PCS Engineer: Job Responsibilities of a Process Control System Engineer

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

What does a process control engineer do? This will be discussed in this article.

About profession

How can you briefly describe the profession in question? An APCS engineer is a person who is engaged in various management and control processes, namely their automation. Also, this specialist designs control devices and develops control algorithms. The engineer is obliged to carry out a full and complete set of works in terms of commissioning, commissioning, maintenance of automated process control systems.

The main part of the work of a specialist is to set up and configure the existing software of the software and hardware structure for a specific automation object. The employee must carry out special work on setting up the start-up of automated process control systems, is obliged to develop special schematic solutions for automation cabinets (and this also includes the selection of equipment). Only a review of the main job responsibilities of the employee, as well as a list of things that a competent specialist should know, will help to characterize the entire workflow of a representative of the profession in question in more detail.

What an engineer must knowProcess control system?

A representative of the profession in question must have a huge amount of knowledge and skills. Among other things, a specialist in the field of an automated process control system must also have certain qualities and character traits. This includes, for example, stress resistance, mindfulness, patience, a good memory and much more.

However, it is worth returning to the knowledge of an APCS engineer. So, the job description of this specialist prescribes the following:

• the employee must know the automated control system, namely its content, functions and tasks, the procedure and methods for developing projects, etc;
• the basis of economic and mathematical methods;
• economic fundamentals;
• labor laws;
• the basis of cybernetics;
• all documentation standards;
• basics of labor protection and safety

…and much more. Thus, an APCS engineer must have a fairly wide amount of knowledge necessary to conduct work.

Responsibilities and functions of an APCS engineer

A representative of the profession in question is endowed with a fairly wide range of job functions. Below, only the most basic responsibilities of an industrial control engineer will be highlighted.

• The employee is obliged to perform work related to the design and implementation of automated control systems based on the application of mathematical and economic methods.
• The specialist is obliged to study and analyze all possible methodsenterprise management.
• The employee must prepare all the data necessary for work, as well as draw up technical specifications for the design of automated control systems.
• Employee is obliged to develop technological schemes for automated control systems.
• The specialist should supervise and assist in the development of systems and schemes.

Of course, a process control engineer has many other duties and functions. A complete list of them can be found in the employee's job description.

Rights of an APCS engineer

Like all other workers working in different places, a representative of the profession in question has many different professional rights. Only the most basic rights of an APCS engineer will be named below.

• The employee is able to get acquainted with the projects and plans of the management (but only if they in any way relate to the work of the specialist in question).
• The employee is able to submit various plans, ideas and proposals for the optimization or modernization of the enterprise to the authorities.
• A specialist is able to report to management about various malfunctions, shortcomings and shortcomings in the enterprise. Also, the employee can offer some of his ideas to eliminate these shortcomings.
• An employee can request from his superiors all the documents necessary for the performance of labor activity. In addition to documents, an employee may demand from management certain tools or items necessary to complete the job.
• Engaging specialists fromother areas for the sake of solving any official tasks is also included in the list of rights of a specialist.

Responsibility of the APCS engineer

A large number of functions of varying complexity has an APCS engineer. The duties of this specialist give rise to a huge responsibility. What can a member of the profession in question be held responsible for?

Here are just some of the items from the job description:

• The employee is fully responsible for the full performance, or for the performance, but improperly, of his job functions and duties.
• The employee is obliged to bear responsibility in accordance with the current civil and labor codes of the Russian Federation if he caused material damage or other harm to the company.
• The worker is liable for offenses or crimes committed in the workplace.
• Employee is responsible for conducting any unplanned or inconsistent experiments in the workplace.

There are other points on which an employee can be held responsible for their actions or inactions. Above, however, the most basic points were named, namely those that the job description of an APCS engineer prescribes.

Responsibilities of the Lead Engineer of the Process Control System

Who is a lead APCS engineer? It will not be so easy to properly answer this question. However, it is still possible to draw up a relatively complete picture - if you list the main functions and responsibilities of thisspecialist. The job description of the leading engineer of the APCS practically does not prescribe anything about this specialist. For the employee, of course, a list of duties is assigned. These include, for example:

• timely passage of honey. inspections;
• compliance with labor discipline;
• all functions of an APCS engineer are assigned to a specialist, etc.

However, the main labor functions are not given in the instructions. From this we can conclude that the specialist in question is, one might say, a "headman" in the field of automated control systems. All the duties of an ordinary engineer are shifted to the lead engineer, however, some managerial functions are also assigned to him.

What should the head of the APCS department know?

The work in question is quite complex and responsible. A process control engineer is a really important person.

And what about the head of the APCS department? The first thing worth noting is what knowledge the specialist in question should have. The job description prescribes that the head of the department:

• should know all the prospects for the development of the organization;
• must have a thorough knowledge of the structure and mechanism of the organization;
• should understand the order of project development in the enterprise;
• must know all the standards and norms set by the organization.

Should the head of the department know many other things.

The first group of duties of the head of the APCS department

Currentan official has a much greater number of responsibilities than a lead engineer of an automated process control system. The job description prescribes the following functions for the head of the department:

an employee manages the implementation and development of projects, based on mathematical and economic methods, means of communication, elements of the theory of cybernetics and economics, etc

• The specialist is obliged to organize research of the TP ACS system, as well as to monitor the order and planning of production in order to transfer certain processes to automatic mode.
• The specialist is obliged to study the problems of the TP ACS system.
• The head of the department is obliged to periodically draw up technical specifications for certain production processes.

The second group of duties of the head of the automated process control system

The head of the department should organize some types of work to modernize and improve the circulation of documents in production. This includes, for example, the definition of output and input documentation, the order of output and input, transmission through communication channels, etc.

The specialist in question must also direct the drafting of certain instructions,methodological materials, other documentation. It is also worth noting that all other work with documentation in production must be agreed with the head of the department.