My organisation is considering a change in the way support of automation systems (across several distinct steel industry manufacturing units) can be achieved with ongoing personnel losses. Does anyone have any practical exposure to similar situations in otehr industries that I might find useful?
We have a high level of attrition amongst computer engineers both at a process control computer level and down at the sensor and actuator level. It is also very difficult to attract new engineers into these areas with their lack of immediate appeal and cost pressures from managerial level. It is highly likely that automation support will be consolidated across several plants and departments. A model of how this could be set up may be available in another industry. I suspect that a model taken directly out of the IT industry could be “put under a piece of wood while we bang a few nails through it” to make it fit.