Industrial Automation is a continuously expanding industry, with a wide scope and more job opportunities now obtainable in the market for Automation Engineers.
Who exactly is an automation engineer, and how do I become one?
According to several market research data, the worldwide industrial automation industry is worth USD 147.9 billion in 2022, driven by rising demand for smarter solutions to run industrial operations. The market is predicted to expand further over the forecast period of 2023-2027, increasing at an 8.2% CAGR. By 2027, the market is expected to be worth USD 218.8 billion. Read more
This simply means that the sector is expanding and that more possibilities are becoming available to individuals, companies, and manufacturers.
5 Major factors driving the market growth of industrial Automation industry are:
– Real time data analysis and increased maintenance of the developed technology,
– decreased hard work involved in the manufacturing process and improved automation technology with reduced steps of the process.
– Asset management solutions with improved connectivity and easy work flow of the work and transmission of the data, enhance visibility of the plant.
– Increased research and development with increased developed technology and
– Improved solutions and predictable maintenance of the machinery with reduced labor cost.
The Automation industry being a large market presents varying opportunities to an individual or factory in any of the following market segment:
Market Segmentation in Industrial Automation can be on any of the following basis:
On the basis of control system, the market is segmented into:
- Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA)
- Distributed Control System (DCS)
- Programmable Logic Controller (PLC)
- Manufacturing Execution System (MES)
- Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)
- Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
- Human Machine Interface (HMI)
- Others
By devices, the market is bifurcated into:
- Machine Vision
- Robotics
- Sensors
- Motion and Drives
- Relays and Switches
- Others
In terms of application, the market is segregated into:
- Discrete Industry, which is further subdivided into:
- Automotive
- Packaging
- Food Processing
- Textile
- Others
- Process Industry, which is further subdivided into:
- Chemical
- Power
- Oil and Gas
- Healthcare and Pharma
- Plastic
- Others
INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION AND THE FUTURE OF WORK;
While many people fear that all manufacturing jobs will be replaced by automation, others picture a gloomy future in which robots do everything and all humans not in the elite strata of riches would be hungry on the streets with no jobs in sight. In reality, however, automation—including robotics and artificial intelligence—make human labor more valuable, some say to the extent of being a luxury.
The reality is that automation brings a host of new jobs while taking over the most boring, redundant, and dangerous activities for human workers. More workers with technical expertise and technological fluency will be employed for a wide range of tasks in support of the machines.
A trained industrial Automation engineer is presented with an opportunity to become an expert in any of the above mentioned fast growing industries. As more factories are being opened to meet up with the ever increasing production and consumption demands of the enormous population of Nigeria, Africa and the world at large, demands for expert Automation engineers is also on the rise.
It should be recognized that both keeping and getting newly created jobs would be difficult. Indeed, all present and potential employees must be prepared to consistently upskill and reskill themselves.
Continuously improving our capabilities is essential. To keep up with the world as it evolves and becomes smarter, it is critical that employees use all of the tools at their disposal to stay informed. From highly instructive free videos from professionals on YouTube to whole recognized courses from prestigious schools to e-learning platforms such as Madesoft Academy of Technology (where you can also get mentored directly by experts with over 15years’ experience) there are plenty of avenues available for employees to invest their time and effort, so as to enhance their knowledge. Staying market-ready, and more than that, staying market-relevant has never been more important.
Will you grow and position yourself at the best advantage to grab this opportunity or simply continue in doubt?
Further reading:
Who exactly is an automation engineer, and how do I become one?
