career prospects

[spark 68]

Further more if you look a bit deeper at some of these job offers not all are what they seem.

For instance I got sent one of these jobs, and in the small print you were required to work on the production line when not doing maintenance which of course you were expected to meet targets in line with the staff who normally only do that job, which of course you probably would struggle to keep up with, which in turn means getting docked wages.

A friend who did a similar job/position also got docked because whilst attending to a breakdown because he did not meet his production quota for the day/week FFS!

Also the wages can be p!ss poor, they often want people who are expert in hydraulics, pneumatic as well as electrical, with PLC programming on top, all for less than a PLC programmer has the potential to earn alone!
In short they want everything, but are willing to pay as little as possible

Add in a good dollop of stress and stupid timeframes in a FMCG environment, you can see why some of these jobs can be hard to fill.

All that glistens is not gold, the devil is in the details a lot of the time.

 

[Lucien Nunes]

You are lying underneath a conveyor, finishing some wiring mods to upgrade the drives. You have been there all day and are looking forward to getting out into the daylight and heading home. The phone rings - a machining cell has stopped and thrown a bunch of errors that no-one understands. 'Get your 4R $E down here now and fix it because we've got 50 men standing around waiting...'

An axis motor burnt out on that machine last week. The programming was always a bit suspect, there have been some mods that weren't written up, by the guys from Singapore where it is now 2AM. You find some burnt wiring, there's a dead signal conditioner board, replacing it doesn't bring the encoders back to life... the men are still waiting and material is piling up at the loader, soon they will have to stop the upstream process, then there will be 40 more men waiting...

The phone rings - there's an ACB that won't reset, can you come over urgently please? 'OK, will be with you as soon as I've done this...'

 

[GLENNSPARK]

Electrical Trainee shouldn't be allowed to apply

Electrical Trainee shouldn`t be allowed to trade as electricians.......caus they aint....

 

[Marvo]

You are lying underneath a conveyor, finishing some wiring mods to upgrade the drives. You have been there all day and are looking forward to getting out into the daylight and heading home. The phone rings - a machining cell has stopped and thrown a bunch of errors that no-one understands. 'Get your 4R $E down here now and fix it because we've got 50 men standing around waiting...'

An axis motor burnt out on that machine last week. The programming was always a bit suspect, there have been some mods that weren't written up, by the guys from Singapore where it is now 2AM. You find some burnt wiring, there's a dead signal conditioner board, replacing it doesn't bring the encoders back to life... the men are still waiting and material is piling up at the loader, soon they will have to stop the upstream process, then there will be 40 more men waiting...

The phone rings - there's an ACB that won't reset, can you come over urgently please? 'OK, will be with you as soon as I've done this...'

I laughed nervously when I read this, it's all too familiar territory. You're either in a similar maintenance field or you've been stalking me haven't you?

 

[Lucien Nunes]

Any resemblance to persons living or dead was purely coincidental! It's familiar territory but I don't work in it much now, 75% of my time is in my workshop / office working on projects. I'm still in the firing line for emergency callouts because for stuff I've designed and built, it's difficult to avoid. Luckily I enjoy it, especially when something explodes spectacularly. The ones I dread usually start out with 'It's full of water' or 'We lost the neutral' because you know the damage will be widespread and there's no likelihood of a quick fix, only thankless slog.

 

[electros]

industrial maintenance

hello

as I am interested in a industrial maintenance career and I see there are some engineers here, can you tell me please:

1) are factories that process metals, steel, aluminum, etc, like foundries and precision engineering shops, safe to work at?
2) which industries pays well its maintenance technicians?
3) can you describe me a typical day? how much of your time you spend it on production floor?

any other info trully welcomed!
thanks!

 

[Marvo]

The ones I dread usually start out with 'It's full of water' or 'We lost the neutral' because you know the damage will be widespread and there's no likelihood of a quick fix, only thankless slog.

