What Do Industrial Electricians Do?

Key Takeaways

• Industrial electricians install, maintain and repair the power, motor and control systems inside factories, refineries and processing plants, and most of the job is keeping production lines running.
• Electricians in manufacturing earned a median of $74,550 a year ($35.84 an hour) in May 2025, compared with $63,190 for all electricians, according to BLS wage data.
• Pay depends on the plant, from a $50,230 median in computer and electronics plants to $107,840 in petroleum and coal products plants, according to BLS industry estimates.
• An hour of unplanned downtime costs a large automotive plant about $2.3 million, according to Siemens, so plants put a premium on electricians who find faults fast.
• Texas issues a separate journeyman industrial electrician license for refinery, chemical plant and pipeline work, and it takes 8,000 hours of on-the-job training.
• Electrician jobs are projected to grow 9% from 2025 to 2035, with about 72,700 openings a year, according to the BLS.

Industrial electricians install, maintain and troubleshoot the electrical systems inside factories, refineries, chemical plants and other industrial sites, from three-phase power and motor controls to the PLCs that run automated lines. The work pays above the trade average, and electricians in manufacturing earned a median of $74,550 in May 2025, about $11,000 more than the $63,190 median for all electricians, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This guide covers what industrial electricians do each day, the skills and licenses plants look for, what the work environment is like, and how pay changes from one type of plant to the next.

What Industrial Electricians Do

The big difference from construction work is that the plant is already running. Your main job is to keep it running, so the day revolves around preventive maintenance, fast troubleshooting and upgrades planned for shutdowns. That focus on live equipment is the biggest split between industrial and commercial electricians, who spend more of their time installing new systems in buildings.

When a motor trips or a drive faults, a whole line can stop. Unplanned downtime costs a large automotive plant about $2.3 million an hour, and even consumer goods plants lose about $36,000 an hour, according to the Siemens True Cost of Downtime 2024 report.

Daily Responsibilities

Most days mix scheduled work with calls from the production floor.

• Run preventive maintenance on motors, drives, switchgear and transformers
• Troubleshoot faults on production lines with multimeters, insulation testers and thermal imaging
• Install and wire motors, starters, VFDs and control panels
• Read schematics, ladder logic and one-line diagrams
• Lock out and tag out equipment before work under OSHA's hazardous energy standard
• Respond to breakdowns and get the line back up
• Log repairs in the plant's maintenance system
• Work with operators, mechanics and controls engineers on fixes and upgrades

Equipment and Systems

Industrial plants run equipment you rarely see on a commercial job, and most of it falls into five groups.

• Motors and motor controls. Three-phase motors, starters, contactors and overloads drive the pumps, fans, conveyors and mixers in a plant.
• Variable frequency drives. VFDs control motor speed and torque, and diagnosing drive faults is routine work in most plants.
• PLCs and automation. Programmable logic controllers run automated lines and robotic cells, and electricians troubleshoot the wiring, the I/O and often the ladder logic.
• Instrumentation. Sensors, transmitters and control loops keep temperature, pressure and flow within spec.
• Power distribution. Switchgear, transformers, busway and motor control centers feed heavy equipment across the plant.

Machine wiring follows NFPA 79, the Electrical Standard for Industrial Machinery, and the building's power wiring follows the National Electrical Code.

Where Industrial Electricians Work

Plants that build cars, trucks, aircraft and their parts employ more electricians than any other manufacturing sector, with 16,690 in May 2025, according to BLS industry data. Other industrial electricians work in refineries and chemical plants, food and beverage plants, paper and steel mills, and plastics plants. Some are on the plant payroll as maintenance electricians, and others work for electrical contractors that handle shutdowns, expansions and new lines.

Required Skills and Qualifications

Licensing and Basic Requirements

Industrial electricians start out like any electrician. You need a high school diploma or equivalent, and most electricians learn the trade in a 4- or 5-year apprenticeship with about 2,000 hours of paid on-the-job training each year, according to the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook. Most states require electricians to be licensed, so check your state's licensing board before you take a plant job.

