Teacher to Engineer to Teacher

The pace at which people go into automation is still very slow. Surprisingly, the barrier is not technology, but rather a fear of the unknown," says Dr. Jacob Tal, president of Galil Motion Control. Dr. Tal understands design engineers' hesitancy as they face the unknown ­ daunting questions such as, "How complex will it be?" "Can I do that?" and "Will it be successful?" Real questions. Human questions. To allay these uncertainties, Dr. Tal stresses the importance of educating engineers, whether they're motion control novices or seasoned designers. When he speaks, he is animated and entertaining ­ using real life, easy-to-understand analogies. "The motion controller is the brain of the system, while the drivers are the muscles that move the arm, which is the motor that moves the mechanical load," emphasizes Dr. Tal as he paces around his stage, passionately relating a consulting story of how he automated a chocolate-and-vanilla marble cake mixing operation.

Before launching his own company, Dr. Tal was a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Utah, where he became an acclaimed author of papers and books with titles such as "Motion Control for Microprocessors" and "Step-by-Step Design of Motion Control Systems."

In 1983, he and partner Wayne Baron, an engineer from Hewlett Packard, designed the first digital, single-axis motion controller without tachometer feedback. From the start, they knew that this would change the world of automation. They decided to invest $50,000 of their own money in their new company. During the first year, profits were reinvested and business grew exponentially. Fifteen years later, they boast a sales volume of more than $25 million.

Since the beginning, Dr. Tal knew he had a product that engineers needed, but he had to invent a process for educating engineers with this new technology. His innate teaching skills were just what the company needed. He began offering motion control seminars to engineers, not only to instruct them, but also to let them see the possibilities of what a motion controller could do for them in their own design environment.

The strategy worked out well, with more than 10,000 engineers having attended his seminars, and more than 200,000 controllers at work in a vast array of industries, from machine tooling and manufacturing to medical equipment and food processing. From teacher to engineer to teacher once again, Jacob Tal is helping educate as well as innovate.

-- Frances Richards

For more information, contact Galil Motion Control, Inc., 203 Ravendale Drive, Mountain View, CA 94043. 800-377-6329.
Circle 716.