engineers that are "book" smart and not practically smart??

Question

I know some engineers that try out new designs and then put them into production without working out the "bugs." Now, I know that sometimes the bugs don't often come out before hand but give me a break, you make the big bucks! They (the engineers) just don't seem to care about the small stuff until someone has cut their finger off or the product falls on someone! Do they not teach practical engineering anymore? Does anyone feel the same as me, or am I in the minority here?

Answer 1

You are not in the Minority.

In many respects colleges in the USA have failed to teach the Basic Engineering skills to New graduates.

In the past few years, certain classes have been dropped from the engineering curriculum.

A case in point: The Drawing Board has been replaced by Computer aided Engineering.

Some New Graduates have not had a class in CAD or Design for Manufacturing.

The creation of a Design Team is one approach to addressing this issue. The Team would consist of Manufacturing specialists, Quality Assurance specialists and procurement engineering to name a few. The Team would meet at least one a week or at Mile stones in a project development. The Objective would be to review the design for Product Safety, Manufacturing Process, cost analysis, etc.

A new graduate engineer should seek the advice of Manufacturing at each step in the Design process. All safety suggestions must be implemented or the Product can not be released to production.

Pre Production design reviews will elevate potential safety and production issues.

Companies that I have been associated with, have a sample size pre-production build cycle. The Objective is to identify as many problems as possible prior to Production.

Also, the responsible engineer and all team members will assemble at least one unit. I refer to this as "Hands on Experience".

Many engineering schools have a Co-op Program, where the engineering student works in various areas of Design, manufacturing and quality.

Our engineering schools are graduating some of the most talented and ambitious students in our history. Their exposure to a production enviorment is criticle to the success of any company's Product.

I hope this helps.

Answer 2

It's not always the engineers. Remember the Challenger space shuttle? The engineers said don't fly, but the bosses said go.

Some of those products you're talking about could easily have the same history. The engineer could have said spend the 50 cents for the finger guard and the bosses said no.

Remember the Ford Pinto gas tank explosions? The engineers wanted to protect the gas tank, but the managers figured out that the cost of the protection for all of the cars was more expensive than the lawsuits for the probable number of accidents, so they said no.

There is a saying in the engineering world, "It's time to shoot the engineer" because most engineers DO worry about those things and want to fix them but some managers want to ship the product and worry about the problems later.

Yes, there are bad designs that escape into the world, but it's definitely not always the engineer's fault.

Answer 3

o well, ha ha... Hang on im having a hard time breathing now. 3 mins. has passed. 6 squits of abulitol too. i work in heavy metal faberacation. yes they care. they don't like egg in their face. I do a little of this and alittle of that. what my boss ask 4 I give to him. suppose 4 what ever the reason i get fired. simple, i go some where else and take a on the premise welding test. yea what u are thinking now is i make a 1/3 or less than our ennigeers. hell i dont make a fifth./ but my job is secure. u C all the ataboys in the wourld is cancled w/1 o shi--------.what I'm trying 2 say, And I'm very proud 2 say, I worki 4 Cardinal Scales. We make the best scales in the world. We ship 2 all points in the world. On time delivery. There is no doubt about it that it is conslidated work force. Right down 2 the man that cleans our tolits.; O yea ,when our ennengerrs do something new, they stand beside us watching 4 the things that just maby we will neglict 2 C.If U think 2 ere is not human then go 2 work 4 OSHI. Kinda of like Dial soap. I'm proud of our ennengers. Wish everone did.{was}

Answer 4

You're only looking at it from a consumer point of view, and ignoring the another side of that coin, which is the industry that produces that crapola. See, it's a systemic problem. Are you willing to admit that, or are you just on a witch hunt to single out engineers? I mean, as long as you're arbitrarily throwing darts at the wall, you could just as easily blame consumers for buying cheap untested products. After all it is a free market, and apparently cheap stuff is what the masses want. Safety doesn't sell. Toyota is bigger than Volvo. Have you heard of Walmart? You see, product development costs less when you don't have to test the products. I agree, engineers are expensive, that's why companies pay them as little as possible, and rush products out the door. Get it?

Answer 5

There is a lot of pressure on engineers to move products from concept to sales as soon as possible., part of this is due to them wanting to get big bonuses offered by their employers, part of it is due to pressure from lamebrain bosses who do not really understand anything about the way physical things work and think the consumer will always buy their products, no matter how poorly designed or cheaply made. Have you ever read the comic strip Dilbert...? That's what it's about, baby!

19 NOV 06, 0043 hrs, GMT.

Answer 6

Well, where I work the engineers aren't practically smart and aren't book smart either!
They're idiots, no matter how you look at it.
One retard -- his name was Mark Boris -- set the production rate faster than the machine could even go. Another ********** -- Scott Scripter -- would frequently wig out and scream at people because of his own person problems.
Another shithead set up a lighting system so poorly that the production workers couldn't even see the part that they were working on!
I really think the word "engineer" is another word for "numbskull".

Answer 7

Like in any profession they are good and mediocre and outright bad engineers. Think that same applies to doctors. bus drivers and other people your life depend upon. Being an engineer is closely related to skills lawyers have, You must identify problem and solve it to be useful, economical, and safe.

Answer 8

As an engineer, I often find myself wondering the same thing. I see designs with obvious errors that even the most casual observer would see, yet no one else does. It is frustrating. We often hear of the "dumbing-down of America". This is not only in our schools, but in our professions as well.

Answer 9

I saw that movie. I thought it was funny. Of course it makes fun of intelligence operations. Everything that takes itself too seriously deserves a movie like that. Do you think the "Naked Gun" series of movies was a Zionist attempt to undermine law enforcement? This was harmless. Geez. And how exactly it was a Zionist movie completely escapes me. You would have to be a paranoid to think so.

Answer 10

you know what happened in NASA(Space Shuttle Columbia) ...management wants products out fast...so engineers have no option but to produce mediocre designs. if you refuse to sign off a substandard product, you get fired and someone else is hired to do it.