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Material handling expert and popular Ask Joe! columnist Joe Marinelli recently completed his eighth video in the lecture series Bulk Solids Handling, which can be viewed on this website at the Online Training Center. 

The seminars include downloadable class notes and a self administered quiz with answer sheet. The seven-day subscription allows the purchaser to watch and review a video class as many times as needed. Classes last about 50 minutes and can be viewed online for just $39 US for a seven day subscription, a real bargain considering what most online training classes and webinars of this quality cost.

I expected that cost would be the main motivator for the growing trend in online professional training. Likely recession-driven cuts in travel and training budgets have stimulated some growth in online training, but I learned that speed and the convenience of 24/7availability seem to be the leading factors.

"The ability to get fast access to the information you need and view it on your own schedule have been a huge benefit to engineers who have taken the courses, Powder and Bulk Dot Com publisher Joe Taylor told me. "One of the best examples was an email I got just a few weeks ago from an engineer in Europe. He went to our Online Training Center to get a crash course on the options available to solve a particular bulk material flow problem and prepare himself for a presentation to management the next day."

Joe said this example of "just-in-time training" has emerged as one of the more compelling benefits of professional online training. He said lecturers are available to answer questions via email, phone and fax. "Those who attend our classes can pause the video at any time to fire off a question to us," Joe said. "Some really productive dialog has resulted." More seminars are in production. They will feature other leading industry experts and cover a wide variety of process industry operations. Current classes include:

Lecture 1:  Flow Problems - Their effects and flow patterns

Lecture 2:  Design principles for reliable flow - wall friction, flow functions, bin design parameters

Lecture 3:  Feeders, both volumetric and gravimetric - volumetric screws, belts, rotary valves, plus gravimetric & loss-in-weight feeders

Lecture 4:  Measuring bulk solids flow properties - shear testing, variables that affect properties

Lecture 5:  Particle segregation - segregation mechanisms, solutions to common problems

Lecture 6:  Flow aid devices - assistance to gravity flow, air blasters, vibration & fluidization techniques

Lecture 7:  Hopper retrofits to existing systems - cones vs. wedges, hopper liners & special inserts

Lecture 8:  Design examples - determining hopper geometries using the Jenike approach 

Don Dunnington
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