Pelican Engineering handles artificial lift controller design and manufacturing for operators and OEMs who need a hardware partner for artificial lift automation, not just a schematic.
Our Lafayette, LA team takes a controller from concept through firmware, PCB layout, enclosure design, and low-to-medium-volume production under one roof, with the same engineer reachable at every stage.
DEFERRED VALUE: $600 / HR
CONTROLLER-ATTRIBUTABLE: 30%
RECOVERABLE: $544,320 / YR
FIELD STATUS: PRODUCING
WELL 07 DOWN → COST ACCRUING
An artificial lift controller is the electronic hardware and firmware that automates and monitors an artificial lift system including rod pump, electric submersible pump (ESP), gas lift, or plunger lift at the wellhead.
It reads downhole and surface sensor data (load, position, pressure, current draw, vibration), runs the control logic that adjusts pump speed or stroke, and communicates that data to SCADA or a field host so an operator can manage the well remotely instead of walking it. Getting all three disciplines right under one roof is the practical definition of artificial lift controller design and manufacturing done well.
“The controller sits at the intersection of three disciplines: embedded firmware, electronics hardware, and communications. A controller that’s weak in any one of the three creates downtime.”
The control logic itself, deciding pump speeds and triggering cycles.
The board and enclosure that survive harsh wellsite environments.
Modbus, cellular, or radio telemetry back to the field office.
Lift controller projects are usually better served by a design partner who also builds the hardware, rather than a firmware-only or layout-only shop.
Most artificial lift automation projects stall at the same point: a design firm hands over Gerbers and a schematic, and the operator or OEM is left sourcing a contract manufacturer, qualifying it, and troubleshooting the gap between what was designed and what was built. Pelican closes that gap by keeping electrical design, firmware, and manufacturing in the same building.
The person who designs your controller's board and firmware is reachable directly - no account manager relaying questions between design and production.
Component selection, layout, and enclosure design account for build and test from day one, rather than being reworked after a design-only phase.
Every controller board is verified against a dedicated test fixture before it ships, so field failures get caught on the bench, not at the wellhead.
Off-the-shelf lift controllers are built for the average well, not yours. When a standard product doesn’t fit, Pelican designs custom artificial lift automation hardware around the actual well and field requirements. Custom hardware scope typically includes:
Design matched to your existing wellsite instrumentation (load cell, position, pressure, current, vibration).
Sized to the enclosure and thermal environment of the installation.
Engineered for wellsite conditions: solar/battery, generator, or grid-tied.
Hardware including Modbus, cellular, or radio matched to your existing SCADA or field host.
Field-wide automation is a different engineering problem than a single wellsite controller. A multi well artificial lift controller manufacturer platform has to hold a common hardware and firmware baseline across dozens or hundreds of units while still accounting for well-to-well variation in lift type, sensor loadout, and communications backhaul.
Pelican designs platforms around:
board design, configurable firmware, and a common enclosure family, so a field of mixed rod pump and gas lift wells can standardize on a single controller SKU.
Versioned, updatable control logic so a change validated on one well can be rolled to the rest of the fleet without a hardware redesign.
Low-to-medium-volume production runs sized to a pilot deployment or a full field buildout, produced in-house rather than queued outside.
The firmware is where the controller earns its keep, it’s the logic that decides when a rod pump should slow down, when a plunger lift cycle should trigger, or when a well condition needs to be flagged before it becomes a failure. Pelican’s firmware engineers write and own this logic alongside the hardware design, which is the core of how Pelican approaches artificial lift controller firmware design.
Firmware work spans:
Control-loop logic for rod pump, ESP, gas lift, and plunger lift automation
Sensor signal processing and fault detection
Communications stack integration (Modbus and other field protocols)
Upgrade your capabilities without losing existing infrastructure.
Not every project starts from a blank sheet. Operators running legacy controllers often need the electronics refreshed without redesigning the mechanical package or retraining field crews on a new interface. This is where retrofit artificial lift controller electronics work comes in.
A legacy controller's microcontroller, sensor IC, or communications module is discontinued, and the board needs a redesign around currently available parts while preserving the existing footprint, connector layout, and firmware behavior the field crew already knows.
An existing controller is mechanically sound but needs new sensor inputs, updated communications (moving from radio to cellular, for example), or firmware modernization without a full hardware replacement across the field.
While our roots are deep in oil and gas automation, Pelican Engineering brings robust electronic design and manufacturing excellence to highly regulated and demanding sectors worldwide. Although oil and gas remain a major application, hazardous location of electronics is essential across many industries where combustible materials or explosive atmospheres exist. Common industries include:
Harsh environment controllers, downhole sensor integration, and hazardous location (HazLoc) compliant electronics.
Ruggedized embedded systems, secure telemetry, and highly reliable PCB assemblies built to withstand shock, vibration, and extreme temperatures.
