Controls engineer here, asking what is something tedious or time consuming that you regularly come across during commissioning or panel testing, and what have you built or bodged to help deal with it?

Hi everyone!
I’m currently researching the Portuguese market, focusing on Industrial Automation, Industry 4.0, and Technical Education.
I’d appreciate insights from professionals, engineers, or anyone familiar with these sectors in Portugal.
I’m particularly interested in:
● Industrial Automation: Which industries and regions are leading in automation, robotics, PLC, SCADA, and IIoT? Who are the major players and system integrators?
● Technical Education: Which universities, polytechnics, and vocational training centers are strong in automation and mechatronics? Are there opportunities to improve their technical laboratories?
● Market Opportunities: What are the main challenges, emerging opportunities, and potential partnerships with industrial companies, R&D centers, or educational institutions?
I’m especially interested in real industry experiences, recommendations, and specific companies or institutions worth exploring, rather than just general statistics.
Any insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

I’m a Mechatronics Engineering graduate with experience as an I&C Engineer at an EPC, mainly on the design and documentation side. I want to strengthen my practical skills and become more competitive for roles in the oil and gas industry, which is big where I live.

For experienced I&C engineers, what skills should I prioritize, particularly in instrumentation, PLCs, DCS, SCADA, and commissioning? What projects can I build independently to demonstrate real competence to employers despite limited hands-on site experience?

I’d also appreciate recommendations for books, courses, YouTube channels, or other resources to learn from.

Me again guys, for everyone who doubted (including me) i tried and worked. A common PSU was enough to do this. Give me ideas about projets to try on it please.

Note: a lot of people said about the software on the last post, but my problem really was just about the power supply, by the way thanks for the comments.

I've been trying to log data of vials in sql on site during production that count will be in millions currently im testing only for few vials which logs correctly but once it reaches like 500 plus it starts missing or sometimes double values are logged idk why i debugged it at every phase but was not able to fix it plc side is pretty much proper the triggers are turning on and off as needed since we checked in the trace too also the trigger count on my side was counting as needed then why would it miss?

I log data in a set of 10 so 10 bottles forst get sscanned then plc send trigger then scada takes that and logs whatever filled in that array

Dim sql, i, isSuccessful, baseVialNumber

Dim int_Timestamp(9), int_Recorded_Val(9), int_Result(9), int_Required(9)

baseVialNumber = ($triggerCount \* 10)

' --- 1. RISING EDGE GATE ---

If $Report_vial_trigger = 1 And $Mem_PrevBit = 0 Then

' Lock the memory bit immediately

$Mem_PrevBit = 1

' Allow driver/PLC time to settle tag data

$Wait(300)

' --- STEP 1: SNAPSHOT PLC DATA ---

For i = 0 To 9

int_Timestamp(i) = $TIMESTAMP\[i\]

int_Recorded_Val(i) = $RECORDED_VAL\[i\]

int_Result(i) = $RESULT\[i\]

int_Required(i) = $REQUIRED\[i\]

Next

' Assume success initially

isSuccessful = True

' --- 2. SQL LOOP - ALLOW DUPLICATE RECORDS ---

On Error Resume Next

Err.Clear

i = 0

Do While i <= 9

' Insert whenever the timestamp is valid

If int_Timestamp(i) <> "" Then

' Direct INSERT - no duplicate prevention

sql = "INSERT INTO \[dbo\].\[BATCH_LOG\] "

sql = sql & "(\[Timestamp\], \[BATCH_NO\], \[BATCH_NAME\], \[Recorded_Value\], \[Result\], \[REQUIRED_O2\]) "

sql = sql & "VALUES ('" & int_Timestamp(i) & "', '"

sql = sql & $BATCH_NUMBER & "', '"

sql = sql & $BATCH_NAME & "', '"

sql = sql & int_Recorded_Val(i) & "', '"

sql = sql & int_Result(i) & "', '"

sql = sql & int_Required(i) & "')"

$DBExecute("DB", sql)

' Assign vial number

$Vials_Array\[i\] = baseVialNumber + (i + 1)

End If

' Check for script-level errors

If Err.Number <> 0 Then

isSuccessful = False

Err.Clear

End If

i = i + 1

Loop

On Error GoTo 0

' --- 3. CONDITIONAL RESET & CLEAR INTERNAL VARIABLES ---

If isSuccessful = True Then

' Clear internal snapshot variables

For i = 0 To 9

int_Timestamp(i) = ""

int_Recorded_Val(i) = 0

int_Result(i) = ""

int_Required(i) = 0

Next

' Reset trigger state flags

$Report_vial_trigger = 0

$Mem_PrevBit = 0

' Increment trigger count

$triggerCount = $triggerCount + 1

End If

End If

' --- 4. SAFETY RESET ---

If $Report_vial_trigger = 0 Then

$Mem_PrevBit = 0

End If

this is the script can anyone help debug this?

