As food and drink manufacturing equipment gets ever more sophisticated, facilities and equipment require increasingly regular needs for upgrades and replacement of obsolete equipment. It is the responsibility of an Industrial Electrician to ensure the safe and efficient maintenance and repair of facility electrical equipment.

Industrial Electricians, perform installations, monitoring, maintenance, repair, and/or design modification of high-tech distributed manufacturing and industrial process control systems across the distillery and wider site.

If you decide to embark upon a career as an Industrial Electrician, you will need to have an extensive technical and mechanical knowledge of electrical components as well as electrical safety practices and regulations.

The role often involves the production of electrical blueprints, schematics, wiring diagrams and instructions. Increasingly electricians use 2D and 3D CAD design software to ensure wiring and connections are correctly routed, arranging switchboards, control units and circuit boards. It may also involve field wiring and the connection of equipment and systems to the mains power supply.

On a day-to-day basis you will be responsible for minimising production downtime by using diagnostic equipment to identify and repair any faults promptly. Common tasks include routine planned and reactive maintenance, installing cable ducts and components, wiring up electrical sockets, terminals and switches as per the wiring diagrams and conducting functional tests on installations to check they work correctly.

Main duties and responsibilities

• Conduct routine maintenance, testing and installation of electrical systems, such as, sensors, actuators, transformers, controllers, circuit breakers, motors, heating units, electric eyes, conduit systems, switches etc. Ensuring installations are to the manufacturer’s safety standards and comply with electrical regulations.
• Conduct quality assurance testing, measures and inspections.
• Disassemble, inspect, test and troubleshoot equipment, to isolate any issues. Repair, replace or reassemble malfunctioning wiring, equipment, or components and test again using test equipment, to confirm conformance, so employees can continue to use it safely.
• Use blueprints and wiring diagrams to plan and execute electrical repairs and installations when a facility needs a new electrical system or equipment. This often involves reviewing plans and blueprints to ensure installations are to the correct specifications.
• Observing safety procedures and meeting electrical codes.
• Train others on job tasks of this role as required.
• Working with a wide range of parts including wires, conductors, conduits, generators, sensors, breakers, transformers and everything else that makes up the electrical system.
• Specify and install new electrical equipment or systems to plant or buildings based on any new project requirements for the site.
• Maintaining an equipment log and writing comprehensive reports and recommendations when repairing, replacing or installing an electrical system.
• Maintain electrical spares register onsite, monitor stocks and procure replacements where required.
• Continually monitor relevant building and safety regulations and understand and act upon any implications for your site. Including the test or recommendation of new electrical equipment, staying well-informed of the latest state of the art technologies.

Skills, experience and qualifications required

You’ll have City & Guilds Level 3 (or recognised equivalent qualification), City & Guilds 2382 (18th edition), NVQ in Electro technical Services & AM2 Certification. In addition, you’ll need:

• 2-3 years residential, commercial or industrial electrical experience
• Possess working knowledge of IEE regulations, City & Guilds 2360 and 2382 qualifications, and inspection and testing certificate (2391)
• Demonstrate familiarity with NICEIC requirements
• Working knowledge of programmable logic controllers (PLCs)
• Experience of electrical certification software applications
• Knowledge of energy-efficient equipment and products.
• Experience working in a food manufacturing environment.
• Team player with the ability to work under your own initiative.
• Continually place the customer at the heart of everything you do
• Good Written and Verbal Communication skills
• Use of testing equipment and hand tools.
• Ability to work well individually and as part of a teamAbove all you’ll have the ability to exercise caution. Working with electrical equipment can be dangerous and you need to have a health respect for the dangers involved when repairing industrial equipment to avoid accidents or injuries.

Institute of Brewing and Distilling
Tel: 020 7499 8144
Website: http://www.ibd.org.uk
Twitter: @IBDHQ
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IBDHQ

National Skills Academy for Food and Drink
Tel: 0330 174 1253
E-mail: info@nsafd.co.uk
Website: http://nsafd.co.uk
Twitter: @NSAFD

Scotland Food and Drink
Tel: 0131 335 0940
Website: http://www.foodanddrink.scot
Twitter: @scotfooddrink
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scotfooddrink