Field transmission · FFN
The real work behind modern manufacturing.
Factory Field Notes is a no-fluff podcast about PLCs, controls, automation, and the careers built around them, pulled straight from the questions real engineers are asking. Hosted by Vladimir Romanov.
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This Messy Control Panel Is One Fault Away From a Full Line Stop [Real Plant Panel Review]
Five real plant photos read the way an experienced automation person reads them. A control panel wrecked by years of time pressure and the retrofit call it forces, an SLC 500 worked on from a borrowed trolley, an S7-1500 that will not see a new ET 200SP, two first programs, and what actually happens when a corporate IT team takes over OT after the site IT person retires.
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Wireless PLC Access: Connecting to a PLC with a Travel Router, and When Not To
Using an inexpensive TP-Link travel router to connect wirelessly to a PLC for commissioning and troubleshooting when the plant network is not ready, the size, price, and range trade offs, and a live CompactLogix demo. It also covers the OT security and governance risk of unmanaged remote access and default credentials, and the disciplined alternative of a jump box and a proper OT and IT architecture.
Industrial Automation Q&A: In-House vs Contractor, ET 200SP Retrofits, and Learning PLCs
Industrial automation Q&A on six real questions from the field: a Siemens ET 200SP and Odot remote I/O conversion of a legacy yarn spinning machine, the in-house versus contractor call and the business case for letting a customer fail, learning PLCs affordably, why PLC software feels buggy, 3D HMI graphics versus ISA 101, and preparing for a PLC and data engineer interview.
Industrial Automation Q&A: Rockwell QC Defects, TIA Portal Versions, & IT/OT Skills
Industrial automation Q&A on the skills shift every controls team is feeling, plus a cautionary Rockwell quality story, a TIA Portal version trap, and honest career advice. This episode answers five of the most upvoted questions from the r/PLC community.
The premise
Notes from the floor,
not the brochure.
Most manufacturing content is either a vendor pitch or a theory lecture. Factory Field Notes is neither. It's the conversation that actually happens between controls engineers, about the legacy PLC-5 that won't die, the IT/OT line that nobody owns, the troubleshooting instinct you can't buy, and whether this career is worth building.
Each Q&A week, we pull the sharpest questions from the r/PLC community and the field, and work through them honestly. No sponsors steering the answer, no jargon for its own sake. If you program, wire, commission, or maintain the systems that make things, this is your field journal.
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Your host
Vladimir Romanov
Founder of Joltek & SolisPLC, former Procter & Gamble and Kraft Heinz engineering leader, and co-host of Manufacturing Hub. He's commissioned $20MM+ lines, led unionized maintenance teams, and trained hundreds of thousands of automation professionals, and now he's taking the questions.
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