Automation Technician

• Troubleshoot PLC-controlled manufacturing equipment during production failures.

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.

• 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.

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
• Control Logix/Compact Logix or equivalent platforms
• Machine vision systems
• Barcode/RFID systems
• Process instrumentation

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

• 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.

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

• 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.

• 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.

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

• Provide hands‑on PLC troubleshooting training to Maintenance Technicians.
• Teach…