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JMK

Potential Red Flag

6 posts in this topic

Season’s Greetings! Well, it’s been awhile since I last posted on here on MrPLC. I have always looked to the forums on this site to be very informative. Recently, I have made a career change. I have left the role of management and supervision. I decided to get back into the hands-on field. I have been in my position for roughly a month now. I had my first project assigned: document and resurrect an old, skeleton control panel to use on a new packaging machine. First task was to document what was actually in and going on in the control panel. This was painful. I am a pretty detail orientated individual…there was no schematic, and this control panel was thrown together with all the miscellaneous wire and control relays that were lying on the shelf. As I shagged everything out and sketched a schematic, I realized that there was no logical flow to the wiring, no color coded standard followed, and half of the wires weren’t even labeled. Furthermore, there were some mistakes. The supervising engineer gave me the low down on what the machine is supposed to do. I was told to make it happen using the current hardware (PLC and Drives), and I could order whatever miscellaneous materials that I needed. There wasn’t a finite time line given. I decided to spend a day gutting the old wiring, removing not needed components, and rewiring. While I was waiting for some parts, I did write the majority of the PLC and HMI programs. Well, yesterday I was caught off guard when the supervising engineer came by to talk about the project. He was concerned that I missed the scope of work… I didn’t understand what he was referring to, so I asked for clarification. He brought up the fact that I was spending time rewiring the panel. I explained my case on how I was simplifying the design and cleaning things up. I assured him that the PLC and HMI portion was ready, etc… His comeback is what really stuck with me. ‘This panel was working prior… you should have only needed to hook up a few wires… we should have seen motors turning by now…’ Again, I plead my case... He really didn't seem thrilled with my answers. I am I overacting by seeing ‘Red Flags’? I pride myself in a job well done. Being called on the carpet within the first month has never happened to me. Furthermore, the reason I was hired was because I brought to the table, well exactly what I’m doing – documenting, standardizing, simplifying, etc. When I was the managing guy, I wanted my group to give the same detail as I do… Your opinion is appreciated!

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I've been down this road before. Sounds like the guy is worried you've been brought in to show him up. He doesn't know or trust your skills and he may not trust the management above him. Key is to find ways to make both of you look good and convince him you've no intents to take his job. Tough row to hoe but can be done.

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I decided to spend a day gutting the old wiring, removing not needed components, and rewiring. While I was waiting for some parts, I did write the majority of the PLC and HMI programs. Well, yesterday I was caught off guard when the supervising engineer came by to talk about the project. He was concerned that I missed the scope of work… I didn’t understand what he was referring to, so I asked for clarification. He brought up the fact that I was spending time rewiring the panel. I explained my case on how I was simplifying the design and cleaning things up. I assured him that the PLC and HMI portion was ready, etc… His comeback is what really stuck with me. ‘This panel was working prior… you should have only needed to hook up a few wires… we should have seen motors turning by now…’ Again, I plead my case... He really didn't seem thrilled with my answers. I am I overacting by seeing ‘Red Flags’? I pride myself in a job well done. Being called on the carpet within the first month has never happened to me. Furthermore, the reason I was hired was because I brought to the table, well exactly what I’m doing – documenting, standardizing, simplifying, etc. When I was the managing guy, I wanted my group to give the same detail as I do… Your opinion is appreciated! What do you mean you wanted to take the time to do it right? Just continue on with what worked before. The audacity of forgetting the Production God. Been in that fix also. Seems to me if you wanted his job you would have stayed where you were. They tell you what they want then when you do it,,,,,,,, Dan Bentler

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Sounds like the person that hired you, and the person you work for are not the same. Suspect your boss thinks things are fine as is, someone else sees a need for improvement. Your boss resents it. I would follow my on internal standards and do what I thought was the right thing to do. If things do not improve in a few months, might want to consider other options. Good Luck Ken

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This isn't a technical issue. It's not even a supervisor vs. hourly position issue. It's a very, very common communication issue. It often manifests itself for a new employee especially when you have been working with the same group for a long period of time previously. You have to go out of your way in a new job to try to figure out what the new rules are, both written and unwritten. Contractors are really good at this because it's a skill they are more or less required to pick up since it's a key job skill. Observe what contractors do and try to emulate this as much as possible and you'll get much further in life. Yes, and that's the problem. It is difficult to make the transition "backwards". Because you are used to being "in charge", you don't automatically take the passive "seeking consensus" approach. I don't like to hire guys into hourly positions that have previously been supervisors or especially middle management for this reason. Nothing against them...just that it usually doesn't work out. And since you took this route, be prepared to work extra, extra, extra hard to seek out direction from someone else before moving forward. I realize that all of us in the "management" role are frequently seeking for people to take on leadership roles, but there's a fine line to tread there and you need to realize that MOST folks in supervisory positions are not forward thinking enough to try to drive the decision making process down as far as possible.

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Excellent feedback. I certainly feel better about the situation after having light shed on it from different angles. Paulengr - I like the contractor analogy. Thanks for the feedback. JMK

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