Career Snapshot: What is Mechatronics?
But, what exactly is Mechatronics?
As the name implies, Mechatronics is a job that involves a combination of mechanical and electronic skills. It’s becoming more widely adopted in advanced manufacturing operations because it covers a wide array of specialties, and companies are very interested in hiring people who have the knowledge to keep their lines running at full capacity, with as little downtime as possible.
Mechatronics professionals work with hydraulics and pneumatics, robotics and automated controls, programmable controllers, process control and mechanical applications. They can also design, implement, manufacture, service and repair a wide array of equipment for their employers.
So what does that mean in English?
In manufacturing, time lost is money lost. If a part breaks down, production stops and the company loses money. In fact every moment a piece of equipment is down can mean big losses, so it can be really expensive to replace a piece of machinery just because a few parts stop working.
Companies look to hire technicians who can identify and solve problems before they cause outages. And in the worst case scenario, they need people who can quickly repair a piece of machinery if it does go down.
Ideally, many companies prefer to hire technicians who have the skills to repair the whole system--including robotics, electrical and mechanical systems.
Mechatronics technicians have the skills and the know-how to repair any of those systems.
And because they’re knowledgeable in so many areas, the Mechatronics technician is in high demand in a large variety of industries - aerospace, robotics, automotive production, manufacturing and even business. As manufacturing continues to become even more advanced, the future of Mechatronics looks very bright.
Median Earnings for Mechatronics Technicians
*Earnings data for our region from EMSI Analyst