I am an electrical engineer, a couple years out of college. I've been working in analog communications equipment up till now, and my responsibilities have mostly been circuit design/debugging, and PCB design. I have recently interviewed favorably for a position at an automation company, and it seems like a place I could really be happy. The catch is, not knowing anyone who is a professional in the industry, I'm a little nervous that it might not be the best choice for me.

In your experience, what are the real downsides and upsides of the industrial automation and controls business?

Thanks in advance,

Nate

 

Upsides:
Lots of opportunities to do different things
Travel

Downsides:
Pay is not that great, not bad, but you can often do better elsewhere
Long hours, often at inconvenient times
Lots of opportunities to do different things
Travel

 

Hello,

You really need to be mechanically inclined. I am also a BSEE, and I am working at a company I interned with in college, doing automation for in-house use. Automation is really hands-on and takes a multi-disciplinary approach where you need to understand the mechanics in order to be able to understand the controls. You have to be very disciplined and be able to listen to people with experience maintaining the equipment, but at the same time use a scientific/engineering approach of troubleshooting and testing problems.

A lot of times you will have a mechanical engineer or technician telling you that the program is screwed up, but what really happens is that you get a sensor that has an intermittent broken wire, or has somehow come out of adjustment. Things can work for *years* in this hokey fashion and people will tell you things like "It must be this software that was uploaded last week, because it all of a sudden stopped working" when in reality thre was just a coincidence that that fiber optic sensor just went past its sensing threshold and started failing and needs to be re-adjusted. OR maybe the parts you are making are out of tolerance and someone is trying to push them through the machines.

I would be weary of a company that does not use sensors for feedback on a majority of their pneumatic cylinders. The machines will start to break and/or make bad parts when the cylinders or valves start to get sticky. Also, having feedback allows you to run the machine as fast as possible. When you run open loop, you have to build in safety margin in your timing for varying load mass and/or friction/stiction. In this fashion, servo motors are also better than steppers.

Bottom line, it can be really rewarding and can make you a well rounded engineer. Try to stay focussed on the project and not get into the thing where you throw it over the fence and say "Oh, it's a mechanical problem". That's just a cop-out. I would also be weary if there are no automation engineers there now. What happened to the ones before you? Its not necessarily a bad thing, but are you going to have to maintain a bunch or poorly designed equipment from someone who got layed off? This might give you a chance to shine if it is a nice company, but if they tie your hands, you'll be pulling a lot of hair in a dead end position. Also, if there is nobody there, who is going to be your mentor? Automation is not very textbook, there are common practices that go against some of the principals of programming and engineering. PLC Ladder logic language is one of those examples. To someone who knows how to do structured programming, ladder logic seems backward, but PLCs are for the most part rock solid and perform for decades. So like a good engineer, you use them wherever they make sense and make the best with what you have to work with.

Some parts of automation can be boring or seem menial for an engineer, like dialing in process parameters or troubleshooting problems related to the components you are making. On the up side, watching something *you* designed directly making money for the company is very rewarding. There is nothing like watching a machine pay for your yearly salary in a month or two.

I don't know what it is like to work for a company that builds equipment for sale. I would imagine there are tight deadlines for delivery. I would also be weary of never seeing your machine in action. Its tough designing something and then never seeing it work in the field as you will not get proper feedback from technicians and operators. These are probably good questions to ask the engineering manager at the place you are trying to get in to.

That's my take, some might not agree with me, but everyone has a different view or approach. If they are a good company and you want to work, learn, and get your hands dirty, it can be a good experience.

~Ken

 

Control automation is not an 8-5 job it is a passion!

Upside:
- Creativity
- Challenging in order to let a machine run
- Daily difference in the Job
- Big variety of controls, components and processes in a high speed development that insure you life-long learning
- Combination of office and on-site activities
- Flexibility
- Traveling

Downside:
- Long term traveling can be hard for the family
- Overtime / weekend work availability (Family flexibility)

Personally, I love control automation, the challenge creating working machinery gives me ultimate satisfaction every time I have finished a project!

It's a very interesting job!

Kristof

 

Depends a lot on how big the company is and what kind of projects you get. My response focuses more on smaller integrators/controls engineers. You will probably get to work in a variety of interesting fields/industries. Tends to not be as technical in depth as you're used to but the breadth of what you'll work with will be incredible. There are many one man shows out there with 20+ years of experience who will amaze you, and are still constantly learning. The money is often great, unless the bid or project goes poorly, in which case the hours and pay can get rough. Often small jobs can be smaller and less formal/structured then you'd be used to as a EE at a firm. Also, don't be surprised by a middle of the night call. Something is seriously wrong if you get many, but it's in the nature of the beast to get a few. Most of our customers work around the clock and downtime is expensive. It can be very rewarding to come in and be the hero and make things work again.

Hope this helps,

----
Nathan Boeger
Design Simplicity Cures Engineered Complexity
http://www.inductiveautomation.com
Inductive Automation - Total SCADA Freedom