Stop Chasing Electricians! Why Machine Builders Need To Rethink Machine Wiring

“When we change the way we look at something, what we are looking at changes.” That quote from the late Wayne Dyer reminds me of how important it is to shift our perspective when we keep running into the same challenge. Those wise words capture a powerful truth—sometimes, what needs adjusting isn’t the problem itself, but our perspective on it. The machine-building world faces a persistent challenge: skilled labour shortages, especially in finding electricians and controls engineers. Everyone I talk to, from large OEMs to smaller custom builders, is saying the same thing: “We just can’t find enough qualified electricians and controls people.” And if, by some stroke of luck, they manage to find someone, holding onto them becomes the next hurdle. Burnout is real: controls people are working long hours, handling multiple projects, and constantly being pulled in multiple directions.

Traditionally, the knee-jerk response is straightforward: if you don’t have enough electricians and controls people, hire more of them. If that doesn’t work, offer more pay or better benefits to lure them away from your competitors. But what if we're just repeating past mistakes with the same old approach? You might score a small victory or two, but the problem itself—escalating labour demands—never really disappears. Instead, it just shifts around like a game of musical chairs.

Let’s take Wayne Dyer’s advice and change the way we look at the problem. What if the skilled labour crisis is actually an opportunity to rethink how we design, build and wire machines in the first place? I realize that might sound a bit radical, especially if you’ve been wiring everything the same way for 20 or 30 years. But consider this: the reason so many electricians and controls engineers are tied up in knots is that the current approach to machine wiring is massively labour-intensive. And it’s been that way for decades.

The Machine Wiring Status Quo

Right now, the classic method of machine wiring is to run individual wires (or multi-conductor cables) from every sensor, valve, or actuator on the machine all the way back to a main control panel. Inside that control panel, each wire has to be stripped, ferruled, labelled, and terminated into a long row of terminal blocks, all carefully documented. Multiply that by dozens—or even hundreds—of I/O points, and you quickly see why you need so many skilled folks. Each wire has the potential to be mislabeled or connected incorrectly, adding even more time to troubleshoot on startup.

When I walk into a typical machine builder’s shop, I’ll often see benches of control panels with what looks like miles of wiring carefully routed through all the wire ducts. At first glance, it appears impressively organized, but behind the scenes, an electrician or two is probably working late to ensure everything is finished in time for the machine’s scheduled shipment. They’re also juggling phone calls and emails from other projects waiting in the pipeline. It’s a setup that inevitably leads to stress, overload, and, eventually, burnout.

Changing the Way We Look at It

So yes, you can keep hiring more electricians, paying them top dollar, and hoping they’ll stay. But that’s basically the same play we’ve been running for a long time, and it’s not solving the bigger picture.

What if we simply reduced the amount of wiring that needed to be done? If that sounds like a dream scenario, I’ve got good news: decentralized automation concepts are helping machine builders do exactly that. By changing the way we look at machine wiring, we can make the job drastically easier—and consequently, reduce the number of overwhelmed electricians and engineers.

Decentralized Automation: The Basics

Let’s say that instead of bringing every wire or cable back to the main control cabinet, we shift the I/O connectivity out onto the machine itself. Rather than a meter-long din rail of terminals in one spot, you can place IP67-rated I/O modules or distribution blocks close to the sensors and actuators on the machine. These modules, designed to withstand the same harsh industrial environments as your machines—hot, cold, dusty, or wet—can be mounted directly on the machine frame without a junction box or protective cabinet.

One of the main advantages is that you no longer need to run all those individual cables for every device on your machine back to a central panel. Instead, you can connect each device or sensor to a nearby I/O block using short, reliable M8 or M12 cables. This decentralizing of I/O connectivity means far fewer wiring mistakes and significantly less time spent routing, terminating and labelling countless wires. All the I/O block needs is power and a single network cable (EtherNet/IP, ProfiNet, EtherCat, etc.) back to the main controller. Some systems, like Murrelektronik’s Cube67, even combine power and data into a single cable, simplifying things further. It’s a clear upgrade from the old method of terminating hundreds of wires in a crowded control cabinet.

Skilled Labour in the New Model

Let’s think about how this addresses the skilled labour shortage. First, you no longer need as many highly specialized electricians to meticulously manage the wiring in big control panels. You’ll still need qualified people to handle PLC programming, set up or configure devices, and integrate everything. But you won’t need as many people just terminating wire after wire. This means the electricians and controls engineers you do have can focus on higher-level tasks like commissioning, troubleshooting, or working on new innovations for your machines.

And for the remaining wiring, it’s much more straightforward. M8 and M12 connectors click into place with just a few twists. You avoid those miles of wires and cables bunched up in wire ducts that often drive maintenance people up the wall in traditional control panels. That alone can significantly cut down on both installation time and mistakes. It also makes maintenance easier—when something goes wrong, the local I/O block is right there with an LED indicator aiding you in troubleshooting, and you can replace a cable in minutes rather than tracing or pulling a cable all the way back to the control cabinet.

