R
On a more serious note...
After having spent the past few months within the General Motors Powertrain Group here is lovely, rusting Michigan, I have come to the conclusion that I really don't want to be here (GMPTG) anymore. Why... corporate driven direction of all new machinery. *ALL* new machinery coming in (and there is currently a LOT of new machinery coming in) will be controlled by Nemasoft's
OpenControl product in an NT environment. This is for PowerTrain only, the rest of GM is still firmly planted in the real world (PLC's).
After being here for a while and going through the training courses and what not, I firmly believe that PowerTrain is heading for a major problem in maintainability in these new machines within the next 3-5 years. Why am I bitching about all of this? Because my current position within this plant is putting me squarely into this "new technology". My job is Plant Engineering, in other words, I am the person the maintenance people call when they can't figure
out a problem with a machine. While I certainly appreciate a challenge as much as the next person, I don't want to become a crutch for the rest of the plant. This is the direction that I am being moved towards. Why? In my past
experiences with flowchart based machine controls (Flopro, OpenControl's predecessor), the plant personnel will do everything within their power (with the backing of the union in most cases) to AVOID working on this "stuff". Debugging a problem flowchart was very difficult under Flopro, it is 2-3 times harder to do under OpenControl. Debugging a flowchart is not nearly as easy as debugging standard PLC ladder. Add to this the current impossibility of flying
in an edit while the machine is running and you begin to see how debug can be a pain. Enough of my ranting for now...
Anyhow, I am seeking employment elsewhere. The type of position I am seeking ideally would be a software or controls engineering position. Ideally, telecommuting should be a possibility (I can dream, right!). Some (very limited) travel is acceptable. Only if absolutely necessary will I relocate. If I had my druthers, I would like to work in an Allen Bradley based manufacturing environment (but NOT in Detroit, thank you). My resume will be available if you think you can help.
Any questions, please don't hesitate to e-mail me at work ([email protected]) or at home ([email protected]).
Thanks folks!
Ron
_______________________________________________
LinuxPLC mailing list
[email protected]
http://linuxplc.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxplc
After having spent the past few months within the General Motors Powertrain Group here is lovely, rusting Michigan, I have come to the conclusion that I really don't want to be here (GMPTG) anymore. Why... corporate driven direction of all new machinery. *ALL* new machinery coming in (and there is currently a LOT of new machinery coming in) will be controlled by Nemasoft's
OpenControl product in an NT environment. This is for PowerTrain only, the rest of GM is still firmly planted in the real world (PLC's).
After being here for a while and going through the training courses and what not, I firmly believe that PowerTrain is heading for a major problem in maintainability in these new machines within the next 3-5 years. Why am I bitching about all of this? Because my current position within this plant is putting me squarely into this "new technology". My job is Plant Engineering, in other words, I am the person the maintenance people call when they can't figure
out a problem with a machine. While I certainly appreciate a challenge as much as the next person, I don't want to become a crutch for the rest of the plant. This is the direction that I am being moved towards. Why? In my past
experiences with flowchart based machine controls (Flopro, OpenControl's predecessor), the plant personnel will do everything within their power (with the backing of the union in most cases) to AVOID working on this "stuff". Debugging a problem flowchart was very difficult under Flopro, it is 2-3 times harder to do under OpenControl. Debugging a flowchart is not nearly as easy as debugging standard PLC ladder. Add to this the current impossibility of flying
in an edit while the machine is running and you begin to see how debug can be a pain. Enough of my ranting for now...
Anyhow, I am seeking employment elsewhere. The type of position I am seeking ideally would be a software or controls engineering position. Ideally, telecommuting should be a possibility (I can dream, right!). Some (very limited) travel is acceptable. Only if absolutely necessary will I relocate. If I had my druthers, I would like to work in an Allen Bradley based manufacturing environment (but NOT in Detroit, thank you). My resume will be available if you think you can help.
Any questions, please don't hesitate to e-mail me at work ([email protected]) or at home ([email protected]).
Thanks folks!
Ron
_______________________________________________
LinuxPLC mailing list
[email protected]
http://linuxplc.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxplc