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Industrial Systems Specialist


Career Area: Manufacturing
Technical Diploma
Program Number: 31-631-1
Approximately 1 Year to Complete
This is based on full-time enrollment. Actual time to completion may vary based on the availability of courses a college offers and the number of credits the student takes in any given time period.
Credit Program
Most credit programs are eligible for financial aid, while most non-credit certificates provide valuable work-related skills on a short timeline. Check with the college offering the program to determine if it is eligible for financial aid.
Average Annual Tuition: $4386
This is based on one year of full-time enrollment for in-state students. WTCS tuition is set by the Wisconsin Technical College System Board in March for the following year. It does not include books, materials or program/college-related fees.
AMT Gateway Juan Carlos Torano Aiello Advanced Manufacturing 4 v2

Industrial Systems Specialist Careers

Recent Wisconsin job postings for this degree:

  • Field Service Technician
  • Instrumentation and Controls Technician
  • Electrical and Instrument Technician
  • Electrical Maintenance Technician

Industrial Systems Specialist Programs

Graduates install, troubleshoot, program and repair electrical, light mechanical, and computer systems used in industry to control and automate machines or processes. The equipment that you will deal with controls machines used in manufacturing and equipment used to control continuous processes. Examples include power utilities, petrochemical and chemical, paper, plastics, municipal water and wastewater, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, renewable energy, and control equipment support by vendors and engineering firms.  

As a graduate, you can secure employment as Field Service Engineers, Automation Engineers, Instrumentation Technicians, Electricians, Control Systems Programmers, Control Systems Designers, Process Operators, Automation for Industrial Systems Technicians and Maintenance Technicians.

Program Overview:

This program is intended and recommended for individuals with a background in electrical equipment, electricity, or IT.  Process and manufacturing plants employ technicians to keep their machines and processing running and install and maintain equipment.  With this one-year technical diploma, you will be prepared to be employed at the technician level or higher on industrial computer networks, programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and process instruments. You will have both classroom and hands-on laboratory instruction with several systems to gain an understanding of controller and PLC interfacing, control systems and network installation.

Industrial Systems Specialist graduates will be able to:
Demonstrate safe practices and techniques
Perform installations of controls hardware/software/cabling
Perform programming and configuration of Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) and Distributed Control Systems (DCSs)
Integrate control systems
Troubleshoot hardware/software of PLCs, instrumentation and control systems
Develop system documentation

Industrial Systems Specialist Part of a Career Pathway Program Transfers Offered completely online Shared Program
Northwood Tech Industrial Systems Specialist at Northwood Tech