Jobs and Careers

Vacancies – 2

Due to recent business and projects growth, we now have positions available from September 2023 onwards. 

Project Engineer

A project engineer with at least 4 years project engineering experience in manufacturing industry, to join our team in a permanent position.

Some of the key skills you will need are:

  • Control system design
  • Electrical schematic drawings design, preferably on EPLAN
  • Control panel testing
  • Drive systems design and programming (ac drives, servo drives and dc drives)
  • PLC programming
  • HMI / SCADA programming
  • Planning and supervision of control panel installation
  • Commissioning
  • Fault finding on existing control systems
  • Good written and verbal communication skills

This role will be based at our Blackburn office and will require travel to, and periods of work at, our customers sites; mainly within the UK, with occasional travel overseas.  A full, valid driving license is essential.

Your salary will be dependant on experience. Optima offer pension contributions. You will also benefit from private health insurance after a qualifying period.

Optima are a Siemens Solutions Partner (Automation Drives).  We predominately use equipment from Siemens or Rockwell in our control systems, and we use EPLAN P8 Electrical for schematic design.  We specialise in bespoke control systems, working directly with customers in the manufacturing industries and with OEM machine builders.  Our customers and projects are very varied and this role will suit someone who is keen to learn and you will be fully supported by our team of experienced automation engineers.

Updated: 25th July 2023:

If you think we might be interested in you then please email your CV direct to us at info@optimacs.com.

Internal sales engineer

Due to recent business and enquiry growth, we now have a position available for an internal sales engineer. This position offers an exciting step into the world of Drives and Automation technologies and eventually into a Design Engineer role or Sales Engineer role. Full training and support will be provided to you whichever option you take.

The initial role will be as an internal sales engineer. The ideal candidate will be able to work closely with our sales engineers and customers to interpret their requirements, research the most cost effective but still technically viable method of achieving the automation solution and produce clear written quotations.

To carry out this position effectively you will need to have a good understanding of the automation and drives technology available, and the standards and techniques used in industrial control systems. Training will be provided as a mixture of on the job training, internal training and external training at customers and suppliers premises.  The equipment used in the automation and drives field is constantly evolving, so we are looking for people with the aptitude and willingness to adopt and utilise the latest technology.

After a training period in internal sales, you may choose to either progress further into a sales engineer role or head down the design engineer route – you decide!

A summary of the skillsets needed is:

  • Design / engineering skills:
    • Understanding of motor control system
    • Understanding of PID control systems
    • Use of computer aided design
    • Design, writing, testing of software
  • Good oral and written English language communication skills.
  • Good numeracy
  • Good attention to detail.
  • Competent with Microsoft Office, particularly Word, Access, Excel
  • Able to work on own, managing use of time.
  • Able to work in a team with others.
  • Enjoy picking up new skills and getting to grips with new technology.
  • Aptitude and communication skills to work with end customers to interpret their requirements using combination of email, telephone conversations and face to face meetings.
  • Happy to attend training courses in UK at suppliers premises
  • Desire and aptitude to move into a customer facing sales role or a project engineer role
  • Happy to work at customers sites throughout UK and occasionally overseas
  • Demonstrated during degree/college course:
    • Understanding of motor control systems
      • Understanding of PID control systems
  • Use of computer aided design
    • Design, writing, testing of software
  • Nice to haves:
    • Some experience of PLC, HMI and SCADA software
    • Ability to read and understand electrical schematic drawings
    • An understanding of functional safety standards

If you think we might be interested in you then please email your CV direct to us at info@optimacs.com.

You’ll be joining a company that has a family-feel and a flexible working approach to help our valued employees fit their family life around their work as much as possible.

For further information, please contact us.

Updated: 25th July 2023:

Recent Posts

Safety Scanner Issues and EN999

Optima were recently asked to advise on a safety guarding application for one of our customers. 

There had been a number of false trips of the laser scanner causing the machine to stop. As a result of this, a plastic chain ‘barrier’ had been fitted as a temporary measure with instructions to operators to not breach the barrier whilst the machine was running. 

The customer naturally wanted this rectifying as soon as possible, so Optima performed a short-notice service visit to site.

On the site visit, our engineer noted that the scanner was showing a code which indicated that the front screen required cleaning.

Once the screen was cleaned thoroughly the scanner did not show any faults or errors and was in normal run mode.

However, we performed further checks on the original software to ensure that the scanner configuration still met the requirements of the safety guarding application. 

The diagrams to the left show the Warning Field configuration (Yellow) and the Protective Field (Red). Both of these were confirmed to be operational. 

The warning field causes the klaxon to operate and the protective field caused an emergency stop of the machine.

We did, however find a few concerns that needed to be addressed.

1. None of the scanner safety circuit had been documented on any drawings.

2. Non-compliance with EN999 ‘Safety of machinery – the positioning of protective equipment in respect of approach speeds of parts of the human body’ includes a formula to be used to calculate the distance from a hazard that a safety zone must be triggered. Based on the stopping times of the machine, the scanner was placed too close to the machine to be effective in an emergency.

We are working closedly with our customer to assist them with this application and help them achieve a safe and effective solution to this.

If you need any support with safety applications or other upgrades, please get in touch.

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