Mechanical Engineers Face a Changing Future

Mechanical engineers will continue to improve upon engineering designs and become more involved in manufacturing implementations and processing production data results to improve designs for manufacturability.

60% of industry believe interdisciplinary engineering knowledge will increase for mechanical engineers over the next five to 10 years. This was consistent across small, medium, and large manufacturers.

Continued emphasis on “soft” skills like problem solving and communication skills to complement their growing focus in software tool functionality, data analytics, programming, and “smart” and sustainable design techniques.

The manufacturing engineer position will become even more interdisciplinary as it blends skills with both mechanical engineers and CNC machinists.

Within industry, 72% of respondents believe human-robotic interaction will increase and 74% believe automation will increase for this role.

 Like mechanical engineers, future manufacturing engineers will still need enhanced communication skills and will be expected to incorporate additive manufacturing and utilize artificial intelligence /machine learning (AI/ML), digital twin, and data analytics to improve throughput and efficiencies.

CNC machinists' roles will evolve dramatically, from a CNC operator to an engineering technician who programs CNC machines, and over time, they will take on other manufacturing engineering functions.

The factory environments in which future CNC machinists will work will become more complex through the use of cobotics, 3D printers, AI/ML and multi-axis machines, and will require greater mental dexterity (such as programming) and productive collaboration with engineering teams.

According to industry professionals, becoming increasingly fluent in computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM) software and programming will enable machinists to increase their use of technologies, including five-axis machines (65%), additive/hybrid manufacturing (66%), and robotics/cobotics interaction (65%).

Communication is paramount. – The research suggests an increased focus on exchanging data between groups of people through cloud collaboration. Digital transformation of roles will shape communication across roles as workflows change. o 86% of total respondents strongly or somewhat agreed that there is a need for a collaborative design process between all three disciplines.

Certifications show specialization. – Academia expects to promote supplementing degrees with certifications. Degrees will likely serve as the foundation, while certifications will showcase specialized skills. 86% of academics embrace less reliance on degrees and welcome more specialized certifications developed in partnership with industry. o 84% of all survey respondents believe employers and academia should partner on new types of certification programs based on employer needs. • Academia embraces emerging tech.

Mechanical engineers need to have applied knowledge throughout the manufacturing process. For mechanical engineers over the next five to 10 years, 79% of industry believe electrical and software engineering will increase and 77% believe system engineering skills will increase.