Calibration Skills
The other day I was speaking to a customer who had concerns about the skill level of technicians to deal with increasingly powerful devices. I was asked if there is any guidance for moderately skilled technicians to calibrate intelligent devices.
Wizards (aka EDDL methods) for calibration guides the technician through the process step by step such that no step is missed out. The wizard is created by the device manufacturer's experts according to best practice for the device. The wizards work on laptops in the workshop as well as for handheld communicators in the field. See an example in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoO8zEjfe3c
What do you think? How do you tackle calibration in your plant? Are devices humane?
Wizards and Dancing Backwards
In my article in the September Control, I talked about the changing profession of automation. We have to know more about more things than any other profession that works in manufacturing and the process industries. Wizards help, but there is no substitute for operators who actually understand what they are doing, and for processes that are operated in a stateful manner.
Walt Boyes
Editor in Chief, Control and ControlGlobal.com