that only clean fluid enter the circuit.
You also have to look for the introduction of dirt at every step in the process. “Contamination of the hydraulic system can occur during assembly and during operation,” Fleming adds. “Contamination can come in many forms, including water or other fluids, air, solid particles, or corrosive agents and heat.”
A3 Now One Organization
On the opening day of its Automate Forward virtual event, the Association for Advancing Automation (A3) announced it was bring all its related associations under the single A3 banner. “The Robotic Industries Association (RIA), AIA – Advancing Vision + Imaging, the Motion Control & Motor Association (MCMA), and A3 Mexico are unifying into a single association,” A3 officials announced March 22. Association officials said this was the culmination of two-year process to formally unify the groups.
“We are becoming one A3 to better serve our members by providing more valuable resources to help them become more successful,” association officials said in a release. “This transformation will allow more companies from all sectors of the automation industry to connect and move technology forward; the transformation will help educate more people throughout the world about your products and services; and the transformation will streamline your member benefits through one A3 membership.”
A3 officials said they also plan to expand benefits and improve connections between automation companies and end-users.
