I currently work as an industrial electrical maintenance technician, mainly doing troubleshooting, preventive/curative maintenance, electrical diagnostics, PLCs, VFDs, motors, etc.

A friend of mine works for another company and they currently have an opening for Remote PLC Customer Support. He recommended me for the position. It's a 3 man team and my friend is one of them.

The pay would be basically the same as what I'm making now, maybe a little bit more after taxes cause of bonuses and stuff.

On paper, the remote PLC support job sounds like a good opportunity: less physical work, potentially better working conditions, and more experience with PLCs and automation. It could also open doors to more specialized automation/engineering roles in the future.

But I'm hesitant because I'm wondering if I'm giving up something valuable by leaving industrial maintenance.

For people who have worked in both areas:

-Is moving from industrial maintenance to remote PLC customer support a good career move?

-Does remote PLC support give you better career progression in automation?

-Is the work actually less stressful?

-Would you take the move if the salary was exactly the same?

-What should I ask the company before accepting?

-Is there anything I might regret after leaving maintenance?

I'm not necessarily looking for a higher salary right now. I'm more interested in which path gives me better opportunities and skills in the long run.

So I’ve been a maintenance tech for about 4 years now and I’ve realized I suck at this job. I’m a horrible fabricator, not really the best mechanical person. Only thing I like and decent at is electrical. Obviously I’m in the wrong field so what else could I do? I went to school for industrial electrical maintenance, not sure how that could translate to other jobs.

I'm looking for software that can accurately pull every termination point from my schematics and include the cable ID's, preferably, also a section that includes "From Device" "To Device". Our drafter uses Draftsight 2026 but says that he doesn't have the plug ins available to do this. I'd like to theb populate this list into an excel sheet to use for point to point continuity tests.

Been working at the same place for nearly 4 years, I like the environment, don't mind the people, live the job. New boss decided to mandate 58 hour weeks with no conversation, no notice, nothing. Supposedly only temporary until the department is making the numbers it's supposed to. Throwing maintenance employees at a production problem as usual. I haven't complied and have been told if I keep it up into next week I'm fired.

Im started looking at transitioning into an Industrial field but have read mixed things whether piercings are allowed due to safety issues.

What are your all's experience with piercings and the workplace? Im been looking into Industrial Mechanic or Electrican specifically. Are places usually good with no hanging jewelry/non-conductive pieces?

Since it probably matters I'll be working in Germany though Im trying to get a general feel for the industry at this point.

I recently applied for a Maintenance Mechanic position at UPS and took the assessment/test for the position. Unfortunately, I failed the test.
From what I remember, the test covered a mix of electrical, mechanical, troubleshooting, welding, map reading , cylinders , pumps , etc
related questions. UPS told me I’ll be contacted in about two weeks to retake the test, so I really want to prepare correctly this time. Has anyone here taken the UPS Maintenance Mechanic assessment recently? If so:
What subjects should I focus on?
What type of electrical/mechanical questions were on it?
Is there a specific study guide or practice test?
Any tips for passing the retest? I have electrical/low-voltage experience and some welding experience, but I want to make sure I’m studying the actual material that will be on the test.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I’m currently working in conveyor/sortation system maintenance and looking to transition into industrial maintenance in the food or bottling industry. I have hands-on experience with PLCs, hydraulics, pneumatics, sensors, motors, and electrical troubleshooting, but many of the positions I’m seeing prefer candidates with previous food or bottling experience.

For those who have made a similar transition, what skills or equipment should I focus on learning to make myself a stronger candidate? Is there anything specific you wish you had learned before making the switch?

I’m a 26 year old industrial maint tech with 6 years experience in the field. One of the little tips I’ve learned that I can share is how to test some electronics with your phone.

I would like to preface this with a bit of information.
Wires create a magnetic field when an amperage is applied to the wire, solenoids seal in unsung magnets, and relays also switch using magnets. The world of magnetic fields is very important in our line of work.

With that said there is an app called “phyphox” which allows you to access raw sensor data from your phone. Using this app you can put your phone on solenoids relays or wires next to your magnetic sensor in your phone. This will tell you if the magnet is engaging in a solenoid or relay, or if you have power going through a wire (troubleshooting fuses, buttons, switches, etc.)

Hopefully this tip can help save you some time or money or just be a cool random piece of information for you all.

Looking for a slim pocket flashlight extremely bright but also can be dim. Laser is a must as well.

I work at a local pet food factory and we tried rolling out predictive maintenance on the extrusion line last year, only to spend the first month just realizing how patchy our sensor history actually was. Tags had been renamed twice over the years, a motor got swapped without anyone updating the documentation and nobody could agree on what a normal cycle even looked like anymore. Some teams start with vibration, temperature and current data on a few critical assets and build from there while others spend months cleaning data before touching anything predictive. Im trying to find the middle ground where the setup is useful without turning into its own data cleanup project. How much data quality did you need before predictive maintenance started helping on your line?

m currently in school to get my associates this semester im taking plc courses i just completed my apprenticeship and got offered a maint tech pos my question is am I wasting my time with plc from my work exp it seems most plc are proprietary now and have to hook up and let the original writer time to go thru the program. I guess my question is plc becoming a dieing art or is their still a need for it