David Cole began his career on the plant floor not in an office which shaped the practical, no-fluff approach that defines his technical writing. His early years were spent troubleshooting SLC 500 and PLC-5 systems in automotive stamping plants, where a failed I/O module at 2 AM was a real problem that needed a real answer fast.
Over two decades he expanded across platforms: commissioning ControlLogix 1756 racks for conveyance lines, retrofitting Siemens S5 systems to S7-300 in chemical processing, and building spare parts inventories for plants running Modicon Quantum and GE Fanuc Series 90-30 well past their official end-of-life dates.
Maintained and upgraded legacy Allen-Bradley systems; first exposure to the reality of sourcing discontinued I/O modules under production pressure.
Led migration from SLC 500 to CompactLogix 5370 across 14 production lines; designed spare parts matrix covering 3-year demand forecasts.
Supported S5 S7-300 migrations across upstream processing facilities; developed standardized PROFIBUS segment validation procedures.
Writes and reviews technical guides for controls engineers and procurement teams navigating legacy PLC ecosystems and end-of-life part sourcing.