"Finished" can mean wildly different things to people.
One of the maintenance guys made this for the mission, sharp as a witches tit and not painted.
When I was an apprentice, if I left a burr on a piece of metal my boss would get me sweeping the workshop for an hour if I was lucky.
We all think differently, but when something is going to be used for years an extra 30 minutes with a file and a lick of paint goes a long way.
Looking to start a team.
The business, FindFST connects field service technicians with industrial companies directly.
Motivation is for the guys actually on the tools to keep more of what they earn rather than being screwed by an OEM or recruiter.
Tasks mainly:
- Contacting technicians & companies.
- Socials posting (Linkedin & Reddit).
- If business minded, more development possible.
Requirements:
- Knowledge or experience within industrial field service or engineering.
Payment:
It's negotiable, depends what you can bring to the business.
We can arrange $10 for every technician onboarded and $50 for each company
Became a LinkedIN f*ck boy just over a month ago and the progress is coming along nicely.
Although reading my own posts does make me cringe from time to time.
Almost 100k impressions in 38 days.
Mainly posting about industrial field service missions, fixing machines.
Working on a printing press for ciggie packets. Customer invited me to a mission saying one of the motors wasn't regulating consistently and they need a field service visit.
The motor uses an edge scanner to maintain the position of paper material running through the machine. Checked with an oscilloscope and the noise was really bad. Then looking at the connections and all the shielding has been cut so no ground.
Invoiced the customer £2000 for putting 12 cable ties back on.
Like the old story, £1 for installing cable ties, £1999 for know which cables to tie.
I know it's hot and all but seeing more and more non uniformed ticket inspectors on the train.
Also security doing the rounds up and down the train showing their authority.
Honestly, I see this as a good thing as Switzerland seems to be following the decline as many other European countries.
Was called out to a FindFST customer in Germany for a machine down.
They've had issues for months, doing the classic power off and on to fix it.
Eventually cycling the power stopped working...
Wire was making contact with the insulation rather than the copper itself, classic noob mistake.
I'm finding more and more low quality terminations these days, like any man and his dog can be electricians.
Spend an extra minute making the proper crimped terminations and it will make the machine so much more reliable.
Felt quite bad invoicing the customer a few G's for such an easy fix
The machine i'm working on needs water between 15 - 25 degrees.
It's a vacuum metalizer, essentially puts aluminum onto plastic for crisp packets etc.
Customer has the mind set that colder means he can run the machine faster...
So chilled water supply is 4 degrees, means we have this condensation on the motors, making it rain all over the floor and electrical components.
There needs to be a study where a technical guys tells a manager i need 15 degrees water and he tried to do better and gives 5 degrees.
Mate we asked to have 15 degrees for a reason
Was called out to a customer in Germany for a machine down.
They've had issues for months, doing the classic power off and on to fix it.
Eventually cycling the power stopped working...
Wire was making contact with the insulation rather than the copper itself, classic noob mistake.
I'm finding more and more low quality terminations these days, like any man and his dog can be electricians.
Spend an extra minute making the proper crimped terminations and it will make the machine so much more reliable.
Felt quite bad invoicing the customer a few G's for such an easy fix
Working on a printing press for ciggie packets. Customer invited me to a mission saying one of the motors wasn't regulating consistently and they need a field service visit.
The motor uses an edge scanner to maintain the position of paper material running through the machine. Checked with an oscilloscope and the noise was really bad. Then looking at the connections and all the shielding has been cut so no ground.
Invoiced the customer USD 2000 for putting 12 cable ties back on.
Like the old story, USD 1 for installing cable ties, USD 1999 for know which cables to tie.
Got called out from FindFST for a machine down in Durban, South Africa.
On a packaging line, firstly I asked the operators who was in charge of the machine maintenance and they pointed to themselves...
The communications would "randomly" drop out and they would fix it by turning the power off and on. Best trick in the book. But we know nothing is truly random in field service.
After some investigating I found the Arcnet plug barely making a connection, insulation tape and wires twisted together. If anyone here has worked with Arcnet, im sure you can understand how delicate these comms cables are.
Took 2 hours of driving around Durban to get hold of a sub D plug, been a while since I last soldered but holding it with teeth is surely industry standard right?
This is the kind of stuff you get when companies don't hire a proper maintenance person.
Got called out from FindFST for a machine down in Durban, South Africa.
On a packaging line, firstly I asked the operators who was in charge of the machine maintenance and they pointed to themselves...
The communications would "randomly" drop out and they would fix it by turning the power off and on. Best trick in the book. But we know nothing is truly random in field service.
After some investigating I found the Arcnet plug barely making a connection, insulation tape and wires twisted together. If anyone here has worked with Arcnet, im sure you can understand how delicate these comms cables are.
Took 2 hours of driving around Durban to get hold of a sub D plug, been a while since I last soldered but holding it with teeth is surely industry standard right?
This is the kind of stuff you get when companies don't hire a proper maintenance person.
Being a field service technician means working weekends.
Today's job, machine keeps running after stop button pressed, serious safety concern.
My money's on a missing or inverted index signal at the encoder.
Best way to confirm... put an oscilloscope on it. Multimeter won't show you a dropped pulse.
I worked for a large OEM for over 12 years, this year I went freelance.
Was a bit nervous if it would work or not, especially losing the support of the OEM when issues crop up.
But actually the customers have been very keen to work together as it's much cheaper for them rather than going through the OEM.
March was a decent month, hopefully continue this, what I really enjoy is not having to go to the boring office after the mission is complete.
I was also feeling that companies are becoming more strict with rules and removing benefits, we would always fly premium economy but now they have changed to economy to cut costs.
Anyone else having some issues working with OEM and want to go freelance?
Would like some advice on the freelance life as I have only been doing it for a few months.
I worked for a large OEM for over 12 years, this year I went freelance.
Was a bit nervous if it would work or not, especially losing the support of the OEM when issues crop up.
But actually the customers have been very keen to work together as it's much cheaper for them rather than going through the OEM.
March was a decent month, hopefully continue this, what I really enjoy is not having to go to the boring office after the mission is complete.
I was also feeling that companies are becoming more strict with rules and removing benefits, we would always fly premium economy but now they have changed to economy to cut costs.
Anyone else having some issues working with OEM and want to go freelance?
I worked for a large OEM for over 12 years, this year I went freelance.
Was a bit nervous if it would work or not, especially losing the support of the OEM when issues crop up.
But actually the customers have been very keen to work together as it's much cheaper for them rather than going through the OEM.
March was a decent month, hopefully continue this, what I really enjoy is not having to go to the boring office after the mission is complete.
I was also feeling that companies are becoming more strict with rules and removing benefits, we would always fly premium economy but now they have changed to economy to cut costs.
Anyone else having some issues working with OEM and want to go freelance?
Would like some advice on the freelance life as I have only been doing it for a few months.
I worked for a large OEM for over 12 years, this year I went freelance.
Was a bit nervous if it would work or not, especially losing the support of the OEM when issues crop up.
But actually the customers have been very keen to work together as it's much cheaper for them rather than going through the OEM.
March was a decent month, hopefully continue this, what I really enjoy is not having to go to the boring office after the mission is complete.
I was also feeling that companies are becoming more strict with rules and removing benefits, we would always fly premium economy but now they have changed to economy to cut costs.
Anyone else having some issues working with OEM and want to go freelance?
Would like some advice on the freelance life as I have only been doing it for a few months.
