5+ years
The full controls lifecycle, hands-on
Designed control panels, programmed PLCs, HMIs and SCADA, commissioned vision inspection systems, and now test, validate and audit automation systems at General Motors.
2021 — present
AAA Automation
Atef Elsharkawy Founder & Controls Engineer
I engineer reliable automation that keeps production moving.
Controls engineer with 5+ years in PLC, HMI and SCADA programming, machine vision, electrical design and automation validation, across automotive, food & beverage and wastewater applications in Canada and the United States. Passionate about where automation, controls and artificial intelligence meet.
- 5+Years in industrial automation
- 5Companies across Canada & the US
- 12Certifications & trainings
- 3Languages spoken
Where I've worked & studied
01 / Highlights
A career built on the plant floor
From designing control panels to validating automation for General Motors.
12
Certifications & trainings
Including FANUC robotics, Siemens STEP 7 (Levels 1 & 2), Rockwell ThinManager and GM Global Common Controls.
See Education
Qualifications
MSc, Artificial Intelligence & B.Eng.Tech, Mechatronics
Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Leeds, and a Bachelor of Engineering Technology in Mechatronics, with Distinction, from the University of Windsor.
2023 — 2024
Software & AI
Engineering software, built end to end
Built Global Hardware Auditor, a full-stack document intelligence platform that audits multi-hundred-page PDF schematics against Excel equipment and network inventories and corporate template standards, then returns pass/fail verdicts and marked-up PDFs.
2026 · See Projects
02 / What I do
Engineering the controls behind production
I'm the founder of AAA Automation, a controls engineering practice serving manufacturers in Ontario, Canada and Michigan, USA.
I founded AAA Automation in 2023 as the home for my controls, automation and machine vision work. Through it I take on consulting, freelance and contract projects, from PLC, HMI and SCADA programming to vision inspection, validation and electrical design.
During my career I test, validate and audit automation systems so they meet throughput and production requirements, make sure suppliers deliver what each project phase calls for, and dig into production data and downtime reports to remove recurring alarms and roadblocks.
My background covers the full controls lifecycle: electrical design and panel building, PLC, HMI and SCADA programming, machine vision commissioning and on-site troubleshooting. I'm especially interested in where automation meets artificial intelligence, which led me to a Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom. I also build engineering software, such as Global Hardware Auditor, a full-stack platform that audits schematics, inventories and template standards automatically.
- PLC & HMI programming
- SCADA & DCS (PlantPAx, Ignition)
- Machine vision inspection
- Automation validation & buyoff
- Electrical & panel design
- Robotics & safety
- Engineering software & applied AI
- Consulting, freelance & contracting
Currently
Controls Execution Engineer
General Motors
Testing, validating and auditing automation systems and driving them through equipment buyoff in Warren, MI.
How I work
- Safety firstLockout, energy control and safety awareness are part of every job.
- Let the data leadDowntime reports and alarm history point to the real fix.
- Close the loopTrack every open issue to resolution and escalate early.
03 / Experience
From the panel shop to the plant floor
-
— PresentOntario, Canada & Michigan, USA
Founder
AAA AutomationMy own controls engineering practice, delivering consulting, freelance and contract work for manufacturers.
- Deliver PLC, HMI and SCADA programming, machine vision, automation validation and electrical design for automation projects.
- Scope each project with the client, then take it from design and programming through commissioning, testing and documentation.
- Troubleshoot and improve existing systems: fault finding, alarm reduction and process changes that keep production running.
- Apply software and AI to engineering work, automating design reviews, audits and documentation.
- Build safety, lockout and energy control into every job, and work to each client's standards.
-
— PresentWarren, MI, United States
Controls Execution Engineer
General Motors CompanyValidating automation systems for production and making sure every project phase is delivered right.
- Test, validate and audit automation systems to meet desired throughput and production requirements.
- Ensure project deliverables are met by suppliers during each project phase.
- Continuously analyze production data and downtime reports to minimize recurring alarms, reduce production roadblocks and increase system efficiency.
- Modify controls logic programs as needed to implement approved process changes.
- Complete the engineering execution checklists required for the equipment buyoff process.
- Escalate persistent issues to senior leadership and track them on the open issues list.
- Take part in safety talks and group meetings to promote safety and reduce the likelihood of incidents and injuries.
-
—Kitchener, ON, Canada
Project Controls Engineer
S and T ControlsPLC and HMI development for automated automotive bodyshop operations.
- Developed PLC and HMI programs to meet the needs of bodyshop automated operations.
- Reviewed wiring diagrams and schematics of automated manufacturing cells.
- Debugged logic errors and faults in Studio 5000.
- Coordinated with senior engineers and the project manager to deliver projects on time.
