Automation Technician

Position Summary

The Automation Technician is responsible for maintaining, troubleshooting, repairing, and improving the plant's automated manufacturing equipment and control systems. This position serves as a technical resource for PLC-controlled equipment, robotics, HMIs, industrial networks, drives, motion control, instrumentation, and electrical control systems.

The Automation Technician's primary objective is to reduce equipment downtime, improve reliability, eliminate recurring automation failures, and support safe and efficient production.

The position works closely with Maintenance Technicians, Production, Engineering, Reliability, IT/OT, and equipment vendors. The Automation Technician is expected to provide hands-on troubleshooting while also developing the automation capabilities of the broader maintenance organization.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Automation Troubleshooting

• Troubleshoot PLC-controlled manufacturing equipment during production failures.
• Diagnose electrical, controls, communication, programming, and instrumentation problems.
• Use PLC software to identify failed inputs, outputs, sequences, interlocks, permissives, timers, counters, and logic conditions.
• Troubleshoot HMI alarms and equipment sequences.
• Troubleshoot industrial communication networks and remote I/O.
• Diagnose servo, VFD, motor control, sensor, encoder, and positioning problems.
• Support troubleshooting of robotic and automated material-handling systems.
• Assist Maintenance Technicians with complex automation failures.
• Restore equipment safely and efficiently while maintaining proper machine safeguards.

PLC / HMI Systems

Maintain and troubleshoot applicable plant control platforms, which may include:

• PLCs
• HMIs
• Remote I/O
• Safety PLCs
• VFDs
• Servo systems
• Motion controllers
• Industrial Ethernet networks
• ControlLogix/CompactLogix or equivalent platforms
• Machine vision systems
• Barcode/RFID systems
• Process instrumentation

Programming changes shall follow established authorization, documentation, backup, and change-management procedures.

Preventive and Predictive Maintenance

• Perform automation-related PMs.
• Inspect control panels and electrical components.
• Verify sensors, switches, encoders, and feedback devices.
• Inspect industrial network connections.
• Identify deteriorating automation components before failure.
• Recommend replacement of obsolete or unreliable automation components.
• Develop automation PM procedures where gaps exist.
• Document completed work accurately in the CMMS.

Equipment Reliability

The Automation Technician is expected to move beyond simply resetting equipment.

For significant or repetitive automation failures:

• Identify the actual failure mode.
• Determine root cause.
• Recommend corrective action.
• Implement approved permanent solutions.
• Verify effectiveness after implementation.
• Document lessons learned.

Repeated failures should be escalated for root-cause analysis rather than continually repaired without corrective action.

Continuous Improvement

• Identify opportunities to reduce downtime through automation improvements.
• Improve machine diagnostics and alarm descriptions.
• Recommend HMI improvements that make troubleshooting easier.
• Identify opportunities for automated condition monitoring.
• Participate in equipment upgrades and capital projects.
• Support equipment commissioning and acceptance testing.
• Assist Engineering with controls-related modifications.
• Maintain standardized programming and documentation practices.

Maintenance Team Development

A critical responsibility of this position is building automation capability within the maintenance department.

The Automation Technician will:

• Provide hands-on PLC troubleshooting training to Maintenance Technicians.
• Teach technicians how to safely navigate PLC programs.
• Explain machine sequences, permissives, interlocks, and alarms.
• Develop troubleshooting guides for high-failure equipment.
• Conduct structured automation training sessions.
• Mentor technicians during actual breakdowns rather than simply taking over the repair.
• Help identify technicians capable of progressing into higher automation skill levels.

The goal is to prevent automation knowledge from becoming concentrated in one individual.

Safety Responsibilities

The Automation Technician shall comply with all plant safety requirements, including:

• Lockout/Tagout (LOTO)
• Electrical safe-work practices
• Arc-flash requirements
• Machine guarding
• Robotics safety
• Control of hazardous energy
• Working-at-height requirements
• Confined-space procedures where applicable

PLC programming, HMI manipulation, forcing I/O, bypassing interlocks, or changing machine logic shall never be used to defeat a safety device or circumvent LOTO requirements.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

Education/Training

Associate degree, technical diploma, military technical training, apprenticeship, or equivalent experience in:

• Industrial Automation
• Electrical/Electronics Technology
• Mechatronics
• Industrial Maintenance
• Controls Engineering Technology
• Related technical discipline

Experience

Preferred:

• 3+ years industrial automation or controls experience.
• Experience in high-volume manufacturing.
• Experience troubleshooting automated production equipment.
• Experience working in a 24/7 manufacturing environment.

Technical Competencies

The Automation Technician should demonstrate competency in:

• PLC troubleshooting
• Ladder logic
• HMI troubleshooting
• Electrical schematics
• Control circuits
• Sensors
• VFDs
• Servo systems
• Industrial networking
• Motor controls
• Robotics
• Machine safety systems
• Root-cause analysis
• Preventive maintenance
• CMMS documentation