Tapping Into “Smart” Unskilled Labour

Here’s another angle that might be a game-changer: training new or relatively unskilled hires to do basic cable routing and connector assembly, then having electricians sign off on their work. I know what you’re thinking: “Unskilled workers in controls? That’s risky.” But think about it—training someone to wire a complex control panel can take months (or longer) before they’re up to speed. There are countless wires, terminals, labels, and diagrams that can go wrong in so many ways.

By comparison, teaching someone to plug in a standard M12 connector is a breeze. Show them how to line up the pins, tighten the connection until it’s secure, and confirm everything with a Murrelektronik torque wrench. It might take a few minutes to explain, but then they’re off to the races, pulling short double-ended cables across the machine and plugging them into an IP67 module or network switch. And if that intern decides to quit at lunchtime on her first day, you can have a brand-new hire trained and back at it by the afternoon.

That may sound trivial, but it adds up quickly when you consider onboarding costs and the time it takes to get new employees up to speed. Meanwhile, your certified electricians can stick to the tasks they’re uniquely qualified for, such as final checks, programming, and advanced diagnostics. Everybody wins: the new hires gain quick, practical experience, and the experts aren’t overwhelmed by tedious wiring tasks.

Looking for Other Opportunities

It’s also worth noting that this “change the way we look at it” mindset can apply to other areas of the machine, not just control system wiring. You might find similar opportunities to lower the skill level needed to install certain components or subassemblies. Collaborating with your key supplier partners is a great way to discover these innovations. Often, suppliers will have a bird’s-eye view of multiple projects and know exactly which new products or design tweaks can reduce time or skilled labour bottlenecks. By letting your partners in on your labour challenges, you could uncover an entire list of design changes that lower complexity and free up your skilled staff for higher-level tasks.

The Ripple Effects

Beyond just relieving the burden on skilled labour, decentralized wiring has other perks. For starters, you reduce enclosure space, which means smaller control panels, fewer terminal blocks, and less climate control are needed to keep the panel at the right temperature. You also shrink your wiring components inventory because you’re using standardized cables and connectors rather than dozens of terminal block parts like bridge bars, partition plates, end clamps, etc.

There’s also a time-to-market advantage. In a world where customers are demanding ever-faster delivery (and, let’s be honest, prices never seem to rise enough to fully offset higher labour costs), being able to churn out machines more quickly can be a real game-changer. Less wiring means faster assembly and fewer rework headaches. Customers get their equipment sooner, and your skilled workforce isn’t stretched to the breaking point.

Overcoming Doubts

I often hear a bit of pushback: “We’ve always wired machines this way, and it works. Why fix what isn’t broken?” But with the skilled labour shortage at a boiling point, can you really afford to keep doing what you’ve always done? To me, the question is whether you want your talented engineers and electricians wiring terminal after terminal all day—or applying their expertise to value-added tasks like machine optimization, new feature development, or troubleshooting advanced automation.

Switching to a decentralized approach might require a bit of a learning curve if your team hasn’t done it before. However, the payoff in reduced labour demand and improved efficiency is well worth the effort. Besides, those who’ve successfully implemented decentralized automation often say they’d never go back to the old way. Once you experience the simplicity, it’s hard to un-see it.

Seeing the Bigger Picture

Wayne Dyer’s quote reminds us that our viewpoint can transform reality. If we stop seeing the skilled labour shortage as a simple numbers game—“We need more electricians, so let’s hire more electricians!”—and start looking at it as a wiring and design challenge, suddenly, we open up new avenues. We can lighten the load on our workforce by reducing the tedious tasks that swallow hours each week. In turn, that helps retain the people we’ve already invested in because they’re less overwhelmed.

Remember, the name of the game isn’t just to put bodies on the production floor; it’s to free up your best minds and hands to do the kind of work they actually enjoy—and the kind that moves your company forward. By embracing decentralized automation (and discovering similar “design shifts” through collaborations with key supplier partners), you’ll find that you don’t need to scramble to compete with everyone else’s wage offers. You simply need fewer specialists doing the same old manual wiring because the design itself has evolved.

Final Thoughts

The skilled labour shortage in our industry isn’t going away overnight, but we can reduce the pain by reimagining how we wire up our machines—and by actively seeking other areas where design changes can lower complexity. Centralized, old-school wiring methods served us for decades, but the cost—both in hours and the skill required—has become glaringly obvious. Decentralized I/O and IP67 modules are a concrete way to work smarter, not harder. They reduce wiring complexity, minimize installation errors, and significantly reduce the stress on your engineering and electrician teams.

So the next time you catch yourself thinking, “We really need more controls people,” pause and ask whether you actually need a new way to wire. Let Wayne Dyer’s words guide you: “When we change the way we look at something, what we are looking at changes.” Maybe the solution to the skilled labour shortage isn’t out there in the job market. Maybe it’s right in front of us—inside the design of our machines, with the help of partners and suppliers who can show us a different path.

About the Author - Hey there! I'm Colin, and I've spent over 30 years working with industrial automation and control systems. I enjoy collaborating with machine builders and OEMs to increase their competitiveness. By fine-tuning your control system installation and commissioning processes, we can boost your machine’s OEE and deliver better ROI. Want to see how we can work together? Get in touch with me!