Grain & Feed Manager - Managers Forum

[Chris Clukey]

Registration is now open at http://www.geaps.com/dist_learn/index.cfm for a new distance-learning course, Facilities Planning and Design II, from GEAPS and Purdue University. The five-week course, to begin Aug. 13, is the second of two GEAPS-Purdue courses focusing on the best ways to plan and design grain facilities. The new course covers several key topics that the first course, offered in 2005, did not address.

Both of the courses are based on GEAPS’ Facilities Planning and Design Conference, held near Chicago in 2002. However, GEAPS 511 includes updated information and three new lectures.

No travel is required. All that students need is a computer with a CD player and an internet connection. Students can study, engage in class discussions, or take quizzes when the time is right for them. The course is ‘open’ 24 hours a day, seven days a week, throughout the five-week period, which ends Sept. 14.

GEAPS 511 lectures cover:

• Grain dryers and drying systems
• Grain storage systems
• Aeration and grain-quality management systems
• Truck and railcar shipping systems
• Barge and vessel shipping systems
• Coatings and finishes
• Roofing
• Waterproofing
• Automation and control systems, and
• Improving grain operations using Elevator-SIM

The course was created for people with a professional interest in grain facility planning and design, including engineers, contractors, project managers, facility-operations managers, grain company executives and senior managers, maintenance managers, equipment suppliers, insurance underwriters or people whose professional responsibilities fall into similar categories. All of the material is for professionals, but there is no pre-requisite for enrolling. Participation in GEAPS 511 does not require completion of the first of the two courses.

Registration will be limited to 50 people. The cost, which covers all CDs and full access to the course website, is $500 for GEAPS members and $685 for non-members.

GEAPS produces and manages distance-learning courses in a partnership with Purdue University. More information is available on the GEAPS website--http://www.geaps.com