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Electronics and Embedded Systems · Industrial Electronics Makers
HR for Industrial Electronics Makers: Drives, Controllers, Test Benches and Long Product Lives
An industrial electronics maker builds drives, controllers, power supplies and instruments that factories rely on for years. Skilled testers and service engineers matter as much as designers because failures are costly for customers.
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Share your requirementsAn industrial electronics maker produces motor drives, programmable controllers, power supplies, instruments and similar products for factories and utilities. Units are built in lower volumes than consumer goods but must last. Work runs through board assembly, wiring, final assembly, burn-in, calibration and test, then dispatch with documents. Customers expect service support for years, so engineers visit sites and old designs must still be repaired. The senior test technician who knows how a unit should behave, and the service engineer who can diagnose a plant problem on the phone, are scarce. Quality complaints can mean a stopped plant for the customer. See also HR for manufacturing.
- Plan
- Hire
- Onboard
- Manage
- Develop
- Perform
- Engage
- Retain
- Exit
- Improve
When HR is weak in industrial electronics makers, you may see
- Test technicians carry unwritten knowledge
- Service engineers work alone at customer plants
- Repair of old products needs old skills
- Low volume makes training uneven
- Design and service teams seldom talk
- Shipping deadlines compress the end of the month
These are the places the people side of this kind of business tends to give way. The rest of this page works through them.
Who does the work in industrial electronics makers
HR here has to work for each of these groups, not only the office. The set-up below is written with all of them in mind.
- Assembly and wiring technicians
- Test and calibration technicians
- Burn-in and final inspection staff
- Design and application engineers
- Service and commissioning engineers
- Repair bench technicians
- Stores and planning staff
- Technical documentation staff
Where HR strains in industrial electronics makers
Test technicians carry unwritten knowledge
The senior tester knows what a healthy unit sounds and measures like, and has not written it down for anyone else.
Service engineers work alone at customer plants
They solve problems under pressure at customer sites, and conduct, record keeping and handover back to the factory vary.
Repair of old products needs old skills
Older designs and parts are still repaired by a small group who learned them, and their retirement is a risk.
Low volume makes training uneven
Assembly staff meet a product only a few times a year, so mistakes repeat and relearning costs time.
Design and service teams seldom talk
Field failures reach designers late and in summary, and the service engineers feel the lessons are ignored.
Shipping deadlines compress the end of the month
Burn-in and test queues pile up at the month end, and technicians work overtime to release units customers are waiting for.
HR topics for industrial electronics makers
Start with the topics that matter most here: Learning and Development; Retention and Attrition Management; Organisation Design. Then work through the rest. Each topic is written for manufacturing, not in general.
Learning and Development
Training planned from need rather than from the calendar.
Retention and Attrition Management
Who leaves, when, why — and which of them mattered.
Organisation Design
Structure, reporting lines and who is allowed to decide what.
HR Strategy and Workforce Planning
How many people, in which roles, by when — and what they will cost.
Recruitment and Talent Acquisition
Requisition to joining, the same way every time.
Onboarding and Probation
A first day that is the same for the fifth joiner as the first.
Employee Administration
Records, attendance, leave and the day-to-day HR that must simply work.
Compensation, Payroll and Benefits
Salary structure, payroll inputs and a month that closes on time.
Performance Management
Goals, reviews and ratings that hold up in a conversation.
Career and Succession Management
Named backups for the roles that cannot be vacant.
Employee Engagement and Experience
Communication, recognition and the conditions people actually work in.
Employee Relations
Two routes — one for complaints, one for conduct — kept separate.
Policies, Compliance and Governance
Policies a manager can apply, and obligations with owners and dates.
Health, Safety and Wellbeing
Induction, records, incident reporting and follow-through.
Exit and Alumni Management
Resignation to relieving letter, in a defined order.
HR Technology and Automation
Records that survive people, and approvals that do not queue.
HR Analytics and Management Reporting
A short monthly pack management actually reads.
HR Operations and Governance
An HR function that runs the same way every month.
What a working HR set-up looks like
The pieces a industrial electronics makers business puts in place, in an order that makes each easier. Open any card for the detail.
Capture test knowledge on the bench
Short written and photo guides for each product's test and common faults, written by the senior tester and used to train a second person.
What this coversHide
Capture test knowledge on the bench
Short written and photo guides for each product's test and common faults, written by the senior tester and used to train a second person.
What this coversHideShort written and photo guides for each product's test and common faults, written by the senior tester and used to train a second person. See learning and development process.
