What is an automation engineer?

Why Automation Engineers are in great demand?

Why Automation Engineers are in great demand

In my last article, we understood the concept of an “ Automation Engineer .” Automation engineer is an engineer who can singlehandedly troubleshoot or design control systems of industrial automated machines , irrespective of his / her own branch of engineering .

Around 30 years ago, nobody spoke about automation in India . However , today, one realises that all manufacturing industries , small or large cannot avoid the use of automated machines . Why ??

Because India is poised to become a global manufacturing hub. What does that mean ? Manufacturers in developed countries such as USA & European countries prefer to get the components of their product ( e.g. gear box of a car ) from Indian manufacturers. Why ? Naturally to cut the cost & being competitive in the market . This trend is going to get more Boost from “ Make in India “ scheme of Indian Government. So, more & more Indian manufacturers have started manufacturing parts for export .

Now, when it comes to the export market , there are three prerequisites :

01. World class quality

02. On time delivery ( many automotive industries work in JIT ( Just In Time ) delivery model)

03. Cost competitiveness

If one needs to comply with these prerequisites , there is no alternative to use of automated machines . So, you will find that every manufacturing industry uses automated machines. We will call these industries “ Machine Users “. These “ Machine Users “ need maintenance engineers to maintain the machines .

As there is a great demand for these machines , naturally there are more nos. Of machinery manufacturers coming in. These “ Machine Manfacturers “ need engineers to design the control system of the machine and also for after sales support .

Now Imagine , each manufacturer is either a machine manufacturer or machine user . There is no third category. If so, can we conclude that each manufacturing industry around you need an Automation Engineer. Very small industries may not afford to employ such engineers . So, it will outsource this activity, giving rise to entrepreneurship.

There is one more opportunity . All automation components used in the machine control systems are manufactured or distributed. Being technical products, they need application engineers , sales engineers, after sales support engineers , programmers , which supports the sales.

So if ideally each manufacturing industry is an opportunity for an automation engineer. It is not surprising that “ Automation Engineers are in great demand “ & presently the demand is much more than supply.

I’ll explain How Automation engg. is a prosperous & secured career in my next article .

By Nilesh Salgaonkar, Founder Director , TAACT