Are you at the edge of career selection? Perhaps ‘manufacturing versus software’
dilemma has driven you to a fix. Try Instrumentation. It will provide you not only a job
related to lots of software application but also the opportunity to become a stakeholder
in the futuristic manufacturing wave of India
Is there any common field across all manufacturing industries that is likely to demand the
highest amount of investment and improvement in the next decade? The answer is
instrumentation and control. As corporate majors try to increase productivity, one way they
are likely to achieve this is through ‘sensorisation’ of all technologies ranging from
food processing to mining. Flexibility and efficiency are going to be the differentiators in
order to quickly develop and manufacture an increasing number of products to meet the
rapidly changing demands of the market.
If you are ready to master a subject that is essentially a ‘mix’ of many other subjects,
‘instrumentation engineering’ can provide you the right foothold for career in many
industries. Moreover, with growing competition, “timing and speed are going to become
vital for survival and success of the future organizations. No organization in today’s age
can survive without agility and responsiveness to changing environments. Systemic
efficiencies can only be brought in and improved through control and instrumentation. With
companies becoming more and more complex and dispersed, there is need for efficient
manpower,” says Sanjay Mittal, managing director, Yogasa Systems.
Know the field
India’s manufacturing industry, which is spurring the country’s GDP (gross domestic
product) growth, is undergoing a major transformation. This sector is scaling up and
beginning to seek global competitiveness through a wider application of instruments. This
trend is contributing to the robust growth of the instrumentation and control market.
“According to a survey conducted by FICCI on ‘Emerging Skill Shortage in the Indian
Industry,’ few sectors have been highlighted with shortage of manpower. Out of which,
many cater to the need for instrumentation engineers alone. The shortage of
instrumentation engineers is more due to less number of colleges offering B.Tech degree in
instrumentation and control in India. Apart from this, automation
of the small-scale industry in India requires well-trained instrumentation engineers having
knowledge of computers and instrumentation,” opines Prof. Rekha Agarwal, head of
Department of Instrumentation and Control Engineering, Amity School of Engineering and
Technology.
Timing and speed are going to become vital for survival and success of the future
organisations. No organisation in today’s age can survive without agility and
responsiveness to changing environments. Systemic efficiencies can only be
brought in and improved through control and instrumentation. With companies
becoming more and more complex and dispersed, there is need for efficient
manpower.
—Sanjay Mittal, managing director, Yogasa Systems
Instrumentation engineering is one of the complicated but sophisticated branches of
engineering discipline that may be studied as a separate branch or along with electronics
engineering. The study mainly focuses on the design, configuration and automated systems.
“It deals with measurement of various physical quantities like temperature, pressure, level,
flow, speed, sound, light intensity and control of the same in various industries.
Instrumentation system is widely used in industries, viz, automotive, pharmaceuticals,
chemical, fertilizers, power plants, pollution control, biomedical, food processing, electronic
product manufacturing and textile. With the advancement and widespread applications of
electronics and computers in instrumentation and control, the syllabus is framed to include
core courses of electronics as well as computer engineering,” explains Prof. R.D. Kokate,
head of Department of Instrumentation Engineering, MGM’s Jawaharlal Nehru Engineering
College.
According to Rohit Sinha, head-human resources, L&T Engineering, E&C Division, “The
Indian automation market has acquired the critical momentum to propel the
instrumentation and control industry to a higher growth trajectory. Instrumentation is a
well-established technology, both in the manufacturing sector and infrastructure. He feels
that India’s hope of emerging as an economic superpower depends a lot on how we groom
our engineers to leverage this technology. By transferring global-quality learning processes,
we can convert a much larger percentage of the emerging manpower to more enriching
careers.”
An instrumentation engineer can find a wide range of career opportunities in all sectors of
industries ranging from automotive to health-care. The passouts are absorbed in power
plants, fertilisers and chemicals industry, petrochemicals industry, pharmaceutical industry,
cement factories, healthcare services, consulting services, navigational and aerospace
organisations, food processing industry and weather stations to name a few. Among the
hundreds of corporate employers, some are Texas Instruments, HCL, TCS, ABB, Larsen &
Toubro (L&T), National Instruments, Pepsi, Nagarjuna Fertilizers, Xilinx, Honeywell,
Wockhardt, Bechtel and Saint-Gobin. In the public sector, there are SAIL, BHEL, NTPC,
ONGC, Indian Oil, etc.
Know your role
Instrumentation and control engineers design, build and manage systems that are used in a
range of industrial settings such as manufacturing, health-care, food processing, mining and
energy production. “An instrumentation engineer is invariably required where there is an
engineering
activity,”
says
Kokate.
Keep in mind, as an instrumentation engineer, you have to monitor, measure, regulate and
control physical quantities like pressure and temperature. Further, you may need to control
product movement, actuators and positioning devices. Your main objective will be to ensure
that the systems and processes operate effectively, efficiently and safely.
The shortage of instrumentation engineers becomes more due to less number of
colleges offering B.Tech degree in instrumentation and control in India.
— Prof. Rekha Agarwal, head of Department of Instrumentation and Control Engineering,
Amity School of Engineering and Technology
Most of the jobs available in this field can be bucketed under two broad categories. “An
instrumentation engineer usually gets involved either in the manufacturing and supply of
the instruments or in the companies who use them,” says Mittal. The roles are defined
depending on the requirements of the job. “Typically, an instrumentation engineer checks
system’s complaints against the instruments, installs new systems or instruments, and
evaluates the prototype,” explains Mittal
The Indian automation market has acquired the critical momentum to propel the
instrumentation and control industry to a higher growth trajectory
— Rohit Sinha, head-human resources, L&T Engineering, E&C Division
According to Mittal, with a sound knowledge of instrumentation and control, one may even
be involved in designing a robot that can perform critical surgery or a system that follows
Fuzzy
logic
control.
