Engineers on the Shop Floor

(a Boeing 747 being assembled - courtesy of hotcharchipotch.wordpress.com)

In an earlier post I explained how it is essential to have the base of engineering operations as close to the manufacturing operations as possible.  In a ideal case, would be to have the engineering and manufacturing in the same building or in buildings next to each other.  Proximity to one another is what makes a successful operation.

But it is not enough for engineering and manufacturing to be near each other.  The organization must make an effort to encourage (hopefully not force) engineering to spend time on the factory floor.  There they can learn about how different stages of the operation work and can spend time talking to mechanics to learn what their challenges are in fabricating and building parts.  At Boeing (and at other large companies I would assume the same), young new hire engineers often do not want to visit the factory and learn.  Because of organization attitudes they are led to believe that engineers design the product and "throw it over the fence" to operations to build.  Not very efficient.

On of the best ways to get engineers to engage the factory is to put them in a liaison engineer role.  The liaison engineer is a degreed engineer who is works on the factory floor and helps bridge communication between engineering design and  manufacturing.  Often the liaison engineer has authority to repair parts damaged during manufacturing which expedites operations immensely.  At Boeing I was a liaison engineer for a little over a year and that experience made me a better design engineer by learning how to design a part that could more easily manufactured and later installed in the aircraft.

(Engineers on the factory floor)

I served as a liaison engineer later in my career and would advise organizations to schedule the new hire engineers to rotate as a liaison engineer after 1 - 2 years design experience.  An early exposure to shop practices will make them better design engineers which improves the entire operation.