Engineer not Engineering, need advice 8

[Murdul]

At my current place of work I was recently, October, part of what they call a lateral move. I got moved from a Process Engineer position on a production line to a postiion titled Process Imrpovement Engineer. In my new role I perform 5S/Lean activities around the plant, harp on area managers to make sure they are progressing with a pet project my manager and his manager developed, and work on side projects I pick up here and there. When I say harp, my manager says I am supposed to keep them encouraged. These managers I harp on used to be my managers and I like them, now I am a nuissance to them.

The big problem is I am doing almost nothing even remotely related to engineering. My manager which is the operations manager has no degree and his manager the VP of operations has no degree either. Now, I am not knocking them, its just they seem to have no idea what the value of an engineering degree is. The projects I work on which I feel are worthwhile are the side projects given to me by another process engineer in the plant who feels sorry for me. The worst part is I have heard through the grapevine a lot of other engineers and area managers in the plant think that it's ridiculous they have an engineer running around doing 5S. I try to work on side projects as much as possible, but my manager makes sure I do what he wants first.

What can I do? I have only been here 2.5 years and this is my first job out of school. Right now I just feel lucky having a job, but I don't want to ruin my future career options. I like engineering and 5S makes me feel like a glorified janitor. Sorry for the rant, just need advice.

 

[PeterStock]

First, yes you should feel lucky you were not laid-off. Second, treat this as on opportunity to learn. Lean manufacturing is a form of manufacturing engineering and companies that don't cut there costs will loose business to those that do. Be proactive, examine the processes you see and try to make them more effective, cheaper or safer. At my company 5S is known as 6S, the sixth S is for Safety. This is another area where your engineering background can be helpful. Make yourself useful with your side projects and try to make the best of your current position. If you feel the need, put your resume out there and look, 2.5 years experience is better than no experience.

Peter Stockhausen
Senior Design Analyst (Checker)
Infotech Aerospace Services

 

[MadMango]

I agree with Peter, there is no harm embracing the role you have been given. The skills you are learning now will serve you well into the future at new employers. If you feel that you are losing your "engineering" edge and want to get back to that, 2.5yrs of experience is enough to consider a new employer.

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of these Forums?

 

[Drumchaser]

"<RIght now I just feel lucky having a job>"

you should

With what is currently going down....I would hang in there unless you have plenty of $$$ and or other resources.

Not sure if you have experienced unemployment/recession.

I have, it sucks.

 

[MotorVib]

Any 5S/Lean programs will help you down the road. If it is not you thing MadMango is right just move on, but what you lear will help you at your next job.

Chris

"In this house, we obey the laws of thermodynamics." Homer Simpson

 

[TenPenny]

Frankly, I think it's better to have an engineer doing this 5S work - perhaps it will inject some reality and usefulness into the process.

I think that this could easily be a great move - learn all you can about the way all the departments operate. You should use this as a step up the ladder to being the boss.

 

[KENAT]

So, fundamentally, if you really don't like it find something else, but that may be easier said than done at the moment.

While you're stuck where you are, use it to your advantage, learn all you can about the 5/6S's lean manufacturing etc, not just the 'engineering' or 'technical' aspects but all the jargon etc. If your current boss is impressed by this kind of thing, future bosses may be too.

While having an Engineering degree may not be essential, that doesn't mean it's not useful. I do a lot of work that an Engineering bachelors degree isn't really needed for, however I do it better than a lot of those that do similar work without one.

I'd definitely look at this as management training, if you never want to be a manager though that may not be much incentive.

KENAT,

Have you reminded yourself of faq731-376 recently, or taken a look at posting policies:

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

 

[DesignerGuy16]

I've got a degree in industrial engineering working in mechanical engineering & design. In a production environment that translates to more thought put into the processes and structure of the work that I do.

Try to find some correlation of your skills to your job to find the weak links in your company that you can help fix. In your type of position you'll have more leverage to make true throughput improvements, or at least get them started.

James Spisich
Design Engineer, CSWP

 

[mechengdude]

Be happy you have a job and use this to your advantage. Pad your resume with all those 5S buzz words. Fully embrace the effort and suggest you get trained in six-sigma and become a certified black belt. You can then move to another company when the economy turns and get a huge pay raise.

good luck

 

[GregLocock]

You seem to be treating an opportunity as a punishment.