Precision instrumentation electronics, low-noise analog signal processing, and strict adherence to lifecycle management and traceability.
Automated monitoring and control systems tailored for compliance, hygienic environments, and precise thermal management.
Custom motor drives and IoT edge devices supporting legacy and modern industrial protocols (Modbus, Ethernet/IP), with PLC design and implementation delivered through Pelican's automation partners.
Have specific regulatory or environmental requirements? Let our engineers review your spec sheet today.
You reach the engineer working on your controller, not a project coordinator relaying messages between you and the design team.
Pelican is not a design shop that hands volume production to a separate contract manufacturer. The team that designs the controller also builds it, which shortens the loop.
As an artificial lift controller manufacturer, Permian Basin and Gulf Coast operators rely on Pelican to design the realities of wellsite deployment.
Every board is checked against a dedicated test fixture it before leaves the shop, a manufacturing-quality practice that's easy to verify and hard to fake.
This is how Pelican approaches artificial lift controller design and manufacturing for every engagement, from a single pilot unit to a fleet-wide rollout.
Well types, sensor loadout, SCADA environment, and deployment scale.
Hardware, firmware, and enclosure proceed together with test requirements built in.
Boards built and tested against a purpose-built fixture before production release.
Low-to-medium-volume production runs in-house, sized to your rollout.
Same engineering team handles revisions for new sensors or field-wide updates
Pelican Engineering is a registered professional engineering firm in the state of Louisiana, available for consultation in electronic product development and all aspects of electrical engineering design and manufacturing.
Launched as Palmer Engineering Firm, focusing on embedded prototypes for the oil and gas industry from a small shared facility.
Transitioned to an independent 18,000 sq ft facility in Lafayette, LA. Acquired full PCB assembly lines to support mass manufacturing.
Expanded operations into a new 85,000 sq ft building to meet growing production demands and further scale turnkey capabilities.
Operating three full manufacturing lines, producing over 100,000 circuit boards annually as an industry-leading hardware partner.
We operate to the highest industrial standards, providing you with confidence in our manufacturing reliability, engineering precision, and regulatory adherence.
Pelican Engineering proudly holds ISO 9001 certification, underscoring our unwavering dedication to upholding rigorous quality standards. By adhering to the stringent guidelines, we ensure that every aspect of our business - from customer interactions to product development - is meticulously managed and continuously improved.
Our manufacturing staff holds IPC-A-610 certification, a testament to their expertise in adhering to the highest industry standards for electronic assemblies. This certification is crucial for our clients as it ensures that our manufacturing processes consistently meet or exceed industry benchmarks for reliability, functionality, and safety.
We are proud to have four engineers who hold licensure as Professional Engineers accredited by the Louisiana Professional Engineering and Land Surveying Board. This demonstrates their advanced expertise, commitment to professional standards, and adherence to ethical practices, ensuring precision, compliance, and safety in our work.
Intrinsically safe and explosion-proof designs (Class I, Div 1/2) for hazardous oilfield and industrial atmospheres.
Hardware engineered to pass strict North American safety standards for electrical safety and fire hazards.
Environmentally compliant component sourcing and lead-free manufacturing capabilities for global export.
EMI/EMC tested telemetry and wireless communication design ensuring no interference in the field.
Set your area classification, gas group, and temperature class to see the protection concepts and certification routes we would typically scope against.
It automates and monitors an artificial lift system at the wellhead – reading sensor data, running control logic to adjust pump operation, and reporting well status back to SCADA or a field host.
Yes, as a multi well artificial lift controller manufacturer, Pelican typically builds on a shared hardware baseline with configurable firmware, so one controller design can support mixed lift types across a field rather than requiring a separate design per lift method.
Both. Pelican keeps electrical design, firmware, and low-to-medium-volume manufacturing in-house, so the same team that designs the controller also builds and tests it. That’s what artificial lift controller design and manufacturing means at Pelican, one team owns both ends.
In most cases, yes – this is a common retrofit artificial lift controller electronics scenario. Work on end-of-life components is typically scoped to preserve the existing footprint, connectors, and firmware behavior while requalifying the board around currently available parts.
That depends on fit, but it’s worth a conversation. Pelican takes projects from a requirements review through hardware and firmware design, prototyping, and in-house manufacturing as your hardware partner for artificial lift automation and adjacent electromechanical products – artificial lift is one applied example of that same process, not the limit of it.
Yes. Pelican supports single-unit and small-batch prototype builds as well as full production runs, so a pilot batch doesn’t require switching to a different vendor before scaling up.
Pelican’s Lafayette facility runs three manufacturing lines producing over 100,000 circuit boards annually. For volume beyond that, our engineers will scope the project with you directly to determine the right production plan.
Send us your zone or division classification, gas group, temperature class, and target markets. An engineer—not a salesperson—will follow up.
