In the structured world of industrial automation, innovation is often driven by large, specialized teams. Yet some of the most effective solutions come from individuals who combine deep operational insight with technical skill. Ghulam Murtaza, a Control System Lead with CBRE based at an Amazon facility, is one of those rare examples applying a hard-earned, unconventional background to develop tools that close efficiency gaps directly on the warehouse floor.
Originally pursuing a degree in civil engineering in Pakistan, Murtaza's real passion had always been programming and robotics. That career pivot, met with skepticism at every turn, became the foundation for his problem-solving approach. Today, he independently designs, builds, and deploys automation tools that improve workflows and reduce downtime across multiple facilities.
Navigating a career pivot
Shifting from civil engineering to robotics was not just an academic change; it was a personal battle. "I always wanted to be in coding; it made me feel alive," Murtaza says. "The more people said I wouldn't make it, the more determined I became to prove I could."
That determination was rooted in an earlier life lesson. "It taught me that if I lock in with faith and focus, I can overcome anything."
This type of self-driven problem-solving can sometimes manifest in corporate environments as "shadow IT," where employees create their own solutions to overcome operational hurdles. While challenging for IT governance, it often stems from a need for more timely and customized tools, a gap that connected worker platforms are increasingly aiming to fill, with the market seeing over 180 venture capital transactions in 2023.
A literal and metaphorical landslide
For most engineers, obstacles include abstract challenges, tight deadlines, and limited resources. For Murtaza, one defining obstacle was made of rock.
While racing to collect his visa before his flight, a landslide blocked the only road. Road officials said it would be closed for 24 hours. Hours later, they gave him a small window: "You have 30 minutes if you want to risk it."
"We spent 45 minutes moving massive rocks and pushing the car forward," he recalls. "In that moment, I wasn't just clearing a road, I was clearing years of setbacks and sacrifices."
It shaped his engineering philosophy: "If something's blocked or inefficient, I don't wait. I study it, break it down, and push through with the belief there's a solution, I just haven't built it yet."
This mindset is important in industrial settings where downtime is critical. Troubleshooting complex systems, such as Allen-Bradley ControlLogix, requires a systematic approach, from checking physical indicators to diagnosing software faults.
In many cases, the challenge is not just technical but also procedural, requiring engineers to manually overcome system limitations, much like clearing rocks from a road, a situation that can sometimes lead to workarounds that create security vulnerabilities if not managed correctly.
The ‘one-man automation army' philosophy
Murtaza is known as a "one-man automation army," a title he credits to listening closely to those on the floor. "The best ideas come from the ground up. I watch how technicians work, see where the pain points are, and ask questions."
That's how the Parts Lookup App was born from a casual conversation about database integration and how CtrlG, an AI assistant for technical manuals, came from his own frustration. "I thought, why am I wasting time digging through PDFs when AI could do it for me?"
This approach of building user-centric tools from the ground up is a core principle of the connected worker platform movement, demonstrating how clarity can emerge from collaboration.
From observation to impact: The Ambaflex dashboard
Murtaza describes one of his key tools as a real-time sensor dashboard for Ambaflex spiral conveyors. Before it existed, technicians had to call control engineers, open Studio 5000, and dig through PLC logic to find sensor issues, a process that pulled engineers from other tasks.
"I built a dashboard that shows every sensor's state in real time," he says. "Now, technicians troubleshoot themselves. I realized the impact when faults happened and no one called controls anymore."
By removing dependency on engineers for common faults, the tool freed hours of technical time each week and improved workflow autonomy.
Murtaza estimates that across three facilities with ten spirals each, the dashboard's fault reduction translates to roughly $25,000 in annual labor savings and up to $5.76 million in avoided downtime costs. He further calculates that even with a conservative 15% drop in faults, the yearly savings approach $867,000.
In most industrial settings, PLC integration, cloud architecture, and interface design fall to different teams. Murtaza's end-to-end build of all three in a live production environment is an uncommon feat
Recognition and rollout
Murtaza reports that in Q2 2025, he received the RME "Raise the Bar" Award, an honor recognizing individuals whose work delivers significant improvements in reliability, efficiency, and innovation. He states he was recognized for developing scalable, low-cost solutions with measurable cross-site impact and rapid deployment potential.
The Raise the Bar Award is described as one of Amazon RME's most selective honors, presented quarterly to a limited number of employees across its worldwide network. Recipients are selected through a competitive nomination process that evaluates measurable impact, scalability of solutions, and alignment with their leadership principles.
A recession that became a training ground
The 2023 tech recession hit the industry hard. For Murtaza, it meant an unpaid role, debt, and uncertainty, but also a period of intense skill-building.
"I wasn’t building for money or recognition—I was building because it gave me a feeling of purpose. Every time an app I made ran, it gave me hope," he reflects. This period of self-driven learning was comprehensive. "I became my own machine learning engineer, software developer, UI/UX designer, data analyst, and cloud architect—all in one. That period taught me how to wear multiple hats, how to think across disciplines, and how to build things end-to-end."
This multidisciplinary skill set is valuable in modern automation, where solutions often require integrating different technologies. His experience demonstrates the need for versatile talent capable of navigating various platforms and systems. Understanding specific fault codes, for instance, is a critical skill for diagnostics, with systems like ControlLogix using distinct hexadecimal codes to identify issues ranging from watchdog timeouts to duplicate IP addresses.
Forged by the journey
Every challenge, from family skepticism to the landslide, gave Murtaza a skill or mindset he still uses. That combination of resilience and technical range now powers his ability to deliver high-impact tools quickly, without the need for large teams.
His solutions are now expanding beyond his site, and the recognition from his leadership reflects it.
For Murtaza, that's less a trophy than a reminder that every obstacle cleared was worth it.
While these tools were first deployed in large-scale fulfillment and logistics operations, their core design principles of real-time sensor visualization, AI-assisted troubleshooting, and multidisciplinary integration address challenges faced across the global industrial automation sector. As e-commerce, manufacturing, and logistics facilities worldwide strive to reduce downtime and integrate AI into legacy systems, Murtaza's innovations provide a scalable blueprint. Similar approaches could be applied in industries ranging from automotive assembly to food processing, demonstrating their relevance far beyond a single organization
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