Downtime is
the only number
that counts.
Everything else is negotiable — the vendor, the controller generation, whose fault it was. Over twenty years in automation — servo motion, PLC/HMI, commissioning — spent on the work that shortens it: stopped lines returned to production, new ones taken through to sign-off, ageing controls migrated, and the engineers who run them trained.
20+
Years in automation
15
Years training engineers
Multiple
Control platforms
11
Years inside a machine OEM
20+
Years in automation
15
Years training engineers
Multiple
Control platforms
11
Years inside a machine OEM
The vendor was negotiable. The fault was not.
High-speed aseptic filling machines brought back to full working order, together with the tray packer, buffer table and line controller (chain conveyor) downstream of them.
A full downstream packaging set — tray packer, buffer table, straw applicator and line controller (chain conveyor) — diagnosed and run integrated on the current Schneider PacDrive3 generation.
Fault diagnosis ran across control platforms and CoDeSys generations — ELAU servo motion and Eaton/Moeller XVC on CoDeSys 2, Schneider PacDrive3 on CoDeSys 3.
From an empty cabinet to a trained team.
Most of my work starts the same way — a line is down, a system needs to work in a way it currently doesn't, or there is no system yet. These are the shapes that work usually takes.
RECOVERY
Machine recovery & fault diagnosis
Getting stopped equipment running again — servo drives, controller faults, communication breakdowns, HMI alarms. Hardware and software, down to the terminal block if that's where it is.
TRAINING
Technical training
PLC, HMI and servo courses for engineers and maintenance teams. Fifteen years of it, including building the training rigs the courses run on.
DESIGN
Control system design & build
Complete electrical automation systems specified from scratch — hardware architecture, component selection, panel design and schematics — through build, vendor management and customer sign-off.
COMMISSIONING
Commissioning, FAT & SAT
Bringing new equipment from powered-off to signed-off: I/O checks, motion tuning, sequence validation, and the acceptance paperwork that goes with it.
RETROFIT
Retrofit & control migration
Replacing or modernising control systems on machines that still have years of service left — across controller generations and vendors.
DEVELOPMENT
PLC & HMI development
Control programmes and operator interfaces written from scratch or reworked — Siemens and Schneider — with the operator's actual working day in mind.
REMOTE
Secure remote access
Site-to-site VPN infrastructure so engineers can reach PLC and HMI systems across distributed plants without exposing them to the open internet.
Hands-on, not brochure-deep
A list of vendor names says very little. What matters is what each one actually gets used for.
Siemens
S7-1200/1500 · TIA Portal · WinCC Advanced/Pro
Programme and HMI development, commissioning, and the training courses built around them.
Schneider
PacDrive3 · ELAU servo motion · Modicon
Servo motion on packaging lines — cam profiles, axis faults, and getting stopped lines running again.
Allen-Bradley
SLC500 / PLC-5 · RSLogix 500/5 · Micro820 / CCW
Hands-on with the legacy line early in my career, and a Micro820 programme rebuild more recently. Studio 5000 is where I am catching up.
CoDeSys
Eaton/Moeller XVC
Fault diagnosis and programme work on CoDeSys-based line controllers.
Electrical & networks
EPLAN · PROFINET · Modbus
Schematics, panel design, and the industrial network everything sits on.
Optical sorting
Sorter control software
Software commissioning and calibration, plus operator and maintenance training.
Infrastructure
Linux · Docker · WireGuard
The Linux hosts and containers that remote access runs on — infrastructure, not a one-off tunnel.
The kinds of conversation
I'm open to
PERMANENT ROLE
A permanent engineering role
Automation, controls, commissioning or field service — the kind of role where the job is on the line and on the road, not behind a desk.
CONSULTING
A project engagement
Line recovery, commissioning support, retrofit work — a few weeks on site where a line has stopped, or delivered remotely when the work is in the programme rather than the panel.
TRAINING
A training programme
Delivered at your site, or built as a course your own trainers can run afterwards — with the course material and, where it helps, the rig to run it on.
If any of these fit what you're working on, the fastest route is the form — it reaches me directly.
Get in touch