Hi all,
Went for a job interview yesterday and was asked about my electrical
knowledge.
Now for as long as I care not to remember I have been a service engineer
and although I have a C&G in mechanical engineering, after my
apprenticeship my jobs have increasingly involved electrical equipment
on a service basis.
I have no problem with working on control panels, 3 phase equipment,
PLC, inverters etc. but in a service context it just involves diagnosing
the fault with the equipment and effecting a repair whether it means
replacing a motor or electrical board, I used to repair boards at one
time but it is not cost effective anymore, far cheaper just to swop out.

Now this company knows of my electrical knowledge as in my last job they
where one of my customers which I regularly attended when they had
problems, mechanical or electrical and also pneumatic/hydraulic.

Now I do not have any formal electrical qualifications and they asked If
I would take a course to get one, they cited H&S as the reason.
I'm OK with that but they mentioned 16th edition, now as far as I am
aware the 16th/17th is more aimed at actual installation and design
where as this job entails repairing existing machines when they break
down so I will be basically repairing the innards of the machines.

Is 16th necessary for this or are there other courses I can take more
relevant to the type of work I will be doing?


Bazza

Hi
Sounds like the old get out of jail free card ploy.If you are in any
electrical job outside installation they always seem to ask for 16th
edition. Trouble is 16th has been superseded by part 2 and now 17th and as
you state is aimed at the electrical wiring and installation.
Repairing any type of machinery from a washing machine to a robotic
production line requires specialist knowledge and training is always given
by the manufacturers or maintenance firm.
Whilst I agree a basic knowledge of electrical operations and safety is
important it is by no means proof that you are capable of doing the
specified job.
I would recommend you contact the manufacturers of the equipment and ask to
attend their training course.

HTH
CJ

cj wrote:
Hi
Sounds like the old get out of jail free card ploy.If you are in any
electrical job outside installation they always seem to ask for 16th
edition. Trouble is 16th has been superseded by part 2 and now 17th and as
you state is aimed at the electrical wiring and installation.
Repairing any type of machinery from a washing machine to a robotic
production line requires specialist knowledge and training is always given
by the manufacturers or maintenance firm.
Whilst I agree a basic knowledge of electrical operations and safety is
important it is by no means proof that you are capable of doing the
specified job.
I would recommend you contact the manufacturers of the equipment and ask to
attend their training course.

HTH
CJ


That is my thought, I have attended various manufacturer training
courses in my previous jobs, vacuum packaging/labelling equipment, food
processing, not your small stuff but your high volume industrial jobbies.
The kit in this factory is the same stuff that I am used to, they just
carry a different brand name than the ones I have trained on.
They all do the same job though and use the same techniques so I would
have thought rather than 16/17th a manufacturers training course to
familiarise myself with the brands would be adequate and probably a lot
cheaper.
Ironically I do some work for small engineering firm (I am self
employed) and next week we are redesigning the packaging machine from
the factory I have applied for the job with, the original spec was crap
due to him buying cheap and the supplier not having enough experience of
the process it was to be used for, would be a shame if I dropped off on
one of the dimensions but then my conscience wouldn't let me do that.

Bazza