Open to new opportunities — Controls & AI

// career.johnckeener.com Controls Engineer.
AI Integration Specialist.

I make industrial systems smarter. With a foundation in PLC programming, SCADA, and process automation — and hands-on work in machine learning, RAG pipelines, and LLM integration — I build things at the intersection of the physical plant and applied AI.

Targeting roles in industrial controls engineering and AI/automation engineering. Comfortable at either end of the stack or where they meet.

View Portfolio Get In Touch GitHub ↗
11proj
Portfolio in build
2x
Disciplines — Controls + AI
1goal
Make automation intelligent
// 01 What I Bring

Depending on what you need, I can come in from two very different directions.

⚙️
For Industrial / Controls Roles

I understand PLCs, I can read ladder logic at a glance, and I know what it means when a conveyor trips an E-stop at 3am. I've worked with SCADA systems, HMI design, motor drives, and the kind of instrumentation loops that controls engineers actually care about.

PLC Programming SCADA / HMI Motor Controls Process Automation MHE Modbus / OPC-UA Electrical Troubleshooting
🤖
For AI / Automation Engineering Roles

I build practical AI systems — not demos. RAG pipelines with real document retrieval, predictive maintenance models from sensor data, LLM-backed interfaces for industrial equipment. Self-hosted, production-minded, and grounded in actual engineering problems.

Python LangChain / RAG Ollama / LLMs FastAPI ML / scikit-learn Time-Series Analysis Self-Hosted AI
// 02 11-Project Portfolio

Building end-to-end — from self-hosted AI knowledge bases to industrial predictive maintenance systems.

01
Scale Tech Knowledge Base — Self-Hosted RAG

Production RAG chatbot for industrial scale and controls documentation. Ollama + Chroma vector DB + Open WebUI. Answers equipment-specific questions by retrieving from actual manuals.

Python Ollama Chroma RAG Docker
Active
02
IT Help Desk AI Triage System

Multi-channel AI triage for support tickets — SMS, email, and web. LLM classifies, prioritizes, and routes issues. Integrates with Twilio and the knowledge base.

FastAPI LangChain Twilio PostgreSQL Redis
Planned
03
AI-Powered Service Dispatch System

Customer-facing portal with AI dispatch logic — auto-assigns technicians based on issue type, location, and expertise. Customer NLP → scheduling engine → tech notification.

React FastAPI LLM routing Twilio
Planned
05
AI Form Automation — Multi-Modal CV + NLP

Computer vision pipeline that reads paper forms, extracts fields via OCR + LLM parsing, and auto-fills digital systems. Targets industrial inspection and compliance paperwork.

Computer Vision OCR LLM extraction Python
Planned
06
Controls Hardware Bridge — IoT + AI

Hardware-in-the-loop bridge connecting real PLC/sensor hardware to AI pipelines via MQTT and HTTP. Raspberry Pi + Arduino sensor simulator feeding live data to ML models.

MQTT Raspberry Pi Modbus Arduino IoT
Planned
07
Predictive Maintenance AI — Industrial Equipment

ML pipeline ingesting load cell readings, temperature, drift, and service history to predict equipment failure 7–30 days out. InfluxDB time-series + Isolation Forest + failure regression. Auto-triggers service dispatch.

scikit-learn InfluxDB Anomaly Detection OPC-UA Grafana
Planned
08
Computer Vision Quality Control System

Real-time vision inspection for manufacturing lines. Camera feed → CV model → pass/fail decision → PLC output signal to reject mechanism. Bridges AI inference and hard real-time control.

OpenCV PyTorch Real-time inference PLC integration
Planned
09–11
PLC Projects — Pure Controls Engineering

Three dedicated controls projects demonstrating PLC programming, HMI design, and industrial commissioning — the domain expertise beneath the AI work.

PLC / Ladder Logic Structured Text HMI SCADA
Planned
// 03 Technical Stack

What I actually use — not a keyword list, a working toolbox.

Industrial Controls
PLC Programming (Ladder / ST / FBD)
SCADA System Design
HMI Development
Motor Controls & VFDs
Process Instrumentation
Modbus / OPC-UA / MQTT
MHE / Conveyor Systems
Electrical Troubleshooting
AI & Software
Python (primary language)
LangChain / RAG Pipelines
Ollama / Local LLMs
FastAPI / REST APIs
scikit-learn / ML
Time-Series Analysis
Computer Vision (OpenCV)
Vector Databases (Chroma)
Infrastructure
Linux (Debian / Ubuntu)
Docker / Containerization
PostgreSQL / InfluxDB
Self-Hosted Systems
Raspberry Pi / IoT Hardware
Networking / VPN / Firewalls
Git / Version Control
Systemd / Server Management
// 04 Background

I came up through industrial controls — the kind of work where downtime has a real dollar cost and "it works in theory" isn't good enough. I know how automation systems are supposed to behave, which means I know what "wrong" looks like in a way that most software engineers don't.

That background is what makes my AI work different. I'm not applying machine learning to problems I read about — I'm applying it to equipment I've stood next to, processes I've debugged, and failure modes I've seen firsthand. Predictive maintenance, anomaly detection on sensor data, and AI-assisted operator interfaces aren't abstract to me — they're the next logical step from what I've already been doing.

Currently building a 11-project portfolio that demonstrates both disciplines — from self-hosted RAG knowledge bases to hardware-in-the-loop AI systems — with the goal of landing a role where these two worlds actually overlap.

Quick Facts

  • Background Industrial controls & automation
  • Now Building AI systems for industrial applications
  • Targeting Controls or AI/automation engineer roles
  • Stack Python, PLC, SCADA, LangChain, FastAPI
  • Location Cincinnati, OH area
  • Email johnckeener@gmail.com
  • GitHub github.com/johnckeener
// 05 Let's Talk

Open to opportunities

Whether you're hiring for a controls role, an AI engineering role, or something at the intersection of both — I'm interested. Reach out and let's see if there's a fit.