Give service engineers a visit routine
A brief on conduct, safety, reporting and handover, with a short debrief after each site visit.
What this coversHide
Give service engineers a visit routine
A brief on conduct, safety, reporting and handover, with a short debrief after each site visit.
What this coversHideA brief on conduct, safety, reporting and handover, with a short debrief after each site visit.
Keep a legacy repair map
A list of old products, who can repair them and which parts are scarce, with a named learner for each.
What this coversHide
Keep a legacy repair map
A list of old products, who can repair them and which parts are scarce, with a named learner for each.
What this coversHideA list of old products, who can repair them and which parts are scarce, with a named learner for each.
Make a quarterly field-to-design review
Service engineers present repeat faults to designers, with actions recorded.
What this coversHide
Make a quarterly field-to-design review
Service engineers present repeat faults to designers, with actions recorded.
What this coversHideService engineers present repeat faults to designers, with actions recorded. The hr reporting and analytics work can track patterns.
Smooth the month-end test queue
A weekly release plan agreed with sales so testing is steady and overtime is planned, not forced.
What this coversHide
Smooth the month-end test queue
A weekly release plan agreed with sales so testing is steady and overtime is planned, not forced.
What this coversHideA weekly release plan agreed with sales so testing is steady and overtime is planned, not forced. See attendance, shift and leave process.
Start by checking where you stand
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These checks take an afternoon and tell you which of the topics above to start with.
Share your requirements- Ask your senior test technician what they check that is not on paper.
- List who can repair your oldest product.
- Count service visits last month and who did each alone.
- Look at the month-end test queue for the last three months.
- Ask a designer when they last heard about a field fault.
- Confirm with a qualified professional the registration, record-keeping and employment obligations that apply to your industrial electronics business.
Confirm with a qualified professional. What applies to you depends on your business, your state and your arrangements, and it changes. This page describes practice. It does not state a legal position.
How GullyHR helps
The services below fit this kind of business best. Each starts by recording where you stand, and every later report compares against that. We do not promise outcomes.
- Learning and development process
Turns bench knowledge into a training path for second and third testers.
- Retention and attrition management
Keeps the senior testers and service engineers who hold rare knowledge.
- Role design and job descriptions
Clear roles for test, service and repair so each skill has a grade and a path.
- Customer-service skills
Practical training for service engineers who meet customers face to face.
Start with a free conversation, or see the paid HR Diagnostic.
Our HR transformation approach
- 1
Assess
Understand the business, its workforce, current processes and HR challenges.
- 2
Identify gaps
Find the missing, weak, inconsistent or person-dependent processes.
- 3
Design
Create the structure, processes, policies, SOPs, dashboards and systems needed.
- 4
Implement
Help HR and department managers actually adopt the new system.
- 5
Automate
Digitise repetitive and approval-based workflows where it is worth doing.
- 6
Measure
Track hiring, attendance, employee cost, performance, training and attrition.
- 7
Improve
Strengthen the people-management system continuously, not once.
Blogs worth reading first
From the GullyHR blog: one on HR in manufacturing, and one on each of the topics this page points to.
HR Process
The training calendar nobody attends: fixing the learning and development process
A calendar of courses, a budget spent by March and no record of what any of it changed. What a learning and development process contains when it starts from need rather than from the catalogue.
7 min readRead article
HR Management
How to recognise and address employee workload problems
How to spot an unmanageable workload before it becomes an exit or an error, what to look at, how to talk about it and what to change, without guessing.
5 min readRead article
HR Management
Everyone reports to the founder: when and how to redesign the structure
A flat structure works until the founder becomes the only route to a decision. How to tell when you have passed that point, and how to redesign without a reorganisation.
8 min readRead articleMore on the GullyHR blog.
Questions owners ask
Ask them to write short guides with photos, train a second person on real units and recognise teaching as part of their job. Make sure their pay reflects their value.
Brief them on conduct and safety, ask for a short written report after each visit and review feedback from customers. Pair newer engineers with experienced ones first.
List the products and people, name a learner for each and give protected time to practise. Keep spare parts and documents in one place.
Plan releases weekly with sales, balance test queues and agree overtime in advance. A fair, written pattern is easier on people.
Hold a short quarterly review of repeat faults with actions recorded. Designers visit a customer site at least once a year if possible.
We would ask your senior tester what they check that is not written down, list who can repair your oldest product and look at the month-end test queue. A good first piece of work is a test knowledge guide with a second trainee assigned. Scope is agreed in writing afterwards.
More on HR for manufacturing
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