India’s manufacturing industry is undergoing a great digital revolution. With transformation of factories from manual to smart and automated systems, there has been a sharp increase in demand for industrial automation. The revolution is at the center of the Programmable Logic Controller: the digital brain that controls today’s factory machines.
In this blog, we will discuss growing field of industrial automation in India, its career prospects, technological advances, and the changing landscape of industrial automation.
The Rising Demand and Industrial Growth
The country’s push to become a global manufacturing hotspot has directly spurred the automation of technologies. This move towards India becoming a manufacturing powerhouse in the world has directly helped in the advancement of the automation of technologies. Programs such as “Make in India” are pushing investments in infrastructure which make factories run their production lines optimally to compete in the international market.
- The shift towards Industry 4.0: Indian manufacturing is moving towards smart factories with internet connected systems to optimize production. The PLCs are key components in this growth, since they are responsible for the logic that enables machines to interact with cloud networks and central control stations.
- High Growth Industries in India rely on automated systems heavily for its speed, safety and accuracy to operate the system.
- PLCs are also used in infrastructure and energy projects such as smart power grid, water treatment plants, and the growing metro rail network in major Indian cities for remote monitoring, substation switching, and safety interlocking.
Technological Evolution and Skills in Demand
The PLC programmer’s job is not restricted to basic ladder logic programming on a standalone computer anymore. With the improvement of hardware and software, Indian automation engineers should be proficient in the technological landscape and should be able to manage the evolving and integrated technology.
- Traditional ladder logic is the basis of all logic, but other languages, such as IEC 61131-3 (international standard), are becoming a necessity. Future-ready programmers should have experience in the following:
- Structured Text (ST): A high-level, text like the programming language similar to C or Pascal that is well suited for complex mathematical algorithms.
Function Block Diagrams (FBD): extensively used for process control loops and drive configuration.
- Seamless data flow is essential in modern automation, as data needs to be shared with HMI and SCADA systems. From an increasing trend of PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) input/output linkages to Human-Machine Interfaces (HMIs) for on-floor operators, to Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems for high-level enterprise management; PLCs are increasingly being connected to various interfaces.
- The convergence of IT and OT is blurring the lines between Information Technology (IT) and Operational Technology (OT). Experience with industrial communication protocols (Modbus, Profibus, MQTT) and simple database management (SQL) is very desirable for projects that integrate with the cloud.
Career Path, Roles and Opportunities
Automation career path in India is quite strong and they have plenty of options to choose from while it comes to designing, implementing and business entrepreneurship.
- Many different skills and designations are available for engineers and trained technicians entering the automation field.
- Independent control consultants are the rising trend in the Indian market. Small and medium businesses that want to replace “legacy” machine tools may engage freelance PLC programmers to program a single stand-alone line instead of the overhead costs of a corporate agency.
- Indian automation engineers who have a good working knowledge of PLC circuits often find that they can get high-paying jobs abroad, in countries such as the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Europe.
Conclusion
For those who focus on hands-on learning and not just memorizing facts and figures from textbooks, the future of PLC programming in India looks promising. Technical skills to configure, program and troubleshoot complex industrial equipment will continue to be valuable skills that will withstand the recession. With the advent of PLCs, engineers looking to take on the leadership of the next generation of smart manufacturing will find PLC programming with Wonder Automation to be an essential stepping stone.
Wonder Automation is an industrial automation training institute in Mohali, Punjab and has more than 30 years experience in the industry. We focus on the training of PLC programming, SCADA, HMI and automation system.
We aim to fill this gap between the academic studies and industry demands with practical, project based courses. We have convenient schedules, professional training by qualified engineers, and placement facilities to students and working professionals.