Joe Eames

Lely service engineer

“I come from a farming background and I enjoy working with stock and having a look at the animals as I go. I studied agricultural mechanisation in Pallaskenry for two years. That gave me the basics on engines and electronics. For the placement, I went to America for nine months and worked with a harvest crew in Kansas, which was fantastic.

“After that I spent three years in IT Tralee and graduated this year with a Level 8 degree in agricultural engineering.

You get experience in many different areas; pneumatics, electronics and the robots

“I am a service engineer with the Lely centre in Mullingar. My area is around Kilkenny and Waterford.

“You get experience in many different areas; pneumatics, electronics and the robots.

“It’s challenging because you’re often on your own and there’s always something different to get your head around but there is always help available.

We recently did training in Holland for a week

“I started in July; shadowed different colleagues for three months. I was also doing continuous online training. We recently did training in Holland for a week and I really enjoyed that.

“We went into a classroom, started from the basics and learned everything about the robots.”

Repairs

“As service engineers we are in charge of services and repairs on the robots. We have call-outs some days and our own service schedule to keep up. I am on the road most days and I enjoy being somewhere different.”

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