Apply your engineering skills to process improvement. it should be a natural fit.

Stop doing the side-jobs, that is not what you are there for. That'll give you time to do your current job properly.

If your ex-managers regard your proposed improvements as an imposition (assuming the improvements do genuinely make sense) you need to learn to present them properly, again having more time should help.

Mind you it does sound like the whole place has an attitude problem, maybe this is a self solving situation. Get your resume polished up.

Cheers

Greg Locock

SIGlease see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[rbulsara]

When you are handed a lemon, make the lemonade.

I think this has been already said, since this is still the early stage of your career, learn (managerial stuff) what you can and when your time comes, sell that as your additional experience as part of being more "rounded" qualifications.

At the end of the day besides being a knowledgeable engineer you still learn to be a smart businessman if you want to succeed beyond just a number cruncher or problem solver, where the real money are to be made.

I must warn that, by the time you complete 5 years of initial career you must know what you want to do in life and make the moves accordingly. Trust your own abilities. If you have something to offer, there is always a market. Do not depend on others to shape your career.

 

[Murdul]

Thank you for all the replies. I do make the best of it. I just enjoy working more techinical projects than the 5S stuff. I am already a certified 6-Sigma green belt. I do my main job before my side projects, which is a part of my job desciption as well, and I do it to the best of my abilities. I will make the best of this, it does seem they are trying to train me to move up the ladder.

Thanks just wanted to hear what others think.

 

[moltenmetal]

rbulsara: when life hands you lemons, you can't make lemonade unless life ALSO hands you the means to get some sugar...

Otherwise, what you're recommending is that you drink lemon juice and PRETEND it's lemonade...not something I'd recommend.

I'm all in favour of making the best of things and not being hasty during a slow time. Every business can benefit from engineered continuous improvement, scientific and economic analysis of problems, value engineering etc., which is what underlies these quality and "lean" programs once they're stripped of the marketing hype used to "sell" them to businesses.

Give it some time and some unjaded, sober reflection. If you're actually empowered to bring forward process and quality improvements, that's a tremendous opportunity which you should seize. If instead you've really been assigned to be the patsy so the business can pretend to be involved in quality and productivity improvements while actually doing nothing, then it's time to look for something else. Responsibility without authority is my personal definition of unproductive and damaging stress.

 

[dbooker630]

Murdul,

At my site I too have the green belt and most of time am a metallurgical engineer. But 5-S is here to stay in my company and I suspect at yours as well. We did not put an engineer in charge of the overall program, but there are 20 5-S auditors including three engineers (I'm one of them) that must perform weekly audits all over the plant. Yes, there are some petty things but there are many good things as well. The key to 5-S is having management-supported improvement actions in place, if not it can become a waste of time. But it certain areas where I do spend a lot of time (i.e. heat treat), 5-S did give me an opportunity to document my two cents and not sound like I was complaining. Of course the 5-S team is going to reach my met lab, that is when I'll really have work to do. If it helps the building stay open I will support it.

 

[rbulsara]

Also do not expect different results by keep doing the same thing! So at some point YOU have to make move to get different results.

Do not expect rewards, just because you think you are doing what you boss says. Afterall you take control of your destiny not hand to anyone else. Every effort may not succeed but you need only one or two successes.

 

[bradpa77]

Yes, you are lucky to have a job in this economy. We all are, but just because you're lucky doesn't mean you should stop looking for something better. Yes, the job market sucks right now, but that doesn't mean you should just accept anything. If you're not happy, you should look around at your options. There's nothing wrong with that. I wouldn't want to be doing what you are doing either. It sounds like a drag. So you have a job that pays the bills. That's good. Do the job to the best of your ability just so you can survive. But, look for something you might really like as well. You have nothing to lose by looking. Plus, I personally don't think that leaving after 2.5 years is so terrible. It's better than sticking it out at a job that you hate and building up experience you don't want anyway and getting bitter and losing your enthusiam for engineering (I've been down that road and it's not a good idea either). Take your time with your job search and make sure you don't just leave your current position out of desperation. If you make a move, make the move for the right reasons and only move if it's something that you think you will really get excited about. That's my opinion.