Regarding your question about whether automation suppliers should include a phone number in their press releases ("Do You Phone It In?", July '11, www.ControlDesign.com/phone): My usual triage is to look at the website for the information I need. If it is well designed, I can obtain my information and stop there.
When, as is the case with far too many sites, I cannot find what I need, I look for an easy way to contact the company. A few websites have easy email access.
Other websites offer little info and no clear indication of how to contact someone. That's when the phone number comes in handy.
Since you asked, I tried to call you to tell you about my preferences, but I got lost in your phone maze. Seems there are other people at your firm with similar names, and I always ended up in their voice mail.
Oh, well. On to the next publication? (No, not really.)
Lynn Schmelzer, PE,
Supervisor of Technical Services,
Bomag Americas, www.bomag.com/usa
