What is an Automation engineer?
An automation engineer uses technology to streamline, improve & automate various manufacturing, software or other processes.
To sum it, they are professionals in engineering automation, who make the existing processes as efficient as possible.
Their primary duties are to analyze and design innovative automation systems (automation system engineer).
A professional in automation engineering is responsible for controlling the production and delivery of products by using the latest technologies and tools available.
They design, develop, optimize, and manage the systems.
An automation engineer (what is an automation engineer?) needs a creative & analytical mind. The person needs to properly understand the process before they can automate it.
What does an Automation Engineer do?
Automation engineer works with other teams (production, sales, inventory management, testing,…) to develop new system, which can automate the current work/processes.
They plan meetings/discuss with other stakeholders to determine how they’ll automate a system and control the process after automation.
After discussion & reviews, they lead the implementation of changes or new technology and oversee the quality assurance process
They plan & change existing technology so that it needs less human interaction, and they monitor the performance of the changes they make.
In that process, sometimes, they design & implement entirely new technology to automate a system.
An automation engineer spends most of their time designing and developing new technologies, such as algorithms and algorithms for computer programs.
An automation engineer is a professional with knowledge on how to design, develop and implement automated processes to improve the efficiency of companies and manufacturing facilities.
These engineers have a very clear objective – how can automation be used to optimize current manufacturing processes?
Automated engineering (what does an automation engineer do?) is centered around that. The goal is to make a positive impact on an organization, but a lot goes into that.
To complete the overall duties and tasks, it is necessary to create tests to determine how things work and formulate theories and ideas.
Any areas identified for automation will likely need to be monitored for health and safety in close coordination with others.
Points to watch for
- One of the important points to achieve successful result is that one should review the existing process & reduce waste/redundant process. Else, you may end up automating wrong/redundant things.
- Don’t automate just for the sake of automation. Discuss with other stakeholders & establish the real benefits of automation. It can be a. Reduction in human effort & overall cost
- Improved quality as now machines/system is doing all the work
- b. Faster ‘Go to Market’. As now things are automated, they can be executed 24/7 and may be in parallel also. This may cut down, overall elapsed time.
- c . Improvement in profit.
- Remember that initially, one need to do investment, while planning automation. But in the long run (especially for the repetitive tasks), it will result in good ROI.
- It may be difficult (or costly), where human decision/cognitive skills are required. In those cases, clearly identify the steps, which should be automated & plan for overall collaboration along with human.
- Automation can & should be done across the organization. It should not get limited to only production or engineering group. Aim should be to automate all processes, which are repetitive in nature. It can be in Sales ( say for Lead capturing), in HR ( during recruitment ) or production.
Skills Required to be an Automation Engineer
An automation engineer should be well equipped with many skills that allow them to design systems that are reliable for their clients (internal or external). Automation engineers (skills required for automation engineer) must have the following basic skills:
Problem Solving Skill–
Candidates ideally thrive in a job that is centered on problem-solving and allows them the autonomy to develop solutions for hard, technical problems.
Any successful automation engineer needs to be able to work at both the micro and macro levels in order to achieve success.
Analytical Skill –
One of the roles of an Automation Engineer is constant analysis, from monitoring current processes to testing and interpreting new automation ideas.
Therefore, those who enjoy numbers, math, and applying the skillset to challenging processes will be positioned to succeed in this field for years to come.
Observing & Understanding of Specific Equipment/Processes –
Specific experience or knowledge of specific equipment/processes may be a requirement.
One should be able to observe, understand & plan new things.
Understanding the type of equipment used in a food processing plant, for instance, is likely to be sought after if you are applying for a job in this industry.
Communication Skill –
Communication between the team and other engineers will be essential for Automation Engineers. Reporting on how processes are working will play an important role in the job, so demonstrating automation both verbally and through reports, email, and meetings will ensure it is of maximum use to an organization.
Innovation–
In addition to the seemingly technical and scientific requirements of automation engineering, it requires an unlimited amount of creative thinking in order to come up with solutions and ideas for innovation in automation.
Inventing solutions to inherently complex processes should not be a source of anxiety for engineers.
Automation engineers’ skills
The skills required for automation engineers (work of automation engineer) are both technical and soft. To succeed in your role, you will need to have a good understanding of the hardware, software, networks, and business units you’re interacting with.
It will also be necessary for you to have experience with mobile, web, and desktop operating systems as well as for analytics, robotics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.
Automation engineers typically possess (but are not limited to) the following skills:
- Robotics and automation
- Machine learning and artificial intelligence
- Experience with programming and coding
- Managing projects
- DevOps, Cloud, and Agile
- Some software languages like python, C#, ruby, Java, Javascript, SmashTest
