Back to basics: in the beginning.....

摘要

Ten years ago I noticed in DPA magazine a supplement concerned with drives. This was of great interest to me and I wrote a letter to the then editor, Bob Brooks, commending him for this innovation. He wrote back thanking me for my letter and asking whether I would be willing to write an article for the next issue. The rest, as they say, is history as this was the beginning of the Back to Basics series of articles. As the training arm of the University of Wales, Newport our department provides training for engineers and technicians from many different manufacturing companies. This has led over the years to the development of a substantial number of contacts with local industry, especially with those companies requiring bespoke courses. It was this knowledge of the training requirements of local industry that caused me to write to Bob all those years ago. At that time there was great interest in the drives training courses we were running and it had become apparent that this was because of a remarkable lack of knowledge - and hence even fear - of variable speed drives. With so much ignorance with regards to drives it was good to see the appearance of DPA's Drives supplement, as hopefully it would help to dispel some of this ignorance of the subject.