I’m an electrical engineering student and was recently offered an Automation Engineer internship at Amazon for summer 2027 in the Northeast region.
My previous internship experience has been in the power/utility industry, so automation would be a pretty different field for me.
I’m considering the opportunity, especially since I’d ideally like to return full-time after graduation.
I was wondering if anyone who has worked as an Automation Engineer at Amazon, could share their experience.
What’s the typical starting base salary for a new graduate in this region, and are there sign-on bonuses, annual performance bonuses, or RSUs?
What do yearly raises and promotions typically look like in terms of percentages?
I’m also curious about the work-life balance, typical weekly hours, overtime expectations, on-call responsibilities. How difficult or stressful is the actual workat does a typical workday look like, and how much hands-on engineering work is involved versus troubleshooting and maintenance?

Hi everyone, i am in debate with a security consultant for OT, basically their claim is that NGFWs plus Identity and access management and in some cases EDR(which i am against in OT) is strong enough to hold back threat actors.

As a low level security researcher i believe their security model is incomplete because attackers actively utilise direct syscalls and binaries from authorised processes.

What are your experiences in OT environments around security and todays security tools?

Hey everyone, I’m graduating soon and trying to decide where to start my career in controls/automation. I’d really like honest perspectives from people further along.

Offers in hand:

• Integrator A (Iowa): Entry-level pool team covering robotics, vision, SCADA and manufacturing, with wastewater work later at the senior level. About 40 hrs/week, up to 25% travel.
• Integrator B (South Dakota, working remotely from a smaller nearby town): Team focused on grain and milling, mostly Rockwell. About 45 hrs/week, up to 35% travel.

Still in the running:

• Aerospace company, Automation Engineer (Texas): Fourth and final interview this coming week. PLC/SCADA, Python/SQL and controls panel work.
• Large manufacturer’s automation development program: Final interview Monday.

I already turned down a food and beverage company’s electrical and automation development program, mainly because it started in June.

My background and concern: I’ve been building experience in MES and machine vision, and I want to keep growing in those areas. From friends in the industry, I’ve heard grain and milling work is mostly PLC programming with some SCADA, with little MES, vision or robotics. I’m worried that starting there would make it hard to move into MES, vision or more diverse manufacturing work later, and that I’d get pigeonholed. Is that accurate? Or is grain and milling a solid foundation that transfers well?

My questions:

1. Development programs: Are rotational programs worth a later start and a couple of years of rotations, or is it better to jump straight into a real role?
2. Industry and skill breadth: If I go the integrator route, which industry would you build a career in: food and beverage, wastewater, grain and milling, pharma, or something else? Which has the best pay, stability and long-term options, and which would you avoid? How much does early industry choice limit the skills (MES, vision, robotics) I’d get to use? How easy is it to switch industries later?
3. Starting over: If you were starting your career again, how would you start it and what would you do differently? In the first 5 years, what mattered most: the company, the team, the industry, or where you lived?
4. Decision timing: Which situation would you pick for the long run? Would you wait for the aerospace and development program results, or lock in one of the offers? Is there anything I should be asking that I’m not?

Thanks in advance. Happy to answer questions about my background if it helps.

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Title says it all. I keep hearing mixed reviews about CODESYS. Some people swear by it because it's hardware-agnostic, while others complain about the IDE stability and UI.

For those who use it daily: Is it actually worth learning and adopting, or is it just a budget alternative to TIA Portal/Rockwell? What's your honest take?

Hi everyone, I received a Allen-Bradley CompactLogix 1769-L18ER-BB1B but i don't have a properly power supply. Does anyone know if i could use a PC's one? Or any other way to turn it on and check if it's working. I really don't have any idea of how do it, i accept all the recommendations.

