Here's a hard truth from six years of tracking our automation budget: free training for Mitsubishi PLCs isn't free. It's often the most expensive option.
I've managed our company's PLC-related spending for over six years now. When I look back at the numbers - $180,000 in cumulative costs across cables, modules, repair services, and yes, training - I see a clear pattern. The money we spent on separate, structured Mitsubishi Electric PLC training was the best value we ever got. The so-called 'free' training from our distributor? That ended up costing us more than we saved.
People assume training is just an add-on. The way I see it, it's the bedrock. If you don't invest in it properly, you pay for it in mistakes, rework, and lost time. Let me walk you through why I've come to this conclusion after auditing our spending.
The Illusion of 'Free': Comparing Distributor Sessions vs. Dedicated Courses
From the outside, a free half-day session at your distributor looks like a win. ‘Why pay for a course when they'll show us the basics for nothing?’ The reality is hidden in the details.
When I compared our Q1 (distributor session) and Q2 (dedicated course) results side by side—same vendor, different training formats—I finally understood why the depth matters so much. The free session gave our engineers a 'hello world' introduction. They could find the programming software. They knew where to look in the Mitsubishi PLC programming manual. But they couldn't diagnose a real-world fault efficiently.
The dedicated course (we used a certified training partner) cost us $4,200 for a team of four. The distributor session cost zero in 'tuition' but our engineers lost about a day each to travel and the session itself. After the free session, we had two calls to tech support that week for issues we'd theoretically 'learned'. Each call took 45 minutes. Each call probably cost us $100 in wasted engineer time. That's $200 on support alone, plus the fact we weren't productive.
By contrast, after the paid course, calls to tech support dropped by roughly 80% on the basics. The ROI on the $4,200 was obvious within three months. The 'free' option initially looked cheaper, but its total cost quickly climbed.
I'm not 100% sure of the exact percentage, but I'd estimate that over a year, the free training approach cost us more in support requests and slower first-time-right programming. Don't let the 'free' price tag fool you.
Why the Programming Manual Alone Isn't Enough
I constantly hear people say, 'We have the manual, we're fine.' That's a surface-level assumption. People assume the Mitsubishi PLC programming manual is a complete tutorial. What they don't see is the context and hands-on application that structured training provides.
A manual is a reference, not a teacher. It tells you what button to push, but it doesn't tell you the why or the when not to. In my experience, teams that only rely on the manual make more errors in panel layout or logic design. They also take longer to complete their work. When you calculate the hourly cost of a senior engineer fumbling through a manual instead of applying known best practices, the savings from skipping training vanish.
Our maintenance team used to spend 3-4 hours troubleshooting a basic alarm on an FX3U because they only had the manual. After a structured course, that time dropped to under an hour. That's a direct savings on labor. Training turns a 'reference' into a 'skill'.
Responding to the Obvious Question: 'We Can Learn on the Job'
Now, I know there's a counter-argument: 'Our team is experienced. They can learn on the fly, especially with online resources.'
I hear that a lot, and to some extent, it's valid. A good engineer can figure things out. But here's what my spending data revealed: learning on the job has a high hidden cost. It means your most expensive resource (your senior engineer) is spending time in 'learner mode' instead of 'producer mode'. It also introduces a risk of mistakes, which can lead to equipment damage or safety issues, particularly with safety PLCs.
My experience is based on about 200 orders and project tickets for PLC-related work. I've only worked with mid-sized manufacturing plants. If you're running a giant multinational with a massive internal training team, your calculation might be different. But for the typical mid-market company, the cost of structured training (like dedicated courses on R-series or Q-series) is dwarfed by the cost of amateur errors.
The 'learn on the job' approach is a false economy. It looks like it saves money on a P&L line item for 'training expense', but it buries the cost in lines like 'warranty repairs', 'tech support fees', and 'overtime labor'.
My Final Take on Training Investment
After tracking every invoice and service request over the past six years, I'm more convinced than ever that structured, formal training for your Mitsubishi PLC team is the lowest total cost option. Don't get seduced by the free distributor session or the 'we have the manual' mindset. The industry is evolving. What worked in 2020 (just reading the manual) doesn't cut it in 2025. You need a well-trained team to maximize the value of your automation investment.
The fundamentals haven't changed—hands-on experience is still vital—but the execution has transformed. We have more powerful, complex PLCs like the R-series. Relying on outdated learning methods is a recipe for wasted budget. Pay for the course. Your future self (and your P&L) will thank you.
