Hi all,
Just need your thoughts.
I'm going to be training another maintenance guy in about three to four weeks. This guy is coming into the department as a "helper". To my knowledge he has taken some basic electricity classes, so that would be about the extent of his training. These helpers are expected to at least be able to hook up to a plc and find the problem,” after training that is". I have always been in charge of this training process, whether it be training a helper or a top paid electrician.
I'm always looking for ways to improve the way I train these guys. I have about 3 months to go over PLC's,HMI,Robots,Low and high voltage wiring and a lot of other things, depending on time. I only go over the basics on each of these things because obviously 3 months is not enough to do just one of them.
I have always sworn by, one should know how to hard wire before they ever touch a PLC. My thoughts are, if they can hardwire some ice cube relays up with some push buttons etc.,then they will have a better understanding of BASIC plc logic. I actually give them projects, where I draw up some schematics and tell them to wire it up. When they have gotten that down, I have them do the same schematic on the plc. I have had in the past, some of them wanting to rush through the hardwiring part just so they can get there little hands on that plc. I've also learned that when they do this they struggle at the plc part. I would like to have your thoughts on whether hardwiring should always come first before we dive into plc's? Is this good practice that I'm doing?
Thanks,
Tim
Just need your thoughts.
I'm going to be training another maintenance guy in about three to four weeks. This guy is coming into the department as a "helper". To my knowledge he has taken some basic electricity classes, so that would be about the extent of his training. These helpers are expected to at least be able to hook up to a plc and find the problem,” after training that is". I have always been in charge of this training process, whether it be training a helper or a top paid electrician.
I'm always looking for ways to improve the way I train these guys. I have about 3 months to go over PLC's,HMI,Robots,Low and high voltage wiring and a lot of other things, depending on time. I only go over the basics on each of these things because obviously 3 months is not enough to do just one of them.
I have always sworn by, one should know how to hard wire before they ever touch a PLC. My thoughts are, if they can hardwire some ice cube relays up with some push buttons etc.,then they will have a better understanding of BASIC plc logic. I actually give them projects, where I draw up some schematics and tell them to wire it up. When they have gotten that down, I have them do the same schematic on the plc. I have had in the past, some of them wanting to rush through the hardwiring part just so they can get there little hands on that plc. I've also learned that when they do this they struggle at the plc part. I would like to have your thoughts on whether hardwiring should always come first before we dive into plc's? Is this good practice that I'm doing?
Thanks,
Tim