Scribd
Upload
47 views3 pages

Isa Essay2

The document discusses the issues and challenges related to skill enhancement and upgradation of power automation professionals in the Indian power sector. It outlines that the increasing competition in the sector has raised expectations around cost optimization and quality improvement. However, technological advancements have created a mismatch with existing skill sets. It notes challenges such as migration of skilled professionals to other sectors offering better wages and opportunities abroad. It stresses the need for continuous training and incentives to retain talent. Multi-disciplinary skills and a social change in mindset are needed to recognize the importance of automation professionals to the power sector's success.

Uploaded by

rogo2577
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
47 views3 pages

Isa Essay2

The document discusses the issues and challenges related to skill enhancement and upgradation of power automation professionals in the Indian power sector. It outlines that the increasing competition in the sector has raised expectations around cost optimization and quality improvement. However, technological advancements have created a mismatch with existing skill sets. It notes challenges such as migration of skilled professionals to other sectors offering better wages and opportunities abroad. It stresses the need for continuous training and incentives to retain talent. Multi-disciplinary skills and a social change in mindset are needed to recognize the importance of automation professionals to the power sector's success.

Uploaded by

rogo2577
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

Indian Power Sector The Issues and Challenges of Skill Enhancement / Up gradation of Power Automation Professionals The Indian

power sector has been witnessing progressive developments beginning with the Electricity Act, 2003. Positive legislations, competitive bidding policies, opening up for private investments as well as surging growth in electricity demand have all contributed to the growth of the sector. This increased competition has further raised the firm's expectation from human capital in terms of cost optimization, timely completion of activities, redefining scope of work, quality improvement and standardization of activities. The Power Automation Professionals has an ability and capacity to carryout job above objectives by involving ideas (cognitive skills), things (technical skills), and/or people (interpersonal skills). Among these, the technical skill enhancement if a function of time that is imperative in order to meet the organization's objective. The issues and challenges of skill enhancement of Power Automation Professionals are as under.

Job specific skill enhancement


From sensor to Boardroom: There has been a paradigm policy shift in the Power generation industry in recent times, especially the policy of rewarding "performers". This is a boost for improving operational efficiencies, better heat rates, reduced emissions and also a disciplined contribution to grid discipline from generators as well as consumers- covering both supply and demand (a direct result of ABT). ERP integration with DCS in a seamless way ensures that database centric advanced applications are developed that truly translates to "sensor to board room automation". The standard applications like Merit Order Rating, ABT (Availability Based Tariff) and Decision Support System (DSS) rely on the tight integration with DCS to generate the most accurate, relevant information which directly impact business. The scope of Automation professional has been three dimensional: Measurement & Control: - from Sensor to DCS Building automation: - from Fire and smoke alarm systems to CCTV surveillance system Enterprise Automation: - from Inventory Management to Decision Support System Technological leapfrogging in all the above three dimensions is rapid and constant. It brings a mismatch with existing skill set and deteriorates the value of a automation professional. In order to stay tuned in a competitive place an automation professional have to run very hard, whereas to get anywhere farther they have to run even harder. IT and Automation two sides of a same coin In earlier days the two roles, IT and automation, were separable like oil and water. Gradually, the penetration of IT has been deeper and with the widespread usage of IT , the operation engineers are demanding more not only at product level but also at generating report. For IT skills in automation, the role cannot be shifted to IT department rather the automation professionals are required to develop IT

skills. At this point of time it is imperative to accept that IT and automation are two sides of the same coin and we need to excel in both.

Skill enhancement challenges due to Market development


It is difficult to develop power related automation skills in a resource in a shorter time and it is more difficult to retain the developed skilled power-automation resource for a longer time. The reason for the same are listed below:Firstly, India is becoming an engineering outsourcing hub for many US and European firms. Many multinational companies have brought lot of automation project design work to India. These outsourcing from India has created a wage war and the skilled automation professionals have migrated from Indian power sector to these MNCs, thus further denting the skilled manpower requirement in the sector. Secondly, the oil exploration in Middle East, infrastructure development in Africa, shipping industry of Korea, does not have their own training infrastructure sufficient to meet the demand of Automation professionals. They aggressively recruit talent from India and Indian power automation professionals are not a exception to it. Finally, India itself is growing economy and a well-trained automation professional is always in demand across the sectors. Indian power sector need to continuously build on training and development capabilities enhancing / upgrading skills of power automation professional. Also, in terms of retention, the Indian power sector must certainly respect the contribution automation professionals make to their business and therefore the bottom line.

Multi disciplinary skill enhancement


Automation professionals require knowledge that is applied across multiple disciplines - electrical, electronic, mechanical, chemical, civil, instrumentation, controls, computers, networking and information processing. This mix is simply not available in any traditional programs today, and putting them together into one educational curriculum does not seem practical. Practitioners tend to have received much of their automation knowledge from experience, mentoring, and supplemental training rather than structured academics. In this e-learning world, the company vide knowledge management tools shall be used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences. This approach will shorten the learning curve and help the Indian power sector as a whole.

Finally , the Social Factor


Sadly, most automation products today are commodities - subject to drastic price reductions and stiff competition. In power sector, for new capacity added the cost of acquisition of automation equipment has seen a downward trend. Also the cost of automation equipment is significantly lower than power plant main equipment. Due to this comparative low cost, the relative importance of automation professionals in major decision making is shrinking. Thus, the training and skill development issues

related to skill enhancement /upgrading of automation professionals at industry level are less discussed. The remedies require significant social change, a modification of the mind-set, delinking cost and importance. By recognizing that the automation professionals are at the core of a Indian power sector's success is the key to prosperity. This recognition will not only help motivate automation professionals for self skill enhancement but also help build the nation with adequate training and developmental infrastructure related to automation "Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things. I am tempted to think there are no little things." Barton, Bruce

You might also like