Industrial Technician Spotlight

Industrial Technicians ensure that a company’s measuring and control instruments are working their best at all times. They repair, maintain, calibrate, adjust and install industrial measuring and control instrumentation.

What a typical day looks like:

When equipment is delivered to a facility, Industrial Technicians study the schematics, diagrams and manufacturing guides to understand the temperature, speed and measurements that equipment requires. They calibrate the components and instruments to those specifications and then install the equipment.

Once they have everything set up, Industrial Technicians review daily operational logs and statistics to look for any equipment trends or potential problems. They also inspect and test the equipment using a variety of testing devices and precision measuring instruments to diagnose and troubleshoot any problems. They interact with a variety of process and equipment operators, suppliers and facilities staff to make sure all systems are working properly and schedule calibrations and preventative maintenance.

Industrial Technicians often spend the majority of their time working on site in a plant or facility. This could mean working in remote locations. They spend most of their time on their feet, which requires some physical endurance. They may be required to carry and set up heavy testing, monitoring or repair equipment and need to be able to crouch and bend frequently. These technicians are typically employed in the exploration and production (E&P), oil and gas services, oil sands and pipeline sectors of the oil and gas industry.

The kinds of problems Industrial Technicians solve at work:

From start to finish, Industrial Technicians ensure everything at a plant or facility functions as planned and work hard to get ahead of potential problems. When problems are discovered, they repair and adjust system components, such as sensors, transmitters and programmable logic controllers.

Skills used most on the job:

Industrial Technicians are critical thinkers who like to plan ahead. They are comfortable using computers and following processes to install, repair and monitor equipment. They are collaborative workers who have a keen attention to detail.

Industrial Technicians help their company avoid surprises. They know that regular repairs and maintenance will save them from having to fix bigger problems down the line.