Some states treat plant work differently. Texas issues a journeyman industrial electrician license for work done only at chemical plants, petrochemical plants, refineries, natural gas plants, pipelines and oil and gas operations, and applicants need 8,000 hours of on-the-job training plus an exam, under Texas law. The same law exempts a maintenance electrician who is regularly employed by a business and doesn't do electrical work for the public, as long as the work isn't installing equipment in new construction.

Licensed Texas electricians, including journeyman industrial electricians, complete 4 hours of continuing education for each renewal, and our $5 TDLR-approved CE course covers those hours online in the Buildforce app.

Preferred Experience and Certifications

Plants want proof that you can work on the equipment they run. Contractors and plant managers who hire qualified industrial electricians tend to screen for this kind of background.

• Motor control and VFD troubleshooting
• PLC experience, ideally on the platform the plant runs
• Reading schematics, ladder logic and one-line diagrams
• Maintenance in a running plant, not just new installs
• OSHA 30 certification and NFPA 70E electrical safety training
• Lockout/tagout and confined space training

These sit on top of the core skills and certifications every electrician needs. Plants tend to weigh troubleshooting speed above any single card in your wallet, since a fast fix keeps the line moving.

Industrial Electrician Work Environment and Schedule

Physical Conditions

Plant work is louder, hotter and dirtier than most commercial jobs. The BLS notes that electricians exposed to loud noise, such as those in factories, must wear hearing protection, according to the Occupational Outlook Handbook. Expect heat near furnaces and ovens, dust or chemicals in some plants, work at height on platforms and lifts, and tight spaces inside machinery and cable trenches. When you work on or near energized gear, arc-rated PPE under NFPA 70E is part of the job.

Schedule Expectations

Many plants run around the clock, so your schedule follows production.

• Rotating day, night and weekend shifts
• On-call rotations for breakdowns
• Long shifts and overtime during planned shutdowns and turnarounds
• Regular weekday hours at plants that run one or two shifts

The BLS says electricians should expect overtime during scheduled maintenance. The upside is stability, since a plant job doesn't end when a building is finished, and a maintenance role can last as long as the plant runs.

How to Get Started as an Industrial Electrician

Most industrial electricians come up through a general apprenticeship and then move into plants. A typical path looks like this.

1. Finish an apprenticeship and get licensed. Your state's rules set the hours and the exam.
2. Learn motor controls and PLCs. Community colleges and technical schools offer industrial maintenance and PLC courses, and automation makers offer training on their own platforms.
3. Get plant safety credentials. OSHA 10 or 30, NFPA 70E and lockout/tagout training are common asks.
4. Take shutdown and turnaround work. Contractor jobs during plant outages put you inside plants and in front of the maintenance managers who hire.
5. Apply for plant roles. Search for titles like "maintenance electrician," "plant electrician," "industrial maintenance technician" and "I&E technician."

The same three-phase power, switchgear and controls skills carry over to data center electrical work, which gives industrial electricians another lane to move into later.

Industrial Electrician Compensation and Career Growth

What Industrial Electricians Earn

The BLS counted 52,590 electricians working in manufacturing in May 2025, with a median wage of $35.84 an hour, or $74,550 a year, according to its manufacturing industry estimates. That beats the $30.38 median for all electricians, and the type of plant moves the number more than anything else. Here is how median pay for electricians compares across manufacturing sectors, based on BLS May 2025 industry estimates.

BLS counts apprentices and journeymen in the same occupation, so experienced journeymen often sit above the median for their sector.

Industry Growth and Job Security

Electrician jobs are projected to grow 9% from 2025 to 2035, much faster than the average for all occupations, with about 72,700 openings a year, according to the BLS. Manufacturing employs about 7% of all electricians. New factory construction has cooled, with spending on manufacturing construction at a $169.8 billion annual rate in July 2026, down 21.2% from a year earlier, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Maintenance matters more than new construction to plant electricians. Every plant that opened in the last few years still needs electricians on its payroll or its contractor list to keep the motors, drives and controls running.

Where Buildforce Fits In

Buildforce is a labor marketplace that connects electricians with more than 250 electrical contractors. You work as a W-2 employee on Buildforce jobs, so payroll taxes and workers' comp are handled for you. Download the Buildforce app, build your profile and apply to electrician jobs in Texas metros like Houston and Dallas, plus Phoenix, Charlotte, Atlanta and other markets, or browse open roles on the Buildforce job board first.