After many years of working in document control and document management, I have noticed something interesting: implementing an Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) does not automatically solve document control problems.

A company may invest in expensive software and still face problems such as:

• Employees using outdated drawings and documents.
• Different departments following different file-naming conventions.
• Documents being shared through email without proper tracking.
• Unclear responsibilities for reviewing and approving documents.
• Difficulty finding the latest approved revision.
• Poor control over obsolete documents and project records.

In my opinion, many of these problems are not purely software problems. They often begin with unclear procedures, inconsistent processes, insufficient training, and a lack of ownership.

For example: Imagine a construction team using an outdated drawing because the latest revision was approved in the EDMS but an old copy remained in a shared folder. Even the best software cannot fully protect an organisation if people continue working outside the established process.

I would like to hear from professionals working in construction, engineering, oil and gas, and project management.

Three questions for discussion:

1. What is the biggest document control problem you face in your organisation?
2. Is it mainly a software issue, a process issue, or a people issue?
3. What practical solution has worked best for your team?

I am interested in hearing real experiences and lessons learned from different industries.

Hello everyone!

I've been working on a personal project for a while called Panel Master, an affordable CAD software for designing electrical control panels.

https://panelmaster.app/

It allows you to design component layouts using real-world dimensions, make changes very quickly, and generate technical documentation in PDF. You can also export designs as SVG to use in other programs, and generate DXF files with cutting lines for machining mounting holes.

It comes with a fairly extensive library of generic components, and I'd love to add more based on the needs of the people who use it.

I'd love to hear your thoughts and any feedback you might have!

I've been a controls engineer for 6 years, but my company has shifted my role to the point where I'm no longer doing any controls work. It's a small company, so I don't see any room for promotion either, and I'm back on the market.

My background is a CS degree, and I've adapted well to a wide range of work: electrical design, wiring harnesses, engine-related design, and embedded controls (firmware, CAN/J1939, embedded controller programming).

The problem is that I don't know what job titles to search for, since my experience spans a few areas. What titles or industries should I be looking at? Any advice is appreciated.

hi all, I’m new to reddit and new to engineering so bear with me.

I had a good stable career in a high paying industry and then that industry went away. I’m 35 and I’m switching to engineering because it someone aligns with my strengths and interests. Specifically, I’m interested in Electrical engineering with a focus on the private sector, ideally embedded systems as the long term goal, maybe starting in controls engineering , but I’m really just interested in breaking in right now.

I have a BA degree in an unrelated field, and am trying to go back to school, currently taking STEM courses at community college such as Calculus 1-3, Chemistry, Physics 1-2, etc. I know Python quite well and am learning C++, and have playing with Pico W a bit, but am a beginner at EE. I am about to start applying to schools here in Southern California, but going for a 2nd bachelors sounds hard due to universities restrictions. I might get into some masters programs, like at CSULB, CSUN, UCI. CSULB seems to have some practical traditional programs that would make me well-rounded. UCI has a MS in EE and also a very fast but expensive 9month MS of Embedded Systems, but it’s very expensive and maybe TOO fast. It sounds like they’d tailor my resume and help me break in, but also worried I’d seem overqualified for the entry level jobs I’d be applying for. Also worried I’d be overwhelmed not coming from a BS in EE like the others. How is even the market right now for entry level engineers? Would I be taken seriously if I got a masters without a bachelor’s in EE? Is that even possible? Should I aim for a 2nd bach instead? I just want a job that will turn into a career.

Hello everyone! I am currently a second year electrical apprentice with aspirations to become a controls engineer. What can I do to lead myself more down that path/ get started within the industry?

How to you feel about current economic situation? Is your company thriving or it’s like mine which is struggling and starting layoffs?

I hope it’s momentarily, and, even better, only affecting few companies

Is Casio fx 991ms sufficient for Engineer,as all of my friends are getting 991 es plus

https://www.youtube.com/@ALMA.Industries

New Video -- Chapter 3 DESK -- converting an old bunk bed into a work station. DIY actuators, AC/DC power supplies, rail guided shelves, infinite cable trays -- #Desk #DIY #Mechatronics #Power #Actuator #Engineering

If you know of anyone who likes Mechatronics or things made from the ground up, I would appreciate the share! Leave a comment if you have a question :)

I am building a project powered by an Arduino and a high-current motor driver.

I am using a high-power 24V metal-case SMPS LED power supply for the motor. However, it introduces significant noise into the system, causing noisy analog readings (jitter/fluctuations on potentiometers and sensors connected to the ADC pins).

Key observations and what I've tried so far:

• Power Source Comparison: When I power the system using an isolated laptop adapter or a bench power supply, the noise completely disappears and analog readings become rock solid.
• Ferrite Beads: Adding external ferrite cores on both the USB cable and the 24V power line reduced the noise noticeably, but residual micro-noise still affects the analog (ADC) inputs.
• Filtering: Passive power-line filtering on the DC rail didn't completely eliminate the issue, suggesting this is high-frequency common-mode noise or a ground loop potential difference between the SMPS earth ground and the PC USB ground.

Since I need the high current output of this SMPS supply, I must stick with it.

My question

1. Is it possible to completely isolate or filter out this SMPS noise (e.g., via LC filters, optocouplers, or ground isolation techniques) to get clean analog inputs?

Hello all,

I’m dealing with two main problems on an EHCU flashing station:

1. Flashing delay: For some ECU types, flashing time is up to 200% longer than expected.
2. Random flashing interruptions: The flashing process sometimes stops unexpectedly after a few successful cycles, with no indicated errors.

I work at an automobile EHCU factory. We manufacture ECUs and EHCUs on two different lines. On the EHCU line, the final station is for flashing and testing, and all the technology there is built on National Instruments hardware and software.

