Do you know the advantages of overstock/refurbished industrial equipment?
The choices when you buy industrial automation equipment are varied. Do you buy new? Overstock? Refurbished? Do you consider repairing your current part?
The age of your factory automation systems and the availability of parts will drive some of these decisions. OEMs give limited options for older legacy systems. And the longer a system remains in use after legacy status, the more challenging it becomes to source quality replacement parts.
Here at AX Control, we stock a wide range of professionally refurbished, repaired, and reconditioned automation parts from companies like GE, Eurotherm, and Reliance Electric, just to name a few. We inspect, clean, test, and bring every piece of legacy equipment in our inventory back to proper working order. Only then is it placed into our online inventory.
It’s not a stretch to say electricity is one of the most impactful discoveries of human existence. But how does it work?
We take electricity for granted these days. But think of everything we do with electricity. We cook our food, light our homes, keep our families warm with it. It powers our vehicles. And it keeps many of our waking hours filled with entertainment. But do you know how electricity works?
Electricity is one of most of the impactful technologies to human existence.
Electricity is useful, helpful, even beautiful. But how does it work?
How does electricity work?
Is the electric shock we receive from staticky socks the same as power coming into our television and computer? If they aren’t, how do they relate to each other? And what about batteries? Also, how does the power stored there relate to those other kinds of power?
In simplest terms, the power in your socks, in batteries, and coming into your home are all the same. Each one has electric current moving particles from areas of a different charge. It doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about annoying static, a charge hidden in batteries, or high voltage lines. In each case, there is a discharge occurring as the system tries to find a balance between positively and negatively charged electrons. Read more below.
The field is good for 4-year graduates, too. Workers with a bachelor’s degree or higher make more within manufacturing fields than they do in other industries.
While blue-collar workers are paid well in manufacturing, the proportion of blue-collar jobs is shrinking compared to higher-skilled positions. From 1991 to 2016, the percentage of good (starting at $35,000 with a median of $56,000) blue-collar jobs had declined from 27% to 16% of the manufacturing workforce.
Manufacturers are now experiencing a shortage of properly trained workers with skills in installation, production, and maintenance trades. But fast-tracking prepartion is possible. Workers prepare for jobs by completing apprenticeships, certificates, or 2-year programs.
Industries also need degreed workers who understand new advances in manufacturing. For example, manufacturing needs workers that understand AI, VR/AR usage, robotics adoption, the use of digital twins, and other high-tech processes.
Over one-fourth of the manufacturing workforce will retire over the next decade. Unfortunately, this will only deepen existing challenges facing the industry.
What Kinds of Jobs are Available?
Many careers in manufacturing would qualify as a “good-paying job.” But some of the best that don’t require a 4-year degree include:
CNC programmer. Some manufacturers run their own “boot camps” to train potential workers
Electrician. This job typically requires state licensing.
Warehouse supervisor. Logistics experience and/or training is often valued more than a degree.
Welder. Experience or a 2-year degree suffices.
Maintenance Mechanic. Automation equipment is expensive. Anyone with mechanical aptitude who can increase its longevity is valued.
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