For Sam Cafferata, service isn’t a department. It’s a way of approaching the work.
By the time Sam joined Concept Systems in 2006, he had already spent more than a decade building experience in industrial automation and controls. He graduated from Oregon Institute of Technology in 1992 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering Technology and went on to work across complex manufacturing environments before bringing that experience to Concept.
In the 20 years since, Sam has become one of the people customers and engineers alike know they can call when something needs to get done. Whether that means troubleshooting an existing system, supporting a startup, helping a longtime customer work through a new challenge, or answering a question from a younger engineer, Sam has built his career around a simple philosophy: say yes, find a path forward, and take care of the customer.
Today, as a Principal Engineer and cornerstone of Concept Systems’ Service team, that breadth of experience makes Sam especially valuable when the problem doesn’t arrive with a clean scope of work or an obvious solution.
Service Is the Work
Service engineering is different by nature.
The call often comes because something has already gone wrong, production is at risk, or a customer needs an answer quickly. There may not be weeks to study the problem or a perfectly documented system waiting to be diagnosed. Sometimes the first job is simply figuring out what is actually happening.
That environment fits Sam.
Over the years, he has become a primary support engineer for some of Concept’s longstanding customers, supporting everything from smaller troubleshooting needs to large recycling facility controls projects. His experience spans systems with dozens or even hundreds of motors, Allen-Bradley and Siemens PLCs, drives, SCADA systems, motion control, safety systems, and the countless pieces of equipment that connect them.
But the technology is only part of what makes someone good at service.
Sam understands that when a customer calls Concept, they aren’t just looking for someone who can troubleshoot a PLC. They need someone who will listen, understand what matters to their operation, and stay engaged until there is a path forward.
And Sam has built a career doing exactly that.
Wherever the Customer Needs Him
Sam is particularly well known among manufacturers throughout the Pacific Northwest, where decades in the industry have given him deep familiarity with the people, facilities, and challenges that keep production moving.
But his work has never been limited by geography. Throughout his career, Sam has installed and commissioned systems across the United States and internationally, including Canada, England, Ireland, Belgium, Australia, Thailand, and Malaysia.
Whether the need is a startup, system upgrade, or troubleshooting support, Sam has built a reputation for showing up wherever the customer needs him. For many, he isn’t simply the engineer assigned to a project, he’s someone they already know and trust.
That trust matters especially in Service & Support, where the call may come at an inconvenient time, and the stakes can be high.
Start With the Customer
One of Sam’s mentees describes his approach as remarkably clear from the very beginning of a problem.
“From the moment the problem is introduced, he can clearly see a path towards a reliable solution.”
That technical confidence is paired with something Sam has passed along just as intentionally: a customer-first mindset. Whether in proposal, design, startup, or service, Sam makes sure customers feel heard and have a voice in the path forward.
A recent startup offered a simple example. A senior engineer was working through an issue following I/O checkout on a retrofit when an operator expressed frustration with problems in the pneumatic system. Sam was making his rounds to check on the team and stopped to ask the operator how things were going.
“I’m not happy,” the operator told him.
Sam’s response was simple: “What can I do to make you happy?”
He spent the next several minutes walking through the operator’s concerns. By the end of the conversation, the frustration had turned into a clear list of action items the team could address.
As the engineer working alongside him put it:
“Sam does a great job of making people feel heard, and that goes a long way in building our relationships with clients. It is part of what gives our organization the reputation of being easy to work with and professional.”
That approach has created customer relationships that extend well beyond a single project. For Sam, good service doesn’t mean promising that nothing will ever go wrong. It means listening, responding, and making sure the customer knows you’re there to help when it does.
Experience Built for the Unexpected
Sam’s ability to step into unfamiliar problems comes from decades of designing, programming, commissioning, and supporting complex industrial systems.
His experience includes managing electrical and controls projects for recycling facilities ranging from systems with approximately 30 motors to facilities with as many as 200. His work has included PLC controls, drives, SCADA systems, project management, design, startup, and ongoing customer support.
He has designed, programmed, installed, and commissioned motion control upgrades, including replacing unreliable and undersized legacy systems with modern drives, motors, gearboxes, motion controllers, and integrated safety controls.
Sam has also worked extensively on large extrusion and production systems incorporating motors up to 1,000 HP alongside chillers, cooling towers, solvent extraction and recovery, bulk handling, railcar unloading, automated mixing, production winding, vision inspection, and temperature control.
The technologies and applications have changed throughout his career, but the value of that experience is perhaps most evident today: Sam has seen enough different systems, customers, failures, startups, and unexpected situations to know that there is almost always a way forward.
The Engineer Who Says Yes
Ask people around Concept about Sam, and a theme emerges quickly: he says yes.
Yes to the customer who needs help. Yes to the unusual service call. Yes to getting on a plane when someone needs him onsite. And yes to the engineer who needs guidance along the way.
That willingness to step in, paired with a steady confidence that the team will find a way forward, has made Sam both a trusted customer resource and an important mentor at Concept.
After 20 years at Concept and more than three decades in engineering, Sam’s influence is reflected in the customers who know they can call, the engineers who have learned from him, and Concept’s reputation for showing up when our customers need us.
For Sam Cafferata, that’s service. And it’s been at the center of his engineering career all along.
Application Experience
Long Core Crane Control System
Served as lead engineer for the programming, testing, and commissioning of an automated control system used to launch and recover a long core sampling system aboard an oceanographic research vessel. The system provided closed-loop positioning of hydraulic crane equipment with automated launch and recovery sequences, operator-taught positioning, collision avoidance, and manual bypass capabilities. Controls included a Siemens S7 PLC, portable HMI and operator console, position feedback, safety interlocks, and Ethernet communications with the ship’s network.
The completed system was successfully tested at sea as part of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s
Extrusion and Battery-Separator Production Lines
Designed, programmed, installed, and commissioned large production extrusion control systems. Systems included motors to 1000 HP, chillers, cooling towers, solvent extraction and recovery systems, bulk handling systems, rail car unloading, automated mixing, production winding, vision inspection systems, and temperature controllers. Control hardware included Allen-Bradley PLCs, HMIs, and RSView. Other integrated products included Yorx, Brabender, K-Tron, Watlow, Cognex, Rice Lake, Hardy instruments, Fisher, and others.
Recycling Facilities
Project management of small and large recycling plant electrical/controls projects. Automated PLC controls for systems ranging from 30 to 200 motors using Allen-Bradley and Siemens PLCs, drives, and other products. Design and startup support of PLC and SCADA systems.
Technical Expertise
- PLC Programming
- HMI Programming
- SCADA Systems
- Motion Control
- Variable Frequency Drives
- Industrial Networks
- Process Instrumentation
- Safety Controls
- System Integration
- Controls Troubleshooting
Project Capabilities
- Service Support
- System Troubleshooting
- Controls Retrofits
- System Modernization
- System Design
- Startup & Commissioning
- Process Control
- Material Handling
- Project Management
- Customer Support
Industry Experience
- Food & Beverage
- Recycling
- Material Handling
- Extrusion
- Plastics Manufacturing
- Wood Products
- Sawmills
- Aerospace
- Marine Systems
- General Manufacturing
Service When You Need It
Sam’s service-first approach reflects Concept Systems’ commitment to being there when our customers need us. From troubleshooting and emergency support to system upgrades and ongoing controls support, our experienced engineers are ready to help.
Need support? Contact Concept Systems to connect with our Service team.