PLAN No. 1198. QUALIFICATIONS OF PLANT AND MAINTENANCE ELECTRICIANS
Maintenance work involves not alone a good understanding of electrical practice but also, for the first-class man, a knowledge of the industry and its manufacturing processes. The electrician should be sufficiently familiar with the machinery in the plant to determine quickly whether a trouble lies in the motor or in the driven machine. In many plants, where continuous process production prevails, those of the steel industry for example, time is an extremely important factor. The shut-down of one machine may render idle several hundred men and clog the operation of the entire factory. Efficiency naturally increases with experience in the given plant.
An electrician who has the ability to replace in service, in minimum time, an inoperative machine should and does receive high compensation. A fair degree of physical ability is required for this work, because the electrician may in the course of his regular duties have to do many different kinds of jobs. Sometimes the removal of a motor requires lifting. The installation of heavy conductors requires pulling. On the other hand, much of the work, such as the replacing of fuses or the installation of electric light wiring, necessitates but little physical exertion.
While many plant electricians have acquired all they know solely through experience, theoretical training will enable a man to progress quickly and to increase his earning capacity. The work is largely indoors, although some of it is outside in the plant yards and in open buildings. In many of the plants an eight-hour day prevails but there are still some where the men work 9 or 10 or even 12 hours on the night shift. The work is very steady. If the plant shuts down the electricians are ordinarily employed during the nonoperating period on such reconstruction and maintenance as can not be effected conveniently while the plant is running.