Seminar: 1 pm, Tuesday 3rd May 2005, School of Mechanical Engineering, Room 1.05. (presentation slides)

What do engineers do? Build bridges? Fix cars? If you really wanted to know there is actually no authoritative account based on systematic research.

This seminar will present the results of analysing interviews with some electrical, mechatronics, mechanical and civil engineers in Australia ranging from 2 to 35 years experience.

The results are surprising in many ways. First the sheer number of roles that engineers perform in their jobs – approximately 80 so far and we are still counting. The second surprise is the influence of strict organizational procedures. Far from the administrative burden they seem to be to many engineers, strict procedures seem to be associated with high profit margins and salaries for engineers and the reverse seems to be true as well.

Are engineers managers? Are they bad managers? This research throws some light on this and many other issues.

Finally, why is this important? In Australia maintenance seems to be a difficult area for many companies. Spending on maintenance and upgrades is typically 2 – 3 times the initial capital cost of most installations. Calls for new infrastructure to relieve the congestion that is restricting mineral and other exports overlook the fact that many mines and ports are operating well below their intended capacity ratings. Often this is caused by breakdowns and other maintenance problems, not the lack of design capacity. We do not actually have a clear understanding of how maintenance engineering works in practice based on systematic research, even though there are many books advocating ‘better’ ways to do it.

We started this research because there seemed to be something about engineering practice that explains the high costs of essential services like energy and water supplies in developing countries. In Pakistan, for example, even where water supply schemes are available the real cost of water is 30 times what we pay in Perth, in real dollar terms. Families cannot afford water to wash their hands because the monthly cost of water, in sufficient quantities for a healthy lifestyle, is more than typical poor family incomes. Understanding the roles of engineers helps to explain this problem which goes a long way to explaining why poor countries find it so difficult to extricate themselves from economic penury.