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Services / Automation & Control
Automation & Control Mackay

Industrial Automation - Mackay & Central Queensland
Automation that works for your process, not against it.

Beetle Engineering designs and commissions industrial automation systems for mining, sugar, manufacturing and utilities operations across Central Queensland. From single machine control through to full process automation, we engineer systems that improve consistency, reduce manual intervention and give operations better visibility of what's running.

Industrial Automation

What industrial automation with Beetle actually looks like.

Industrial automation in Central Queensland

The mining, sugar and manufacturing industries in Central Queensland have been automating processes for decades. The platforms have changed, the expectations have grown, and the consequences of a poorly designed or poorly maintained control system are well understood by anyone who has worked through a production stoppage caused by a faulty interlock or a misconfigured alarm.

We work in this environment. We understand what a processing plant looks like at 3am during a fault condition, and we design automation systems with that reality in mind.

What we do

Industrial automation covers a broad scope. At its core, it’s about replacing or supplementing manual control with reliable, repeatable automatic sequences - and giving operators the information and interface they need to supervise those sequences effectively.

Control system design - selecting the right hardware and architecture for the application. PLC platform selection, I/O design, network architecture, panel layout, and integration with existing plant infrastructure.

PLC programming - sequence control, interlocking, motor control, instrumentation, and safety logic. Written to be maintainable, not just functional.

SCADA and HMI development - operator interfaces that show what operators need to see, alarm systems that alert on what matters, and historians that record the data your engineers need for troubleshooting and reporting.

System integration - connecting new control systems to existing plant equipment, management systems, and third-party platforms via standard industrial protocols.

Commissioning and handover - structured commissioning with your operations team, documented results, and a handover that leaves your people in control of the system.

Industries we automate in Central Queensland

Mining - conveyor systems, crusher control, water management, ventilation, and surface processing plant. We work on both open-cut and underground systems and understand the safety and reliability requirements that apply.

Sugar mills - seasonal processing operations with tight shutdown windows, ageing infrastructure, and a strong focus on keeping the mill running through the crushing season. We have specific experience with the control challenges of sugar processing.

Manufacturing - production line control, batch processing, packaging systems, and utilities. Requirements vary widely - we scope each project based on what the process actually needs.

Water and utilities - pump station control, treatment process automation, and remote monitoring for water and wastewater operations across regional Queensland.

Working with a local engineer

Distance matters in industrial automation. When a fault stops production, the most useful engineer is one who can be on site quickly, who knows the system, and who has the tools and authority to fix it.

We are based in Mackay. We work across the Bowen Basin and Central Queensland regularly. Our clients retain us because they know that when something goes wrong, we are accessible - not managing a queue of remote support requests from the other side of the country.

That proximity also means we can visit site during the design phase, witness testing in person, and spend time with operators during commissioning rather than compressing everything into a single trip.

Rockwell
Siemens
Beckhoff
Schneider
AVEVA
Ignition

One process. Zero surprises.

Scoping
  • Site walk & asset review
  • Requirements capture
  • Network & OT audit (if required)
Quoting
  • Scope of work definition
  • Deliverables schedule
  • Fixed-price or T&M proposal
Optional
Upfront engineering
  • Concept design & review
  • Feasibility & risk assessment
  • Design basis document
Documentation
  • Functional descriptions
  • Electrical drawings & diagrams
  • Network & architecture diagrams
  • IO lists
  • ITC / test sheets
  • Asset & network audits
Programming
  • PLC programs (Studio 5000 / RSLogix)
  • SCADA & HMI development
  • FactoryTalk / CitechSCADA / Aveva
  • OT network configuration
FAT → SAT & commissioning
  • Factory acceptance testing (FAT)
  • Site acceptance testing (SAT)
  • Loop checks & punch-list close-out
  • Hand-back & as-built documentation
All industries →

Common questions, straight answers.

Most projects start with understanding what you're trying to achieve - whether that's reducing manual intervention, improving process consistency, capturing production data, or replacing a system that's become a reliability risk. From there we scope the control system hardware, write the PLC program, develop the HMI or SCADA interface, and commission the system with your operations team. The scope varies with the project, but the approach is consistent.
Yes. Automating manual processes is a significant part of what we do. It starts with understanding the manual process in detail - how operators currently run it, where the variability comes from, and what the failure modes are. That knowledge shapes the automation design. Automation that ignores how operators actually work tends to get switched to manual override and left there.
Yes. We work on both new installations and upgrades to existing systems. Greenfield projects give us more design freedom but require close coordination with civil, mechanical and electrical contractors. Upgrades require more careful planning around existing operations, often with tighter cutover windows. Both are well within our scope.
Response time matters when something stops working. A local engineer can be on site in Central Queensland within hours, not days. Beyond emergency response, a local engineer also builds a working knowledge of your specific plant and process over time - something that's hard to replicate with a remote integrator who visits once at commissioning and then handles everything by phone.

Pairs well with

Ready to discuss your industrial automation project?

Talk to an RPEQ engineer about your project. We work across mining, sugar, manufacturing and utilities throughout Queensland.