back to engineering 2

[Sajnav]

i recently joined a manufacturing eng department as a junior member. this is after 4 years of graduation from IE. i sidetracked to other areas like production control. now that i am back to engineering, i am kind of surprised by the way our department handles projects. in college, we used to make project proposals, then make a preliminary study, then do the actual study following the "engineering design process". now i noticed that we don't do it in this department. our projects are very straightforward, i don't even see data gathering, documentation of existing system, and the works. is this natural? am i being very much "by the book"?

 

[MadMango]

Proposals and studies are probably being done by your Sales and Marketing force.

[green]"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."[/green]
Steven K. Roberts, Technomad
Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[PSE]

I would suppose that a combination of things come into play much of which is likely management directed or influenced. First, if a project is deemed relatively minor, it may not need to go through a formal project procedure. You indicate that the projects are very straightforward. Data gathering is a bit more of a concern (my opinion) as it would be useful to have as a gauge to measure success or failure. Documentation of the existing system (or lack of it) is also likely the result of management. After all, they set the priorities and hence how any department ends up acting. If you feel that for your own benefit, to maintain documentation of your work (or at least the results), do so. It is a pretty good idea to at least have outlines of what you are doing or have accomplished, especially around annual review time.

Regards,

 

[Sajnav]

Thank you, PSE. That is actually the case. Much of our projects are management directed, and I don't see a formal project procedure for minor nor major projects. One of the biggest ones we have right now is the planning of the future plant layout, the horizon of which is 3 years. I don't see any data gathering, nor sales projection, nor analytical approach like simulation, engineering economy, etc. I feel a little uncomfortable because I think that the company is very much driven by the new business trends and buzz words especially of the Lean Manufacturing concept. It seems that the management would like to implement every word related to Lean, like bus routes, pull signals, kanban, one-piece flow, etc, without doing in-depth study. What happened to the systematic approach? I'd agree if it's a minor project, one doesn't need to devote as much time and effort because it just won't be cost-effective. But a horizon of 3 years or more? Anyway, for the documentation, it's good then that I currently do Flow Charts right now. I'm in the operational level so far, and I get assignments on a day-to-day or weekly basis but there's so much more I could do to help.

 

[PSE]

Sajnav,

About the best you can do is keep your portion of the task(s) planned and organized. If you are extremely lucky, others may see the value in the planning and coordinating efforts and perhaps adopt them. If your management is chasing new ideas and trends but not putting effort into using them, prepare to weather the storm or look for another ship.

Good luck,

 

[edspearman]

Don't be surprised; depending on the company and process you are affiliated with, your directives are given to you.

All new grads are groomed by the companies step-by-step.
You must Prove yourself.
One day you will be able to put the big picture together.

In Defense Industry; each engineer is given a task and no-one person could put the project together for security reasons.

Know Your Industry and follow direction.

Ed Spearman

 

[Sajnav]

Thank you edspearman. That's what I should do, observe more, do as I was assigned to do, and just try to exceed their expectations. Sometimes I try to suggest things that I learned from college, but I get a blank look from my boss.

 

[drpappy]

I don't know the life cycle of your product, but as with many things, manufacturing is done mainly with low cost in mind. Consumables and service has been the big ticket for at least ten years now. Stay meticulous in your work, and concentrate on being in the right place at the right time. Don't isolate. For many manufacturing engineers I knew, the career track was marketing or management. Do something like UL approval under the gun or ISO9000, and you'll forget all about metrics.

 

[bikswahla]

In our company every single project task is given to all related dept, like sales projection goes to sales dept, similiar product data collection goes to production dept etc etc. We are using ARAS which is really a good software to track each project in APQP.

 

[BillPSU]

Manufacturing engineering projects have many levels and different amounts of sophistication. However all projects like this requires some basic information. What are you making or doing? How many are you making? Resources required (Plant, equipment, tooling, time, people etc...)? Resources normally ends up being costs. Comparison of different alternatives.
How in depth a study is based on the company's expectation. Plant expansion for future growth lets discuss this.

What are you making? The same product(s), the same part mix, the same design.

How many? Management will have to supply that number.10%, 50% or 100% increase in business.

Resources? Defined to some level

Comparison of alternatives.

Your current job may be to supply only a portion of one of these items or it may cover all the items. Technology and new ideas are sometimes very difficult to implement in a company.