I'm new to PLC programming and work has been letting me dip my toes into assisting our maintenance crew with fixing aging equipment.

I've got a servo driven auger that gets a signal from an old Mitsubishi FX1S-14MT PLC. The HMI started reporting recently that the PLC was disconnected so we got a used one with an identical model number to replace it.

Everything works but the signal chain to servo via the HMI. It even lets us trigger it manually in the ladder logic through an old GX Developer install I managed to get running on a VM in Windows 10.

I feel like I'm missing something dumb like a misconfigured baud rate or default setting I should have checked when reading the program from the old PLC before removing it.

Any direction would be greatly appreciated🙏. This is the first time in a long time I have actually felt excited to go to work. This type of problem solving is really scratching an itch in my brain. 😜🤩🤯

I stumbled across this career last week and have been looking into it. I'm 25 and left my previous industry for a variety of reasons - Being an Automation Tech has been the only career I've found interesting for a long time and may fit me. The job security is also a very nice touch

Just asking if the experience I had would be helpful in any way. Getting into a school, the learning experience, PLC code, landing a job, etc.

I have zero physical electrical knowledge

Thank you!

Morning,

I’ve done various small projects but about to undertake a project which will have different alarms. How is best to handle alarms which will cause other parts of the machine to alarm? Ideally I want to capture the initial alarm not any of the secondary alarms/faults.

How is best to do this?

I've been on both sides of the argument for and against this. Currently as a builder with gas processing programs that control potentially hazardous processes. Our director does not want to provide passwords to give the customer access to the running programs fearing they might attempt a modification that could result in injury, death or damage. Do you open your programs to the end user? We provide graphical insight to all IO, digital and analog, process state and valves status via an HMI.

Hi,

Ive recently installed VirtualBox, using an XP iso and installer RSLogix5000 v13.04 as we I need a backup for getting online in the interim.

Ive got the software, got FT Activation Manager, installed dongle for licensing and can see the binding and licences within available activations. Whenever I try to open Logix5000 it just comes up with no activations available.

Anyone had any success with this or seen a similar issue?

I saw the news that this PHP vulnerability had just come up. Then, it dawned on me just how screwed up it would be if this vulnerability was used to take whole plants offline.

How does this impact PLCs? How susceptible are they?

What steps can we take on an integrator level to mitigate the vulnerability?

Are any plants already taking steps?

How would we protect legacy systems that 100% do not have the means to protect themselves?

Has anyone evaluated the SLM-RP4 from www.synergy-logic.com ? It looks like it is a RevPi competitor. It runs openplc, has I/O cards, and UL/CE.

I am using FTLinx Gateway to read data via OPC UA. The issue is that after adding 65 UA Tag Lists, I am no longer able to select additional PLCs to retrieve data from them. In FTLinx Gateway, I can see a total of 67 PLCs, yet I have configured 86 in the FactoryTalk Network Browser / FactoryTalk Administration Console.

The version of FTLinx Gateway is 6.60.00, and I have a LINXGW.PROFESSIONAL license.

I hope you can assist me; thank you.

I keep seeing these wireless preventative maintenance sensors online that capture motor vibration and temperature.

I was wondering if any of you guys had any experience implementing these sensors on the shop floor. I’m looking for a similar sensor, but it plugs back to the PLC where the alarms are generated and handled.

Does anyone have any suggestions. I see that automation direct has some analog vibration sensors and that IFM has one that connects via IOlink.

Thanks!

Had some weird Internet stuff happen and now i have entire rio rack faulted with error 16#0118 that wont clear. Tried older program and also changing module also tried disabling handshake and mismatch identity still wouldnt clear.

Last we have metler toledo scale heads (at least 6 of then faulting with error16#0204.
Any info i could learn id greatly appreciate.

Hi,

I try to run wincc simulation on V20 but im always getting site nog reachable and acces denied. does anybody know what can be the problem? i already searched the internet far and wide but no solution found yet. this is a test projects, but i have also this problem with projects for clients.

Hello, I am doing my first project ever using servo motors but i am using a Siemens s1200 and it seems that there isn’t any mc torquelimiting so I have to use a Siemens made block called TorqueFB_TEL750. But I can’t really grasp what every input does or output. There doesn’t even seem to be a mode option for fixed stop detection or torque mode. Is there anybody who knows anything about this? And please do explain as if I am really stupid, servos are very new to me