The Materials Engineer is somewhat a cross between a physicist, chemist, and mechanical engineer. In many instances, the Materials Engineer plays the role of the Reliability Engineer in researching and finding root causes of failures in a product. Obviously, the Materials Engineer will have to spend a large portion of their studies dedicated to material properties, with the understanding of the chemical makeup and reactions between certain materials and the elements in which they are used.
The field engineer may be an academically trained engineer or may be an experienced technician. In either case, the field engineer takes a different perspective to a new product. The field engineer is primarily interested in the Mean-Time-to-Repair (MTTR) aspects of the product. In looking at the system, the field engineer is interested in what type of diagnostics will be available? What special tools or test equipment will be needed? Are there adequate access panels for service? Are there any trouble shooting aids provided (which may take the form of flow charts, frequently asked questions, or trouble shooting guides)? Are the installation instructions and dismantle instructions clear and complete? What special training is needed and available? The field engineer needs to ensure that the product is maintainable and that the field team will be prepared for the product when it gets to the field.
From this discussion, it should be evident that the term “engineer” may encompass a variety of studies and career paths for the engineering student. The field of engineering is somewhat like an onion; it appears simple on the surface, but as you peel back the layers, there are more new layers to explore. There is a growing demand in industry for trained, skilled engineers. No matter what field of engineering, engineering support, or other technical field you may choose, you must be able to communicate your findings, suggestions, or results to others. In many cases, those individuals will be technical or scientific persons, and such communication may be easy. On the other hand, they will often be non-technical persons such as business-oriented management and sales people, product or service users, and people who are not technically trained. It is your responsibility to make yourself understood, whether in writing reports and proposals, or speaking at conferences. This is one aspect of scientific and engineering fields that both authors found absolutely essential in their work as engineers, instructors, and managers.
It is also extremely important to recognize the responsibilities assumed as engineers progress in their careers. Every so often you can hear an explanation similar to this when telling someone their result is wrong, “It looked okay to me. I got the figures from Joe and he does good work.” The response can be, “It’s your responsibility to know that what you turn in is right. Did you check the calculations to verify their correctness?” That sort of exchange is not very different from some the authors have heard in industry. Whatever you turn in on any project, paper or hardware, is your responsibility, not someone else’s. Another member of the team may have done the calculations, or piece of work, but in accepting it, you have accepted responsibility for its completeness, accuracy, and acceptability for the intended purpose. As you progress in industry, whether by promotion or leadership assignment, you rely on others to do many tasks, but you are still responsible for the overall result. In other words, as you progress, the extent and level of your responsibility for performance and results actually increases. It does not diminish!
One other aspect of engineering that must be expected is that over time the field will change as new materials, technologies, and applications are brought to the marketplace, regardless of the type of engineering. As a result, you will need to maintain your skill set through continuing education and training.
Find the particular subjects you best enjoy and pursue the necessary courses to fulfill your dream - and be an “Engineer”.
Suggested Problems
1. Write a 250-300 word paper on the topic “I want to be a___________ Engineer” and support your choice.
2. Given a particular engineering path to follow, research that choice and determine what options are available for a specific career path. What courses would you have to take to follow the chosen path?
3. There have been three tragic accidents in the U.S. space program. What are the three and what problems occurred to cause the accidents?
Other Readings
Criteria for Accrediting Programs. ABET, Inc. www.abet.org.
Barger, M., Richard, G., and Snyder, M. (2010). Manufacturing Career Pathways. Manufacturing Engineering, April 2010.
Spencer, R. and Floyd, R. (2010). So, You Are Going To Be An Engineer? IEEE Potentials, May/June 2010.
Wickens, C. D., et al. (2004). An Introduction to Human Factors Engineering. Pearson-Prentice Hall.
Too often civic and government organizations announce and implement programs that fail to meet their intended goals, with great cost to the taxpayer. Once in a great while, industry will have a product that fails to meet market expectations, but not often. Even when industry has a failure, the overall product base of the company can often compensate for the single product failure to meet revenue goals. If they didn’t have such a distribution, they would soon be out of business. So what are the differences in the product development procedures that allow success on one hand or almost certainly ensure failure on the other?
Most successful products will have three important documents produced prior to the product ever reaching the design and implementation phases. The three are: 1) Market Requirements, 2) Product Specification, and 3) Product Test Plan. The first document is generally written by the Marketing Department (Sales, Product Planning, Marketing or similarly titled groups). In that document, the questions to be answered include: 1) what is the product need? 2) who are the users? 3) when is it needed? 4) what is the impact on current product sales? 5) what is the competition doing? 6) what are the sales projections and pricing? and 7) are there any special requirements (for example, language, accommodations, mean-time-to-failure, mean-time-to-repair, and service expectations). This list is not exhaustive, but gives you some idea about the content of the Market Requirements document.
The second document, Product Specification, is written by the Product Development group. The Product Specification is a detailed description of how the new product will meet all of the Market Requirements. If a particular requirement cannot be met due to time, cost, technology, or other factors, that requirement will be negotiated out of the Market Requirement with agreement between Marketing and Development. The Product Specification does not detail the product implementation method. That is left to the Product Design group responsible for the final product build. The Product Specification provides explicit statements (testable) for each area. For example, the Market Requirement may have stated the requirement for the new product to “operate on North American and European voltage and frequency.” The Product Specification cannot use the same words, as there are no specified values (cannot be tested for meeting the requirements). In the Product Specification, the requirement may be shown to be a product that operates on 50 to 60 hertz, 90 to 130 volts AC. These values can be validated.
The final document is the Test Plan. This document is written by the Product