-
—Windsor, ON, Canada
Controls Specialist
Onyx Engineering Inc.Process control systems for food & beverage and wastewater treatment applications.
- Designed and developed PLC, HMI and SCADA programs from process control narratives.
- Programmed a wide variety of automation controllers, including Allen-Bradley, Emerson, Modicon and legacy controllers.
- Used AutoCAD Electrical to create control system schematics and design panel layouts.
- Built strong knowledge of plant-wide distributed control systems (DCS) such as Rockwell PlantPAx.
- Responded to field service calls during downtime and resolved customers' production issues.
- Collaborated with senior professional engineers on highly complex projects.
-
—Windsor, ON, Canada
Machine Vision Engineering Technician
Vista Solutions Inc.Vision inspection systems for automotive bodyshop quality.
- Programmed, installed and commissioned vision inspection cameras at customer sites.
- Performed vision system audits to meet customer standards.
- Used Matrox Design Assistant vision tools such as blob, model finder and edge detector for sealer, adhesive, weld and options verification.
- Monitored and resolved vision alarms across a GM bodyshop using downtime reports and live alarms on Cimplicity SCADA.
- Trained the plant's skilled trades to respond to vision alarms, troubleshoot and fine-tune vision software.
- Attended plant engineering meetings, gave status updates and addressed open issues.
-
—North York, ON, Canada
Controls Technologist
SIDAC Automated Systems Ltd.Industrial control system and panel design.
- Designed industrial control systems under senior engineer supervision.
- Used AutoCAD Electrical to generate project schematics, panel drawings and layouts.
- Selected components and hardware based on customer needs and budget.
- Performed thermal, electrical and power distribution calculations during the design phase.
- Assisted panel builders with wiring, labeling and assembly before shipping for on-site commissioning.
04 / Projects
Work I'm proud to show
Software I've built and highlights from my controls roles.
Featured · Software & AI2026
Global Hardware Auditor
A full-stack document intelligence platform that compares engineering artifacts that were never designed to line up automatically: multi-hundred-page PDF schematics, Excel-based equipment and network inventories, and corporate template standards. It classifies every upload, runs the audits that apply and returns pass/fail verdicts, sortable findings and marked-up PDFs.
Featured · Controls2023 — Present
Automation Validation & Equipment Buyoff
Testing, validating and auditing automation systems against throughput and production requirements at General Motors, and driving them through the equipment buyoff process with suppliers.
Machine Vision2021 — 2022
Bodyshop Vision Inspection
Programmed and commissioned vision cameras for sealer, adhesive, weld and options verification, and kept vision alarms under control across a GM bodyshop.
Controls & PLC2023
Bodyshop PLC & HMI Programs
Developed and debugged PLC and HMI programs for automated bodyshop cells, working from wiring diagrams and schematics.
Controls · Design2022 — 2023
Food & Beverage and Wastewater Controls
PLC, HMI and SCADA programs built from process control narratives, plus AutoCAD Electrical schematics and panel layouts.
Electrical Design2021
Industrial Control Panel Design
Control system schematics, panel drawings, component selection and thermal and power distribution calculations for customer panels.
The challenge
Engineering artifacts were never designed to line up automatically: multi-hundred-page PDF schematics, Excel-based equipment and network inventories, and corporate template standards. Checking them against each other by hand is slow and easy to get wrong.
What I built
- A React (Vite) web app where users drop in mixed sets of files.
- A Python FastAPI backend that classifies each upload by type and scope, detects which audits apply and runs them through specialized comparison pipelines.
- Pipelines for tabular vs. drawing extraction, drawing-to-drawing diffing, template rule compliance (regex plus AI-synthesized rules with deterministic guardrails) and power/load validation.
- Pass/fail verdicts, sortable findings and optional AI-assisted explanations through an LLM gateway.
- A PyMuPDF-based markup engine that locates text on the source PDFs, applies annotations (with cross-page recovery when page metadata is wrong) and bundles multi-document results into downloadable PDFs or zip archives.
Built for production scale
- Background job orchestration with progress polling and timeouts.
- Multi-cell audit aggregation and Key Vault–backed secrets.
- A test suite spanning pytest and Vitest, including regression tests that fail when fixes are reverted.
- Container images delivered through GitHub Actions, Azure Container Registry and GitOps (ArgoCD) to an enterprise-hosted environment.
Stack
End-to-end ownership, from UX and API design through PDF and Excel parsing, async workers and cloud delivery.
The challenge
New and modified automation systems have to meet throughput and production requirements before they're accepted into production, and suppliers have to deliver what each project phase requires.
What I do
- Test, validate and audit automation systems against throughput and production requirements.
- Hold suppliers to their deliverables through each project phase.
- Analyze production data and downtime reports to remove recurring alarms and roadblocks.
