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Beetle Engineering & Automation
0428 500 880 Get a quote
Industries / Manufacturing
MackayCentral Queensland

Electrical & Automation Engineering for Manufacturing Operations

Beetle Engineering supports manufacturing operations across Central Queensland with electrical engineering, PLC and SCADA programming, HMI development, and control system upgrades. We help manufacturers improve production reliability, reduce manual intervention, and bring aging control infrastructure up to current standards.

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Manufacturing
What we see on manufacturing sites
  • Aging PLCs and control panels running on obsolete hardware with no spare parts availability, making any fault a potential extended outage.
  • Production lines with limited automation where operators are compensating for gaps in control logic with manual workarounds that increase labour cost and error risk.
  • Poor production visibility - minimal data collection, no historian, and no way to analyse downtime patterns, OEE, or material consumption.
  • Safety system gaps on older plant where guards, interlocks, and emergency stop circuits do not meet current requirements.
  • HMI systems that are difficult to use, poorly laid out, and give operators inadequate information to make fast decisions during a process upset.
  • Compliance requirements for food-grade, pharmaceutical, or heavy industrial applications that add documentation and validation obligations to automation projects.
How we help

Reliable production starts with reliable control

A production line that stops unexpectedly, a batch that fails because a control sequence ran incorrectly, an HMI that gives operators the wrong information - these are the kinds of problems that have an immediate and measurable impact on manufacturing output.

Electrical and automation engineering is not always the most visible part of a manufacturing operation, but it is usually the part that determines whether production runs as planned. Aging control systems, incomplete automation, and poor production data are problems we see regularly in manufacturing sites across Central Queensland.

What we do in manufacturing

Our manufacturing work covers electrical design, PLC programming, SCADA and HMI development, and commissioning. We work on new automation projects where a manual or semi-manual process needs to be brought under automatic control, and on upgrades to existing control systems where aging hardware or inadequate software is causing reliability or performance problems.

Control system upgrades on production plant require careful planning. We design the new system in parallel with the existing one where possible, so that the cutover can be managed as a planned event rather than a production disruption. We write control logic that your electrical and production team can understand, modify, and maintain.

HMI design is an area where we invest time. An HMI that gives operators the right information, in the right format, at the right time makes a measurable difference to how quickly upsets are resolved and how well the process runs. We design HMIs to ISA-18.2 alarm management principles and test them with the people who will use them.

Platforms and tools

Rockwell Automation ControlLogix and CompactLogix for discrete and batch manufacturing applications. Siemens S7 and TIA Portal for process applications and European-platform plant. Beckhoff TwinCAT for packaging, materials handling, and high-speed applications.

Ignition and Wonderware SCADA for production monitoring, alarm management, and historian. We select platforms based on what fits your application and your team’s ability to maintain it, not on vendor preference.

Engineering documentation and compliance

Manufacturing operations often have compliance requirements that go beyond standard industrial practice - food safety, pharmaceutical validation, heavy industry standards, or principal contractor quality systems. Our electrical and automation documentation is structured to meet these requirements, and we work with your quality team to ensure engineering deliverables fit within your compliance framework.

Platforms found across manufacturing sites

Platforms we work with

Rockwell Automation
Siemens
Beckhoff
Schneider Electric
Ignition
Wonderware
FAQ

Common questions about our manufacturing work.

Yes. New automation projects on existing plant are a significant part of our work. We assess the current process, define the control logic and safety requirements, design the electrical and control system, and commission it on your plant. We work with your production team to understand the process well enough to write control logic that handles normal operation and the exceptions that come up in practice.
Where possible, yes. Many control upgrades can be staged so that the new system is built and tested in parallel with the existing system, with a planned cutover during a scheduled shutdown or low-production window. We plan around your production schedule and communicate clearly with your team to minimise disruption.
Yes. SCADA and historian systems give you production data, downtime records, alarm history, and material tracking that manual systems cannot provide. We design and implement data collection systems that are practical to use and give your team the visibility they need to improve production performance.
Yes. Significant electrical modifications and new installations on manufacturing plant require RPEQ engineering documentation under Queensland electrical safety legislation. Our principal engineer Dennis Murphy holds RPEQ registration and provides engineering sign-off as a standard part of our project scope.

Working in manufacturing? Let's talk.

We support manufacturing operations across Mackay, the Bowen Basin and Central Queensland. Get in touch to discuss your project.

Get a quote → 0428 500 880