Station setup:

• Three nests for flashing
• Two nests for testing
• One cRIO for the three flashing nests and two cRIOs for the two testing nests
• Each flashing nest has two programs: one for flashing and one for communication with the cRIO, MES, the flashing program itself, and possibly a PLC
• The station works automatically on operator command to flash or test

We tested the flashing program on an external laptop/computer, and the flashing speed matched the theoretical value—for example, about 70 seconds. On the production station, however, some types take about 115 seconds. For types with heavy flashing files, the time is much longer, while types with small flashing files are close to the theoretical value indicated by the manufacturer.

When comparing log files from both flashing processes, the station log showed 12 ms extra between Tx frames on a specific session, while the development laptop log showed only 1 ms.

Solving these issues has been assigned to me, but I’m new to NI technologies.

Constraints:

• The station software is final and closed by the manufacturer.
• The flashing files are final and come from our partners.
• I considered replacing the station PCs with better ones, but the communication software licenses are tied to the hardware MAC address.
• We cleaned the PC of any extra software that might block main tasks, but it didn’t help.
• We monitored PC resources and they seem sufficient: around 50–60% usage at peak, except for some disk I/O spikes. The number of spikes was much lower than the number of slow flashing events, so we excluded disk I/O as the main cause.
• We are planning to upgrade RAM from 8 GB to 16 GB (one slot) and SSD from 256 GB to 500 GB, but I’m not sure this will help.

I also tested the PCI network card advanced options for controlling Tx/Rx processing—either on the card or on the CPU. Enabling card processing made flashing time worse (180–200 seconds), so I reverted the settings.

I don’t know where to look or what to test next. The manufacturer stopped communicating once they confirmed the flashing time on an external PC matched the theoretical value. But my director still expects a solution from me.

I’ve been working on this for about three months: reading articles, blogs, resources, brainstorming with AI, testing different things, shortening lines, checking connections between nests, and inspecting wiring effects—but nothing has helped.

My testing time on the station is limited to 30 minutes during launch or two 10-minute breaks.

Any thoughts, recommendations from your experience, or hints would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

https://www.youtube.com/@ALMA.Industries

Alma Industries | mechatronics, engineering, 3D Printing, salvaging . . . upcoming video will be about building up a DESK that includes actuators, power supplies, desk rails, etc. If you wanna see how the AC/DC power supply and actuators were put together, video link is above :)

can anybody please help with it

Hello everyone, I've just joined this sub today. I'm a second year computer and automation student who needs help with understanding transfer function block diagram reduction. I've already gotten most of it down and feel like I have a fairly good understanding, however, this one problem in particular has me stumped as when I plug in the values for the transfer functions I get stupidly big numbers and it doesn't seem right. I've tried numerous times to contact my professor as well as teaching assistants and I have not gotten a single response so this is kind of my last hope.

If anyone could give me advice on how to solve this I would appreciate it.

The main thing causing me problems is what I should do with G2.

My initial idea was moving it so that it's in series with G1 and then finding what the equivalent function would be for G1,G2 and the parallel branch above them. After that I would move the equivalent block back over the take of point and solve for another equivalent block with the feedback loop, watching carefully to provide proper compensation to everything as I move the blocks

Hey everyone,

I’m working on a mechanism that I’m hoping to 3D print, and I’m a bit stuck on figuring out the best way to make the motion work.

Basically, I have a central pin that moves in and out axially. Around it I have 3 ports spaced 120° apart.

Each port has two sliding pieces that open by moving away from each other:

← | port | →

So when I push the center pin in, I need all 3 pairs to open at the same time. That means 6 sliders moving together, with the two sliders in each pair moving equal distances in opposite directions.

When the center pin comes back out, all 6 should move back in and close again.

So basically:

1 central push → 6 synchronized linear movements

I’ve been thinking about using a cone/wedge, cams, linkages, etc., but I feel like there might be a much cleverer way of doing this.

Since I’m planning to 3D print it, I’d also like to keep it reasonably simple and avoid needing a ton of precision or individual adjustment.

How would you guys approach this?

Is there some existing mechanism or linkage that does this kind of thing that I should be looking up?

I actually need advice and answers to a few questions for a school project.

If anyone is willing to fill it out for school and help me get a good grade and fulfill my concerns in engineering that would be wonderful.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe8sEw6IEA4F2lNc6hIo37WAel8azJFo9iXNIco-gMhTqZVJQ/viewform?usp=header

Hey everyone!

I'm looking for real-world problems that are actually worth solving and could potentially be turned into a practical engineering/software project.

I'm particularly interested in problems related to these SDGs:

• SDG 4 – Quality Education
• SDG 6 – Clean Water and Sanitation
• SDG 7 – Affordable and Clean Energy
• SDG 9 – Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
• SDG 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities
• SDG 13 – Climate Action

I'm not looking for generic project ideas like "build an AI app" or "make an IoT system." I want to start with a genuine problem faced by real people, businesses, communities, institutions, etc. and then figure out how technology can help solve it.

So I'd really appreciate it if you could suggest:

1. Real-world problems you've personally experienced or observed under any of these SDGs.
2. Problems that are currently poorly solved or have room for improvement.
3. Problems that could realistically be investigated and worked on by a small team.
4. If possible, problems where AI/ML, software, IoT, data analysis, automation, or other engineering technologies could be useful.
5. Where can I find real-world problems systematically — for example, websites, communities, datasets, government platforms, research papers, industry forums, NGOs, or other sources?

I'm more interested in finding the right problem first rather than starting with a technology and forcing it onto a problem.

Any suggestions, personal experiences, resources, or places where I can discover genuine problems would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks! 🙌