Meet Nicolas Donoso, Omron Senior Application Engineer

What does your current role with Omron involve?

I am the Senior Application Engineer. This involves supporting customers and sales representatives technically, which could be specifying suitable Omron equipment for a given application, sample programming, training customers and staff about our products, assist customers with troubleshooting, servo motor sizing, PoC, etc.

When did you first develop an interest in engineering?

Since I was young, I always had an interest in building things, especially Lego Technic. Another influence would have been my father, who is an Electrical Engineer. When I was about 10 years old my father bought a Fischertechnik kit that contained building blocks, motors, switches and a controller. It was well beyond my age, as the controller was programmed through ladder logic, but most of the work I did was with my dad and found entertaining the idea of creating a logic that would then make an object operate accordingly. The concept of logical software interfacing with the real world through these components is what made me interested in engineering.

What does a day in the life of a Senior Application Engineer look like?

Any two days never seem to be the same as we cover such a broad range of products. I would say that on average my day is composed by 80% technical support, 10% learning and 10% other tasks. What I appreciate the most working at Omron is that I might be working on a Servo System, next thing I am assisting with a PLC enquiry, afterwards I jump onto a Robotics application. This day-to-day activity has really given me the strength to understand an automated system instead of a vast amount of knowledge focused on a single component or area.

What are the main benefits of using robotics and automation in the workplace?

There are so many terminologies I could throw out there that would relate to benefits/advantages, such as consistency, traceability, quality, etc. but what I see as the main benefits and advantages from automation is growth. Automation can allow the business to tap into key aspects that are crucial to its growth.

How is robotics and automation changing people’s lives?

Automation allows users to create system that can efficiently replicate a manual process and helps the user learn further in depth how this process operates. In a world where there is more of us and smaller shares of resource to go around, making sure that we can get the most out of an operation is crucial for the future.

In your opinion, what’s been the key to OMRON’s great success?

From my perspective, the key to our success is the synergy between sales and technical. I have found overtime that it is not enough for customers to have access to OMRON’s great range of automation products, but also a strong technical support behind them.