Discussion on the consolidation of electrical instrumentation technicians
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In companies, there are electrical technicians and instrumentation technicians for maintenance work. However, it seems that in some foreign companies or certain domestic enterprises, these roles are combined. I’ve met technical personnel from abroad who handle maintenance tasks related to mechanical, electrical, and instrumentation systems, and they also have knowledge of certain manufacturing processes. In contrast, in most domestic companies, these tasks are still divided among specialized technical personnel in mechanical, electrical, and instrumentation fields. Merging mechanical, electrical, and instrumentation systems might be complicated, but isn’t merging electrical and instrumentation systems better? Do anyone have any good suggestions or ideas?
The integration of management functions related to mechanics, electricity, and instrumentation has already been done by many organizations. However, achieving technical integration is more difficult; where can one find technicians who are proficient in mechanics, electricity, and instrument maintenance all at once?
It’s better to keep them separate; instrumentation has its weaknesses, and programming requires an understanding of process knowledge, as well as knowledge on selecting valves and flow meters. There’s no need to know that much about electricity
It is quite difficult to find such talents.
China shouldn’t even be merged; merging it together would definitely cause chaos. .
After all, there are still differences between the specialties
The instrumentation and electrical systems are integrated, but new technicians can handle it; experienced workers certainly won’t want to
Ahah, let me put it that way! Whether the electrical and instrumentation specialties should be merged depends mainly on the size of your company! Generally speaking, for small devices, there are fewer electrical measuring instruments and larger electrical equipment, and the professional knowledge required from both parties is relatively low; in such cases, they can basically be combined. However, the requirements for both parties need to be increased! In the case of large petrochemical and chemical plants, there are numerous large and complex electrical or instrumentation systems. This imposes high professional requirements on both parties. It is clearly unrealistic to expect personnel specialized in automatic control to operate and maintain 110KV substation equipment, operate and maintain large generators and motors, or carry out fault diagnosis and analysis – such tasks are beyond the capabilities of ordinary people. It is also clearly very difficult to have electrical technicians handle specialized issues related to control systems such as complex instruments and valves, as well as problems with large-scale DCS systems. Therefore, small enterprises usually integrate electrical and instrumentation systems, while larger enterprises require more specialized management; separating them is more beneficial for the management and maintenance of the enterprise’s equipment!
This statement is really good; even if large companies combine electrical and instrumentation functions into one department, it is still necessary to have separate teams for electrical work and for instrumentation work.
The separation of electrical and instrumentation functions means more complications for medium-sized and smaller enterprises. For example, if the signal sent to the DCS indicating that a contactor is engaged fails, the instrument technician will go and check; upon discovering that the contactor is damaged, they will have to call an electrician to replace it ； If the electrical crew arrives first and finds that the signal wires are not in good contact, they need to call the instrumentation team right away. I’m in trouble.
Whether the electrical and instrumentation functions are kept separate or not depends on the complexity of the company’s equipment. In our company, the electrical and instrumentation tasks are carried out together, but there is still a division of responsibilities among different specialists