What’s needed to inspire, educate, recruit, train/retrain and retain process control engineers and operators these days? If you don’t know, you’d better find out because there are some epic obstacles in the way.

First, tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of Baby Boomers have retired from the process industries, and more are following them. Many veteran operators and engineers have already been replaced by younger, less-experienced counterparts. However, vast amounts of hard-worn experience and precious know-how have been lost in many individual processes, disciplines and industries.

Second, this already Grand Canyon-sized knowledge gap is widening even further due to accelerating digitalization and other technical advances. They consist of ongoing shifts from point-to-point hardwiring to fieldbuses, Ethernet networks and wireless, and migrations from dedicated, hardcoded I/O and PLCs and other rigid hardware and operations technologies (OT) to more flexible, programmable I/O, generic silicon boards, software-based controls, increasingly dynamic simulations and digital twins, cloud-computing services and other information technologies (IT).

Even highly experienced engineers and operators have found themselves with new job descriptions that need them to perform new tasks, and typically learn and apply entirely new skills. On the other side of the experience coin, the need for process operators and engineers is so great that many candidates with zero experience are transitioning in from unrelated and less-promising jobs, though they obviously need extra training and conditioning to have a chance of success.

Third, there continue to be millions of unfilled jobs in U.S., North American and European process industries, manufacturing, business, agriculture, municipalities, service industries and elsewhere. 

Faced with this triple-threat, how are process industry managers, administrators, owner-operators and other leaders responding—not to mention the engineers and operators themselves?

Installments

1. Training, training and more training to refill the brain drain: Novaspect’s Adatafy outlines the continuing labor crisis and educational and other useful remedies.
2. A matter of degrees: Attitude and simulations supplement schooling: System integrator Patti Engineering reports academics are just the beginning of continuing education.
3. Distillation unit grabs senses, instills long-lasting knowledge: LyondellBasell’s Center for Petrochemical Energy & Technology (CPET) at San Jacinto College shows real reality is still the best teacher.
4. Curiosity is crucial for career changes: Coach, consultant and system integrator Abelara reports stubbornness needed to pursue accelerating technologies and skills.
5. In-house preparation puts personnel parts together: System integrator Interstates specializes on training, internships development—and asking better questions.
6. Teach what you need: System integrator Arthur G. Russell partners with local colleges to help students develop the skills they require.
7. Do-it-yourself schooling teaches specialized skills: System integrator Enterprise Automation developed its EA University program to train new staff about controls, contracting, designs, configurations, testing, deployment and maintenance.
8. Have experience? Willing to travel and learn in the trenches?: Beyond seeking know-how, system integrator ACS also seeks personnel who can work onsite, and interns who can help their mentors learn, too.
9. No substitute for in-person experience: System integrator George T. Hall gives young engineers much-needed physical introductions to what field services require.
10. Bootcamp demonstrates automation foundations: Actemium-Avanceon’s bootcamp shows entry-level staff how to invest in themselves, and teaches leaders how to be mentors