Frusturated

[Strahan]

Not sure if this is the correct area to post this but I'm sure the mods will move if its not. My question is and absolutly no offense to anyone on this thread because I would love to work with any of you but where has the basic troubleshooting skills gone among industrial electricians? I work in a large manufacturing facility and my job title is Control Technician what that means is I do all the automation PLC's ect.. plus on top of that I'm the guy are plant electricians call when they can't fix a problem. My job is to work on design issues along with new projects and updating all our control schemes but most of my time is spent being the plant electrician because these guys can't do there job. All plant electricians have atleast 10 years exp in our plant and most can't even troubleshoot a faulty motor I mean I don't claim to be the best by far but when a motor is connected to a frequency drive and upon starting the motor the drive trips you should be able to diagnos the problem in a reasonable amount of time. My first question the the "electrician" was whats the fault code reply "I don't know" did you meg the motor "No" ok here is a simple one did you disconnect the motor leads and see if the drive runs with no problem "No never thought of that". I mean Iam frusturated and tired of dealing with guys who claim to be something they are not. I should not have to hold anybodys hand to perform those simple tasks. Sorry for venting I just need to here from you guys and hopefully I'm not alone.

 

[sawdust454]

Hey thats my job

Hey thats my job

Strahan:
You just described my day job as an engineering technician to a tee!
I feel your pain as I am in the same situation. I do try to teach as much as possible, but most of the time I have way too much work for that. I used to enjoy being the go to guy, ( and sometimes I still do) but having the phone ring @ 3:00am after working all day and contracting at night is getting really old. i don not know how long you have been in this job, but I would bet things will get better with time and on the job experience for your electricians.
Oops just reread your post about them having 10 years experience, wow if they havent got a clue after 10 years they may never. Sorry about hang in there
Im sure the pro's on this forum will be able to help more then me!!

 

[augie47]

every situation is, of course, different, but I think in some of the instances you are being "had". First off they should know, secondly, on items like megging the motor, show them once..carefully, then next time tell them you are really busy doing YOUR job. Have them to megger and give you the readings.
I;m afarid you are in a situation of "why should I do it, I'll just call Strahan. It's easier."
As you do the work they can get cofee or smoke.

 

[zog]

I trained industrial electricians for 15 years, steel mills and auto plants mostly, and I know exactly what you are talking about. Seems there are always a bunch of those types and a handful of really good electricians at each plant that carry all of the weight.

Some of the basic concepts that I covered in my class always amazed me how a 30 year "electrician" had no idea how to do or the lack of theory knowledge, but there was always 1 or 2 guys in each class that were very solid. They all had the same training, worked at the same job, and similar backgrounds and the differences in skills and knowledge was vast.

I guess it is a matter of is this a job or a career? the "just a job" guys are there to do as little as possible and get paid as much for it as they can, the "career" guys do whatever they can to learn more about thier trade and equipment they are responsible for, they take classes when available, look up stuff they dont know, ask questions in this forum, etc....thats just my POV.

 

[growler]

I;m afarid you are in a situation of "why should I do it, I'll just call Strahan. It's easier."
As you do the work they can get cofee or smoke.

That's what I was thinking. I have seen this before, when people have someone they can call and pass work off to they get dumb pretty quick.

If they are really dumb and can't fix something then you normally find a piece of equipment that's disassembled or they have swapped out everything trying to fix it. If they haven't touched it I would think lazy, lots of that going around.

 

[drbond24]

If they haven't touched it I would think lazy, lots of that going around.

You'd better believe lazy is contagious, too. I worked for the federal government for 3.5 years and they've all got it. I caught a mild case of it myself, but thankfully I returned to the real world and was cured by a job where I had to show up at the same time every day and work all day. That's outrageous by government standards.

 

[SEO]

It's starting to be the norm to pass off a task to someone else. LAZY??

 

[Strahan]

Thanks guys I didn't quote because I want to respond to all. I have been at this job for a little over 5 years now and yes for a long time I loved being the go to guy but that gets old quick. Yes in some cases I am being had these guys find it easier to call me then to attempt themselves but in alot of cases it amazes me because these guys do not posses many skills that the trade demands. What upsets me the most is that they know it and don't have any desire to further there training or schooling. Iam still a young pup yet but I know you can't become stale in this profession you must always look to learn more or brush up on your skills in order to be good at your job. I feel it is a personal obligation to be good at what you do I absolutly hate it when Im struggling to find a problem but I will bet you one thing I will learn what I need to so it doesn't happen again. Whenever I get a chance I have my face buried in some sort of electrical book boy you should here the comments then. Don't get me wrong we have some great electricians but there are way too many terrible ones.

 

[augie47]

Strahan, the sad part is that you are heading for a "burnout". The fact that you are venting here gives light to that fact. You seem to be knowledgable, hardworking, and willing to help...great traits but easily mmanipulated by those who don't have them.
I would suggest a talk with management. Perhaps, if you are not the supervisor over these guys, that they should at least go thru their supervisor to have your assistance. Something needs to be done to bring it to attention that these guys need either more training or need to do their job. As it now stands, you are doing a dis-service as you will one day be totally frustrated and leave and the company will be left with untrained folks.

 

[Strahan]

Strahan, the sad part is that you are heading for a "burnout". The fact that you are venting here gives light to that fact. You seem to be knowledgable, hardworking, and willing to help...great traits but easily mmanipulated by those who don't have them.
I would suggest a talk with management. Perhaps, if you are not the supervisor over these guys, that they should at least go thru their supervisor to have your assistance. Something needs to be done to bring it to attention that these guys need either more training or need to do their job. As it now stands, you are doing a dis-service as you will one day be totally frustrated and leave and the company will be left with untrained folks.

