Goody
Member
Life can sometimes be horrible for normal installation electricians. Bosses just don't seem to know the difference between an electricain that rewires houses and installs power, to one that programs plc's and designs controls.
yesterday I was called to a factory (never been before) where they had called three different electrical companies to repair their machines.
The company was in desperate trouble. Two of the same type of machines had stopped working and had been off for a week. Production had ground to a halt at this bottleneck.
The two electricians I met there had been there 3 days solid and both had the look of total defeat in their eyes. The management were on their backs all the time and these poor lads were really up against it.
Not only that, there were no drawings or information of any kind to help them.
I plugged into the first plc (a mitsi FX1n 60) and saw almost immediately that a long 'run' line had one input missing.
I got them to work tracing the input wire to it's source while I plugged into the next machine (a Siemens S200)
Once again, I saw something that should be on that wasnt. The lads had been through the machine so thoughourly that when I said we need to trace wire No 522 - one of them knew where it was on the machine.
The first was a centrifugal switch that had jammed open as it was full of gunk and the second was a proxy that the signal wire had broken off but still looked connected.
All this took about half an hour to have them fully running again.
I was then embarrassed to witness these two good lads getting a real ticking off and being told their invoice would not be paid.
The irony was though, I wasnt treat with any deference. I had just done a normal job to them - and the other two were beneath contempt.
I did feel sorry for them but on the upside, they did look pleased to be leaving the place.
yesterday I was called to a factory (never been before) where they had called three different electrical companies to repair their machines.
The company was in desperate trouble. Two of the same type of machines had stopped working and had been off for a week. Production had ground to a halt at this bottleneck.
The two electricians I met there had been there 3 days solid and both had the look of total defeat in their eyes. The management were on their backs all the time and these poor lads were really up against it.
Not only that, there were no drawings or information of any kind to help them.
I plugged into the first plc (a mitsi FX1n 60) and saw almost immediately that a long 'run' line had one input missing.
I got them to work tracing the input wire to it's source while I plugged into the next machine (a Siemens S200)
Once again, I saw something that should be on that wasnt. The lads had been through the machine so thoughourly that when I said we need to trace wire No 522 - one of them knew where it was on the machine.
The first was a centrifugal switch that had jammed open as it was full of gunk and the second was a proxy that the signal wire had broken off but still looked connected.
All this took about half an hour to have them fully running again.
I was then embarrassed to witness these two good lads getting a real ticking off and being told their invoice would not be paid.
The irony was though, I wasnt treat with any deference. I had just done a normal job to them - and the other two were beneath contempt.
I did feel sorry for them but on the upside, they did look pleased to be leaving the place.