Further, you can also get abundant opportunities for higher studies in Indian and foreign
universities.
Know the moolah
A fresh instrumentation engineer may start at Rs 200,000-400,000 per annum. However,
the scene is a little bit daunting for diploma holders as their starting salary is only Rs
150,000 to Rs 200,000 per annum. Professionals with five to seven years of experience may
get anywhere between Rs 500,000 and Rs 1 million per annum. Note that the salary is on
the higher side for design engineers. If you can grab an international opportunity, the
minimum salary may be in the range of Rs 2 million within about five years.
You could start at a junior level as part of a major project and grow to become a project
leader in 10-12 years’ time. In most cases, salaries are proportional to the cost of the
projects. For this kind of position, along with basic engineering, you will need to do project
management consultancy to ensure reliable project execution.
Know the selection criteria
I believe, up to this point, you have received enough boosters about the opportunities-to-be
grabbed in the instrumentation field. Let’s ask the experts how to get a foothold in this field.
“An individual interested to make his career in instrumentation engineering can take up
‘electronics and instrumentation engineering’ or simply ‘instrumentation engineering’ branch
at the undergraduate level,” says C.P. Ravikumar, technical director-University Relation,
Texas Instruments.
Mittal points out the opportunities available for diploma holders in the service sector. This
field is specifically suitable for engineering professionals with multidisciplinary as well as
project management interests, such as project engineering. Exciting and technically
satisfying careers can be pursued in the field of technical marketing, design engineering,
project management, integration and servicing.
And if you consider technology, I must say wherever there is a need for process control to
increase productivity, there is instrumentation. It could be a human gene analysis
laboratory or a locomotive workshop.
For working in this field, it is mandatory to have in-depth knowledge of mathematics and
physics. With the advancement and widespread applications of electronics and computers in
instrumentation and control, the syllabus is framed to include core courses of electronics as
well as computer engineering.
Though an engineering degree is the obvious qualification to earn, graduate and
postgraduate degree holders in physics also qualify to work in this field.
“The subject of instrumentation is quite vast. It is not fair to expect both breadth and depth
from a fresh recruit. At the undergraduate level, the industry expects a good understanding
of fundamental concepts,” says Sinha.
In sync with Sinha’s view, Kokate explains these fundamental concepts as a combination of
both hardware and software knowledge along with an idea about the application domain. He
specifically emphasises on “the knowledge of process plant, quality concerns, and
international standards for process control.” Automation challenges in mechanical, electrical,
electronic or interdisciplinary applications are also equally important. Additionally, an
instrumentation engineer needs to have electrical engineering knowledge related to motors
and pumps and chemical engineering knowledge related to reactors. Other than this, skills
in SAP, Web designing, Internet protocols, digital communication devices and standards
would be an added advantage for any aspiring candidate.
Agarwal expects a well-qualified instrumentation engineer to have sound knowledge of
distributed control systems, programmable logic controllers, process control and CAD/CAM.
The industry also looks for one who has in-depth knowledge of engineering fundamentals
and is able to work in a team. Further, an instrumentation engineer should know how to
transform design problems into floor solutions.
Instrumentation deals with measurement of various physical quantities like
temperature, pressure, level, flow, speed, sound, light intensity and control of the
same in various industries. An instrumentation engineer is invariably
required where there is an engineering activity.
— Prof. R.D. Kokate, head of Department of Instrumentation Engineering,
The ability to work with good ethics and human values and strong interpersonal skills are
must to have. Agarwal defines the application areas as engineering design, industrial
process plants, power production, pet rochemical processing, oil extraction and gas refining,
fertiliser industry, software automation of industrial plants, instrument manufacturing and
automobile assembly line control.
The main metric is grip on control. And as a professional, you are expected to acquire the
knowledge and skills needed to design a practical control loop as per that metric. If you can
achieve it, instrumentation and maintenance related issues will automatically be on your
fingertips.
"Instrumentation plays a very important role in power electronics segment. An
aspirant in this field needs to have clear idea about features like feedback, control
and communication. "
— R.K. Bansal, managing director, Uniline
MGM’s Jawaharlal Nehru Engineering College
To make maximum use of the situation, you need to have expertise to survive in the
globally competitive environment of automation.
Know the final bend
As is always the case, the earlier, the better. Academically, the right time to acquaint
yourself with this multidisciplinary field of electronics is when you are in the second or third
year of engineering. Try to utilise your industrial training or final-year project for the same.
Mittal points out, “An aspirant of this field can get holistic overview of ‘chip to ship’ of a
control loop and instrumentation only after completing a project. Nearly all of our institutes,
barring a handful, are woefully lagging in terms of providing students with such
opportunities.”
If you feel that you lag behind due to lack of practical exposure, a strategically chosen
industrial project may be the solution. I emphasise the word ‘strategically’ because that
may decide whether you will get the job passport or your effort will go down the drain. So
before choosing the project topic, judge your aptitude, utility of the project and also a
suitable guiding environment. For example, involvement in a biosensor development project
may provide you an entry ticket for the biomedical industry!