Here are 10 reasons why our tutors make all the difference.

1. They’ve been on your shop-floor

Scantime tutors aren’t career academics. They’re time-served controls engineers who’ve worked in manufacturing environments across the UK. They know what a shop-floor looks like at 3am when something’s gone wrong. They know the pressure. They know the stakes. And they bring every bit of that lived experience into the training room.

“I’ve done your 2am shifts. I’ve done the four-on, four-off shifts. I’ve had the stresses of it all.”

David Simm, Chair, Scantime

2. They know what it feels like to not know where to start

Every engineer has been there: standing in front of a machine that’s stopped, everyone waiting, and no idea where to begin. Scantime tutors have been in that exact situation. That’s not a teaching prop. That’s their career.

It’s why they don’t just teach the theory. They teach you how to think under pressure, how to approach a fault logically, and how to get the line away without making things worse.

“We know that engineers get to the machines and feel embarrassed and frustrated because they’re not trained. We know what it’s like to be expected to fix things without the tools to do it.”

Nathan Ramsahai, Tutor, Scantime

3. Safety isn’t an afterthought

Scantime was founded by David Simm, who started his engineering apprenticeship in 1968. He worked on live high-voltage equipment before health and safety legislation existed. He’s been on the receiving end of the kind of shocks and near-misses that today’s regulations were written to prevent.

When David says PLC safety training matters, he’s not reading from a manual. He’s speaking from 56 years of experience, including the moment a 750,000 Watt explosion blew a control panel clean over his head. David lived what it was like before them.

Every Scantime course is designed or influenced by David, with that perspective built in from the ground up. Safety runs through everything.

4. They make the complex simple

PLCs are complicated. Ladder logic, SCADA systems, HMIs, remote I/O, TIA Portal — there’s a lot to get your head around.

Scantime tutors are experts at breaking it down into clear, logical steps that make sense the moment you hear them.

That’s a skill that takes years to develop. A tutor who’s worked with PLCs for over a decade doesn’t just know the content. They know which parts trip people up, which analogies unlock the logic, and how to explain the same thing three different ways until it clicks.

“In one week, you’ll gain a wealth of knowledge. It’s a safe place to play around with the software and have someone show you what’s what instead of watching YouTube videos in your own time that may not be right — or even applicable to your shop-floor.”

Nathan Ramsahai

5. The training room is a safe space, and we mean it

On a live shop-floor, making a mistake costs money. Here, it doesn’t. Scantime tutors actively encourage delegates to push buttons, try things out, and yes, break things. That’s how confidence is built.

There’s no time pressure. No shift manager. No production targets at risk. Just a room full of live PLCs, experienced tutors, and the freedom to get it wrong until you get it right.

“We’ll encourage you to test things out and play around. If you break things or shut things down here, it’s okay. The training room is a safe place. I’ve smashed some stuff in my time, and it sucks!”

Nathan Ramsahai

6. Even experienced engineers leave with something new

Self-taught engineers often arrive at Scantime convinced they know most of what they need to know. They’re usually right — and they still leave with things they’d never considered.

That’s the value of a tutor with real depth. There are always shortcuts, workarounds, and alternative approaches that only come from years of hands-on exposure across multiple industries, multiple PLC manufacturers, and multiple types of breakdowns.

“From the feedback we get, we know that even seasoned self-taught engineers will pick up new tips and skills — both from our tutors and from the other people in the room — when they join our courses.”

Nathan Ramsahai

7. They’re flexible… Well, not physically

Every course group is different. Some delegates have never touched a PLC. Others have been fault-finding for years and just want to sharpen their skills or bridge specific gaps. Scantime tutors read the room from day one and adjust the pace, the depth, and the focus accordingly.

No two Scantime weeks are identical. The curriculum stays consistent. The delivery adapts.

From Jay’s opening round of questions on day one, “what shift pattern do you work, what does your job actually involve, have you worked with PLCs before?” to Nathan’s attention to who’s struggling and who’s ready to push further, Scantime tutors are always calibrating.

8. They’ve trained engineers at the world’s biggest manufacturers

Scantime has delivered PLC training for engineers at Amazon, Honda, Jaguar Land Rover, EDF Nuclear, Toyota USA, and Transport for London, among others.

That track record means the tutors have delivered training at scale, across different industries, different PLC platforms, and different levels of delegate experience. They’ve been tested in environments where the stakes are high and the expectations are higher.

David himself flew to Tennessee to train Toyota engineers, and delivered several years of annual training for Jaguar Land Rover.

I joined the business at 15 and has since helped train thousands of engineers. The experience in the room at Scantime is hard-earned.

9. They don’t just teach you to survive

The goal of Scantime training isn’t to get delegates through a tick-box qualification. It’s to send them back to their shop-floor with the confidence to take full ownership of the PLCs they’re responsible for.

That means fault-finding under pressure. Getting online with confidence. Knowing what to do when the unexpected happens — because on a real shop-floor, it always does. And for managers, it means a team that can respond in-house, faster, and without the cost of external contractors.

“We’ll give you the skills you need to take full ownership of the equipment you’re responsible for.”

Nathan Ramsahai

The business case is clear. According to a 2024 survey by ABB of 3,200 plant maintenance leaders, two-thirds of companies experience unplanned downtime at least once a month, at an average cost of $125,000 per hour. A well-trained, confident internal team is the most cost-effective insurance against that.

10. They actually care

This one is harder to put on a spec sheet, but it’s the reason Scantime’s Trustpilot reviews consistently mention the tutors by name.

Nathan. Jay. Myself. They’re not delivering a script. They’re invested in every person in the room. They know what it’s like to feel out of your depth on a shop-floor. They remember what it was like to not know where to start. And they genuinely want every delegate to leave the week knowing more than they did on Monday, and feeling better about their ability to handle whatever comes next.

“The confidence to know what to do when things go wrong. We know that the pressure’s really on. We’re here to help you handle that pressure with confidence.”

Nathan Ramsahai