Great point yes I'am heading for a burnout 12 hours a day atleast 6days a week now for 7months. Believe me with the economy I am certainly not complaining just feel these guys should either help themselves or find another trade. As for management we do not have one maintenance manager with electrical experience yes I know that is very very sad but thats the way it is. Management is in the mind frame to get the lines running as soon as possible time is money and they will have to answer for it so they to have gotten into the mind frame to just call me. I will certainly continue to vent to management that something needs done hopefully with a positive outlook. To answer another question is yes I may be easily manipulated but I have always been the nice guy and I take pride in that I just need to learn when to turn the nice guy attitude off. Thanks guys I'm already feeling better!!:grin:

 

[cowboyjwc]

Some guys just play the game too, they're not really looking that hard to solve the problem because it's job security.

I went to help this guy out for a couple of weeks. He had one house that had some problems and his guys that had been with him for years had been there for three days and still couldn't get it right. Within two hours I had found and repaired all of the problems. Needless to say that his guys weren't to happy about it. From watching them work I could tell that they weren't looking for the problems very hard either.

 

[prh1700]

Teaching an old dog new tricks. Some guys feel like they will never be able to work on the newer stuff. I call it the cow trail. Notice in the fields cows always take the same route? Are there training classes set up? Make them mandatory. Sometimes all a guy needs is a good shove of the nest to fly. If not, he just became the light bulb tech if he is worth keeping.

 

[ptonsparky]

You are enabling them. Say NO and make sure are busy on something else.

 

[foqnc]

Management is in the mind frame to get the lines running as soon as possible time is money and they will have to answer for it so they to have gotten into the mind frame to just call me.

Strahan, I am in the very same boat, Supervisors will come straight to me, then once I have found the fault I get the electricians to fix it. It seems if the supervisors ask the Electricians, it is palmed off onto another trade as there problem, If I look at it and call the electricians then they jump right too it.
I am not one who goes on power trips or likes being put high up on pedestals, but my attitude is we all work for the same company, if the lines are running we are making money. Management should want to see me sitting in my office.

Good Luck

 

[satcom]

Some guys just play the game too, they're not really looking that hard to solve the problem because it's job security.

I went to help this guy out for a couple of weeks. He had one house that had some problems and his guys that had been with him for years had been there for three days and still couldn't get it right. Within two hours I had found and repaired all of the problems. Needless to say that his guys weren't to happy about it. From watching them work I could tell that they weren't looking for the problems very hard either.

Funny story, many years back I was working a temp job for a few weeks at a local manufacturing plant, when I walked into the electrical shop, I noticed the guys tapping holes with a drill and gun tap, then when the supervisor showed up, all the drills and gun taps, went back in the box, and the hand taps came out, when I asked one of the guys what he did that, he said they estimated the job using hand taps, so we get more goof off time using the gun taps, live and learn.

 

[brian john]

I think you can say this about every end on the industry residential guy complain about other residential guys, commercial about other commercial, fire alarm tech and electrical testers.

And guess what as long you are on top complaining and you actually know what you do you should have a job, while the pretend guys, not so in-tuned to the business at hand may lose their jobs.

 

[bradleyelectric]

How about you write a basic procedures manual? When someone calls with a problem you write a set by step as to how to handle the situation. Add procedures as situations come up. Make spreadsheets of what they should be testing for and what a normal reading should be and include it with the procedure. When calls come in you can tell them to check the procedure. As time goes on you may have less procedures to write and less calls to take.

 

[Strahan]

I think you can say this about every end on the industry residential guy complain about other residential guys, commercial about other commercial, fire alarm tech and electrical testers.

And guess what as long you are on top complaining and you actually know what you do you should have a job, while the pretend guys, not so in-tuned to the business at hand may lose their jobs.

I agree 100%!! I take pride in what I do I just find it amazing that these guys either act like they know nothing or simply don't and they do not want to do anything about it. I have no worry of not having a job but on the other hand these guys I'm talking about after many years still have a job also. Simply stating it is a union shop can't force training nobody to evaluate job performance etc.. I do love my job and what I do I was just curious if anybody else has dealt with these issues. Yes I agree everybody is going to complain at some point about somebody else but I see a real lack of knowledge among these guys and even some of the newer guys. This does not help us keep the work!!

 

[Strahan]

Strahan, I am in the very same boat, Supervisors will come straight to me, then once I have found the fault I get the electricians to fix it. It seems if the supervisors ask the Electricians, it is palmed off onto another trade as there problem, If I look at it and call the electricians then they jump right too it.
I am not one who goes on power trips or likes being put high up on pedestals, but my attitude is we all work for the same company, if the lines are running we are making money. Management should want to see me sitting in my office.

Good Luck

Sounds like we work for the same company!! Thanks :grin:

 

[Cow]

What a timely thread.....

Just yesterday, I had a work order to help a plant electrician troubleshoot a problem. You know who that plant electrician was? A former apprenticeship teacher who taught class the same time I went through school. I only recently turned out 6 mos. ago and thought how odd it was(and scary too), that I was showing the teacher how to troubleshoot.....

It's probably a good thing that I learned my troubleshooting skills outside of the classroom.

What I notice, is that it seems some people have the hardest time grasping the 'divide and conquer' method to troubleshooting. They start jumping around testing different parts of the circuit instead of doing it systematically and then can't remember exactly all they've checked so far.....