The old Chinese proverb "May you live in interesting times" is apropos, because the year that's almost behind us has been nothing if not fascinating. Also challenging, worrisome, and tiring.
We all know the deal. We're working more with fewer resources and tighter deadlines. Technologies previously siloed are merging into an interconnected mass, requiring us to become interdisciplinary. And job stability, though better than it was only a scant year ago, still weighs on our minds constantly. (You can see what our readers have to say about that in our Social Engineering column.)
Fortunately, the attraction that drew most of us into the profession in the first place has been in ample evidence this year in the form of fun and forward-looking technologies like energy efficiency, 3D printing, the rise of the digital factor, advanced composites and plastics, and smart sensors.
On a macro basis, the imperative toward tighter, miniaturized designs in medical and consumer electronics has put an additional design burden on engineers tasked with packaging and assembly.
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention electric vehicles. By your online habits, you've told us that those are at the top on your list of must-read stories. I concur. When I test drove a Chevy Volt recently, I was impressed with its fit and finish, as well as its smart application of an internal combustion engine and batteries, all in the service of a car that's a good everyday driver, not just a first-gen tech showpiece.
You can read more about the Volt by going to our DriveforInnovation.com site, which follows EELife editorial director Brian Fuller as he drives a Volt across the United States.
Personally, it's been an honor to be content director of Design News. Since I joined in June, I've spent much of my time meeting with the industry's leading vendors. (I hope to meet the rest of you in 2012. If we haven't connected yet, please contact me at alex.wolfe@ubm.com.) I can say uniformly, and without hesitation, that we've got the smartest cohort of engineers and companies out there.
Yet the challenges we've faced this year are not for the faint of technological heart. Here's my quick take on four of them:
Rise of the digital factory. Here the salient questions are: Is this old wine in new bottles (or PLCs)? Is it a way for high-value vendors to sell consulting and upper-end technology to counter the rise of low-cost direct distribution? Or is it a solid method of helping manufacturers speed up the prototyping through production processes and in doing so become more responsive to the market, thus growing and getting more profitable? The correct answer is, of course, a little bit of all three.
Low-cost 3D printing/prototyping. I always worry when any idiot with a few dollars and delusions of technical grandeur can go out, buy a machine, and call himself an engineer. That's what happened with the PC, and you can arguably draw a line between the kludgey software we now live with and Stuxnet. I hope we'll see 3D printing become an enabler for rapid iteration and more sophisticated products, rather than a tool for producing more superfluous junk.
Energy efficiency. If you had told me two years ago that I would be writing enthusiastically about green technology, I would have yawned. It turns out that there are indeed tipping points in technology, and we've passed the one that's made a powerhouse arena out of saving energy in motors, the rise of wind and solar, and energy harvesting. Another area, which is different but has gone through a similar path from yawner to yes, is safety.
Engineering employment. This is the elephant in the room. America has the best and most experienced group of engineers in the world. Yet many of the older ones have been thrown on the slag heap, on the assumption that an over-40 techie can't possibly keep up with current technology. To that I say, au contraire. It's precisely these mature engineers who are needed to nurture new grads, who may know a workstation but don't have the subjective experience that makes for a successful career. I applaud companies like Siemens that are making concerted efforts to hire US workers, including veterans. I wish everyone would do that. In 2012, I hope insourcing becomes the new outsourcing.
That's a timely comment, Tim. We have a Design News Radio show this Wednesday, Dec. 14, and 2pm EST, where we will talk with Siemens about energy efficient motors and drives. You can go here to register.
I agree with the tough challenges coming up in 2012. If 2011 is an example, companies with high involvement in the production of energy efficient machines will be poised for growth in 2012. How they deal with this growth will show what kind of company they are.
Those are all good points Alex, I think our highest priorities are employment and a stable economy. Then producing more efficient and renewable power. Then applying that to electric vehicles.
A breakthrough in stem cell research would also be a very welcome sight... bring it on.
Good points, all. I particulatly agree, Alex, with your point about applauding companies like Siemens, who've gone out of their way to hire U.S. engineers. From the comments I've read over the past six months, I've become convinced that there's a lot of U.S.-based talent that can't find engineering work, and I suspect it's because of immigration acts that enable companies to employ foreign engineers in specialty situations. A lot of other engineering employers out there need to follow Siemens' lead.
As for the digital factory, I think your last two points are the critical ones. High-value vendors are certainly selling upper-end technology, but mostly it's for the purpose of helping manufacturers increase productivity from the prototype to the customers dock. These are times when manufacturers can't spend money that doesn't translate almost immediately into some type of ROI. So there isn’t going to be much technology for the sake of technology like the late 1990s. I guess that makes your third point the strongest -- method of helping manufacturers speed up the prototyping through production processes.
I have to echo Alex's enthusiam surrounding the employment issue he talks about here. It is definitely encouraging to see companies hiring "older" workers. While younger engineers may work for less money (and I can see where that may be more attractive to some employers), it has been my experience in every job I've ever had, that you learn by doing and by taking after the more seasoned employees. These "older" engineers are clearly assets and should be treated as such.
Thanks for a funny column full of good points. Having just written four "top such and such" articles for the first time, I can see how tough it is to pick the top 5 this or the most important 10 that. I think the macro-level takeaway I got here was that products, systems and jobs are all getting more integrated and more multi-disciplinary and we all have to know more about more stuff. Tiring, indeed. But also exciting.
Thanks, Beth. I think what we see clearly here is that technologies with the biggest economic impetus behind them are the ones which catch fire most quickly. So 3D printing, which as you mention is not so much a challenge as a reality, is almost mainstream at this point, because it's gotten so cheap and accessible. Energy harvesting is sparking interest because of the obvious savings on electricity costs, which are rising rapidly, as well as because harvesting is one way to ensure access to power.
Like your list of the toughest challenges, Alex. In particular, I think energy efficiency and the digital factory ones present the greatest opportunity, if engineering organizations can work through the host of process problems and technical kinks that will likely erect barriers to adoption. I'm not sure I'd agree that the trend around lower cost 3D printing presents a challenge--I would position that more as a great opportunity that burst out of the gates this last year.
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