- Modify controls logic to implement approved process changes.
- Complete engineering execution checklists for equipment buyoff, and escalate and track open issues.
The challenge
A GM bodyshop relied on vision inspection for sealer, adhesive, weld and options verification, and vision alarms needed to be resolved quickly to avoid downtime.
What I did
- Programmed, installed and commissioned vision inspection cameras on site.
- Used Matrox Design Assistant tools (blob, model finder, edge detector) for each inspection type.
- Performed vision system audits to meet customer standards.
- Monitored downtime reports and live alarms on Cimplicity SCADA and resolved vision issues.
- Trained skilled trades to respond to vision alarms and fine-tune vision software.
05 / Services
What AAA Automation delivers
Hands-on controls expertise from design through commissioning and validation.
- Consulting
- Freelance
- Contracting
- Ontario, Canada & Michigan, USA
PLC & HMI Programming
Logic and operator screens across Allen-Bradley, Siemens, Emerson and Modicon platforms.
- New logic & HMI development
- Process change implementation
- Debugging & fault finding
SCADA & DCS
Supervisory systems built from process control narratives, including Rockwell PlantPAx.
- SCADA screens & alarming
- Plant-wide DCS programming
- Food & beverage and water processes
Machine Vision
Vision inspection that catches defects without stopping the line.
- Camera programming & commissioning
- Vision system audits
- Training for skilled trades
Validation & Buyoff
Making sure automation meets throughput and production requirements before launch.
- System testing & audits
- Supplier deliverable tracking
- Downtime & alarm analysis
Electrical & Panel Design
Schematics, panel layouts and component selection in AutoCAD Electrical and EPLAN.
- Control schematics & layouts
- Thermal & power calculations
- Panel build support
Robotics & Safety
FANUC robot programming and safe, standards-driven equipment work.
- FANUC handling tool programming
- GM robot & controls standards
- Lockout & energy control
Have a project in mind? Tell us what you need and get a reply by email.
Request information06 / Skills & tools
The toolkit
| Area | Platforms, tools & competencies |
|---|---|
| Controls platforms | |
| HMI, SCADA & vision | |
| Design & robotics | |
| Software & AI | |
| Professional |
07 / Education & certifications
Always learning
Education
Master of Science
University of Leeds
Major: Artificial Intelligence · Leeds, United Kingdom
Bachelor of Engineering Technology
University of Windsor
Major: Mechatronics
Ontario College Advanced Diploma
Durham College
Major: Electro-Mechanical Engineering Technology
Technical training & certificates
| No. | Certification | Issuer |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Handling Tool Operation & Programming |  FANUC |
| 02 | ThinManager Certification |  Rockwell Automation |
| 03 | Controls Capability Assessment | Rockwell Automation |
| 04 | Advanced STEP 7 — Level 1 |  Siemens |
| 05 | Advanced STEP 7 — Level 2 | Siemens |
| 06 | Matrox Aurora Design Assistant Application Development |  Zebra Technologies (Matrox Imaging) |
| 07 | EPLAN Electric P8 Basics for GM (v4.6) |  EPLAN |
| 08 | Global Common Controls Software (GCCS-2) | General Motors |
| 09 | Global Common Controls Hardware (GCCH-1) | General Motors |
| 10 | Global Robot Specifications (GRS) | General Motors |
| 11 | Lockout and Energy Control | General Motors |
| 12 | RESS 101 Safety Training | Safety training |
08 / Recognition
Awards, languages & community
Awards & honours
- General Motors of Canada Limited Automatic Award2017–2020Durham College
- Dean's Honours Roll2017–2020Durham College
- Graduated with Distinction2023University of Windsor
Languages
- EnglishFluent
- ArabicNative
- GermanBeginner
Community
-
Meals On Wheels VolunteerFeb–May 2022
Community Care Durham · Whitby, ON. Delivered meals weekly to elderly community members with physical and mental health needs.
09 / Résumé
The full picture
Hardworking controls engineer passionate about applying technical skills in automation, controls and artificial intelligence, with 5+ years across PLC, HMI and SCADA programming, machine vision, electrical design and automation validation, now at General Motors.
- Current role
- Controls Execution Engineer, General Motors
- Experience
- 5+ years (since 2021)
- Location
- Ontario, Canada & Michigan, USA
- Education
- MSc, Artificial Intelligence · B.Eng.Tech, Mechatronics (Distinction)
- Languages
- English (fluent), Arabic (native), German (beginner)
- Open to
- Consulting, freelance & contract work
10 / Contact
Let's build something that runs together.
Whether it's a consulting engagement, a freelance or contract project, or a question about automation, I'd be glad to hear from you.
- atef.elsharkawy@aaaautomate.com
- GitHub
- Ontario, Canada & Michigan, USA