My favorite is 'the problem started 8 months ago and it's been getting progressively worse until this morning it went bang and we lost the entire power to that line.' obviously the the entire workforce is standing socializing and what wasn't urgent 8 months ago is a catastrophy now.

 

[Lucien Nunes]

Oh yes, that old chestnut. Often leads into 'Why is this overload set at 30A? Has anyone changed anything in this panel?' followed by suspiciously vigorous shaking of heads and people looking at each other furtively.

 

[Marvo]

Yep, one of the prerequisites for becoming a factory maintenance electrician is to be a full-time pathological liar. I was going to say the only time they don't lie is when they're sleeping but I've met some who've made me doubt this is true. I've come across one or two that the rule doesn't apply to but they're few and far between.

 

[Marvo]

Re: industrial maintenance

Two similar threads merged.

 

[electros]

as I am interested in a industrial maintenance career and I see there are some engineers here, can you tell me please:

1) are factories that process metals, steel, aluminum, etc, like foundries and precision engineering shops, safe to work at?
2) which industries pays well its maintenance technicians?
3) can you describe me a typical day? how much of your time you spend it on production floor?

any other info trully welcomed!

 

[electros]

anyone???

 

[Engineer54]

as I am interested in a industrial maintenance career and I see there are some engineers here, can you tell me please:

1) are factories that process metals, steel, aluminum, etc, like foundries and precision engineering shops, safe to work at?
2) which industries pays well its maintenance technicians?
3) can you describe me a typical day? how much of your time you spend it on production floor?

any other info trully welcomed!

1) Ask Tony about foundries etc.. Safe to work?? That's why you have the HSE!! lol!!
2) If you're basing interest of electrical maintenance in monetary terms you'll probably not succeed!!
3) No-ones going to describe a typical day. You'll be expected to spend whatever time it takes to keep production running. It ain't a walk in the park when problems start appearing for no apparent reasons....

 

[PEG]

1) Safety at these places is proportional to the individuals experience and respect for his trade... 2) Heavy lifts,Mining and Tunneling... 3) Typical? for consistency, apply at local Sainsburys...Production floor=site/trench/flooded access chamber...Please don't think i am being flippant but you are after black and white answers in an opaque taciturn changeable field of skills. You will not readily make yourself employable in these fields,it's the experience you gain in many other areas of the trade,which will enable you to confidently apply and obtain a start... stick at it,good luck,and,remember,if it is easy,you need to aim higher :lips:

 

[electros]

1) Safety at these places is proportional to the individuals experience and respect for his trade... 2) Heavy lifts,Mining and Tunneling... 3) Typical? for consistency, apply at local Sainsburys...Production floor=site/trench/flooded access chamber...Please don't think i am being flippant but you are after black and white answers in an opaque taciturn changeable field of skills. You will not readily make yourself employable in these fields,it's the experience you gain in many other areas of the trade,which will enable you to confidently apply and obtain a start... stick at it,good luck,and,remember,if it is easy,you need to aim higher :lips:

can you tell me please how you 're sure that heavy lifting industry pays well? any references?
also what industry you mean by 'tunneling' ?

 

[Knobhead]

How old are you?

 

[guest119]

No comment :!blank: :banghead::42::ban:

Boydy

 

[GMES]

Electros, don't take this the wrong way but what is your agenda here and your motives because from reading through this thread you have asked the members about every job going in the country , short of a circus clown. and is it all about purely earning money, because if that's the case you may be better going over to the plumbers forum. :sifone:

 

[electros]

How old are you?

sorry, that's a bit sensitive

 

[electros]

Electros, don't take this the wrong way but what is your agenda here and your motives because from reading through this thread you have asked the members about every job going in the country , short of a circus clown. and is it all about purely earning money, because if that's the case you may be better going over to the plumbers forum. :sifone:

it's because I need to get insight for the various alternatives within the trade from people who are into them

it's not only about money, but I would be lying if I say I don't care about money