Just thought I'd start a new thread for Engineering, as I now know there at least three of us at KMC who may be interested!...
I'm working as a Manufacturing Engineer for a defence company. Currently working on a new facility project - so lots of discrete event simulation going on recently.
I studied Mechanical Engineering first, then finally got a BEng(Hons) in Manufacturing Engineering. Currently studying for an MSc in Manufacturing Systems.
I'm a member of the IET (formally IEE), and am waiting for an interview with them to be nominated to IEng status...then hopefully I'll become Chartered in a couple of years.
Feel free to add your background and I'm sure we can think of something to talk of...
damn.......you're a go getter..........I just wanted a diploma and a job......
I work at brake manufacturing plant........which means nothing new ever arrises or is to be worked on..........we just copy the same models already in use for new projects because they are all disc brake calipers......different tooling......different jigs......everything else is the same, right down to the programming. It's cake......until something breaks..........in which case we become glorified maintenance men....
The problem with PM is that it's the first thing to go out of the window when the budget is cut.
I'm hoping we'll be getting predictive maintenance for some of our new machines - condition monitoring has come on leaps and bounds over the last few years.
PM is not a job for engineering.........it's carried out by the regular mainenance staff. It's nothing grand......machinery is very simple. It consists of checking oil, coolant, changing filters.........basic pedestrian stuff.
PM should be implemented for major parts/repairs that cause unplanned breakdowns. Depending on how good your maintenance dept. are, you may have to get involved and tell them the MTBF for a piece of equipment, then hopefully they perform PM at a suitable time!
We have regular EMIT (examination, maintenance, inspection & test) performed by machinists, as they're usually best placed to care for the equipment.
I'm a manufacturing engineer for an escalator plant. Yep, those things people ride up and down on, and are afraid they'll get sucked down into as well, we make them. We've downsized Engineering from 5 to 2 in the last year, so I'm doing 2.5 people's jobs at the moment. So that means when I solve a problem in the plant, I race back to my desk to post on KMC, and then sprint back out into the plant again.
I've noticed over the last few years that us ME's are having to get involved with a lot more work that was once considered someone elses job. For instance the maintenance stuff I was talking about...it's not uncommon for me to be involved in the creation or review of a facility ARM strategy these days.
Likewise, my new boss is trying to get us to provide support for Quality by providing a system at the same time as providing the process (SPC for example).
The boundries between roles are getting very blurred in my company...what's it like outside?
Gender: Male Location: Southern Oregon,
Looking at you.
The learning curve is steep, but once you got it, it's easy. I was lucky; I had one of the best teachers in the business. That is why I always give his name.
I also know DIN, I had to learn it because my company is owned by a German company. Now that is not easy because you have to have a large library of standards. I still don't have them all, and some are only in German.
I think we work to an ISO standard, but I'm not sure. I should find out really.
I sometimes come across American drawings at work, so I have to know Imperial units...but I was an indentured apprentice at a traditional toolmaking company, and some of the older machines were Imperial.
I find it's best to know inches and thou's anyway, as most of the older Engineers at work still talk in those units. If you mention microns, you usually hear someone whisper the imperial equivalent to themselves!
Gender: Male Location: Southern Oregon,
Looking at you.
^ mm or in. That is a touchy subject. We are all mm at my company, but I still get requests from vendors who don't know how to read mm. So much for the educational system.
Gender: Male Location: Southern Oregon,
Looking at you.
I do a lot of translating from German drawings from our parent company and I think the designers go out of there way to find new DIN standards to call out on their drawings. I think they do it just to give me a bad time. I'm sure they laugh when the DIN request comes in.
KMC Community Forums
Apr 26th, 2006 05:20 PM
jk
So much for the educational system.
