New build or Maintenance

zega

Hi im currently an apprentice working on industrial new builds.In the near future i might have a chance to continue my apprenticeship doing maintenance in a large food production facility.

Just wanted to get some lads opinions on what would give me a "better" apprenticeship,i know its all subjective but feel free to give your thoughts.

ptogher14

Stay away from the maintenance. It'll turn you into a lazy sod.

tomdempsey200

is there much variety on the industrial new build work ..or are you stuck at one task

i'd veer towards the installation work as an apprentice myself

zega

tomdempsey200 wrote: »

is there much variety on the industrial new build work ..or are you stuck at one task

Tray,trunking,ladder,conduit,repeat.

tomdempsey200

zega wrote: »

Tray,trunking,ladder,conduit,repeat.

that work is actually quite valuable.. especially if you're expected to show some initiative

although it's only a part of the installation work

zega

Thanks for the input.

Anyone tell me what an average day for a maintenance man is??

frankmul

It can vary depending on where the job is. Some places it may be hanging around until something goes wrong and some days nothing goes wrong. Other places you might have a list of machine to get working the second you start work and be glad to get a break. It might be like that day in day out.

frankmul

Is there a difference in the licence you get in australia as maintenance electrician or as a industrial electrician. If you have plans for travelling, you might want to check it out.

liveandnetural

the more varied your apprentship is the better.
your future employment chances will be incresesd the more sectors you have worked in
ideally you should have a chance to work in every sector of the trade but this is rare because of the work that employers may be involved in

if you go spend some time in "large food production facility" when you have that on you cv that will open so may doors for you in the future

2011

liveandnetural wrote: »

the more varied your apprentship is the better.
your future employment chances will be incresesd the more sectors you have worked in
ideally you should have a chance to work in every sector of the trade but this is rare because of the work that employers may be involved in

+1 well said.

Just to add:

Maintenance - Advantages
* Improved troubleshooting skills.
* Working in the same place each day can make it easier to "have a life".
* The more familiar you become with the plant the more difficult it is to find a replacement- This can lead to greater job security.
* Can involve shift work which generally means being paid a shift rate.
* Companies often pay for training for maintenance electricians.

Maintenance - Disadvantages
* Pressure from production to get the problem fixed "no matter what".
* Generally a feast or famine situation - Either hanging around or snowed under with work.
* Some of the equipment that you will be maintaining may be very old and in very poor condition. There is often a reluctance by management to replace equipment that really needs to be made redundant.
* Can involve shift work which does not suit many people.
* In my opinion maintenance electricians find it far more difficult to get work in construction than the other way around. I say this from my personal experience.

brightspark

ptogher14 wrote: »

Stay away from the maintenance. It'll turn you into a lazy sod.

That will depend on the job, it used to be that when you were a maintenance electrician you only worked on electrical panels and motors etc, and because of demarcation you would have a lot of quiet time, between periods of pressure when every minute a machine was off was costing money.

Now most jobs are multiskilled, esp in the food sector and you will spend a lot of time setting up machines, replacing conveyor belts, greasing bearings and doing pm checks, usually involving a lot of paper work (or PC based forms).

In maintenance in addition to being the on site electrician you will need to learn about pneumatics, hydraulics, PLCs, cope with machine operators who will forget how to do something on a daily basis and it will be your job to repair whatever they damage afterwards, and often work while a manager is constantly asking how long will it take to fix, before you have even opened a panel!

In the food sector you can expect a lot of problems due to water getting where it shouldn't, that will probably be a lot of your work in the mornings, as well as making sure the machines are setup and running ok.

All that said, I enjoy maintenance work, I get a lot of satisfaction from diagnosing and repairing a faulty machine and if it was easy, well everyone would do it.

I think you need to decide where your strengths and weaknesses are, when I was an apprentice (back when FAS was called AnCO) the guy in the next cubicle couldn't understand much beyond a two way lighting circuits and theory was a struggle for him to pass, but no one in the class could match him in the practicals for either neatness, accuracy or speed.

We all have our own specific skills and you should aim to work in an area of the trade that suits your aptitude and interest.

brightspark

liveandnetural wrote: »

the more varied your apprentship is the better.
your future employment chances will be incresesd the more sectors you have worked in
ideally you should have a chance to work in every sector of the trade but this is rare because of the work that employers may be involved in

if you go spend some time in "large food production facility" when you have that on you cv that will open so may doors for you in the future

I'd agree with this too.

brightspark

2011 wrote: »

Maintenance - Advantages
* Improved troubleshooting skills.
* Working in the same place each day can make it easier to "have a life".
* The more familiar you become with the plant the more difficult it is to find a replacement- This can lead to greater job security.
* Can involve shift work which generally means being paid a shift rate.
* Companies often pay for training for maintenance electricians.

Maintenance - Disadvantages
* Pressure from production to get the problem fixed "no matter what".
* Generally a feast or famine situation - Either hanging around or snowed under with work.
* Some of the equipment that you will be maintaining may be very old and in very poor condition. There is often a reluctance by management to replace equipment that really needs to be made redundant.
* Can involve shift work which does not suit many people.
* In my opinion maintenance electricians find it far more difficult to get work in construction than the other way around. I say this from my personal experience.

I found it's more feast than famine in the food sector, the quiet times are rare, and usually there is something to be done.

Shift work is more common than day work, and the pay rates for maintenance certainly lagged constructions rates for most of my time, but working in what are usually warm dry conditions compared with building sites is a bonus.

As regards 'job security' most large companies make decisions based on 'head counts' leaving the remaining personnel to pick up the slack anyway. In a lot of companies you become just a number.

I'd say its difficult to switch in either direction, you acquire a lot of specific skills post apprenticeship, that mean you will have a steep learning curve to face when switching sectors. I would expect that currently there are a lot of unemployed construction electricians so employers would naturally being selecting the ones with relevant experience, less industry and down sizing of maintenance departments means there are less maintenance jobs available now also.

HoggyRS

I was doing maintenance as a first year mainly in pharamceutical plants and now 2nd year doing construction on a large new build in a pharamceutical plant. I found in the maintenance I had much less opportunities to do work because theres alot of eyes on you from plant management and alot of electricians dont wanna take the risk of allowing an apprentice to do the job. In construction i'm allowed carry out pretty much the same tasks that some of the qualified lads are doing. That said I miss the variety of maintenance work and you would be sick of the never ending containment work in construction!

zega

Excellent replys lads thanks very much!!

I suppose one of the main advantages for me with maintenance is the regular income.Construction can be very stop/start as we all know,makes it a nightmare to plan anything 1-2 years down the line when your not 100% you will be in work on XXX month.