The Future
Everything is Mechanical Engineering; yes, EVERYTHING!
Whether your making a sandwich, coding a computer, or flying to Mars: everything is mechanical engineering. Your sandwich is production engineering, mixed with a little structural engineering; your computer a marvel of clicking keys and whiring fans. And, as for a spaceship - need I say more‽
Four Industrial Revolutions have spanned the last one-hundred years:
Steam power - mechanised labour
Fordism and Taylorism - advent of mass production and time & motion
Silicon chip - dawn of information age
Internet of Things - interconnectivity of sensors
And the next two are already being postulated:
Human-technology Partnership - working in tandem
Cyber-physical Reality - seamless merger of virtual and tangible world
Industrie 4
It is with Industrie 4 [sic] that we must first deal. For it is this reality that presses most urgently.
Industrie 4 or ‘The Internet of Things’ is a world in which all technology is interconnected to provide near real-time communications to aid in decision-making, mass bespoke production, data-mining, to mention but a few.
This industrial revolution will become manifest through driverless cars, autonomous arial vehicles, artificial intelligence-driven clinicians, and much, much more.
To this end, the Technical Engineer of tomorrow must retain all of the knowledge and skills currently in use, whilst becoming a life-long learner, capable of retraining and re-educating in order to meet the ever-changing requirements that both industry and society demand.
The Art of Communication, Collaboration, and Connection
T-shaped Individual
Industry is awash with graduates. What sets the successful apart is their ability to exude additional qualities. Enter the T-shaped individual: someone capable of expressing their ideas in a compelling and concise manner; someone for whom communication, collaboration, and connectivity are watch words.
In Business, it is often not the person with the best argument, but the person who argues best for whom success awaits. The world is stories and relationships; a T-shaped individual is master of both.
When combined with an excellent education, certification, and chartered status, the T-shaped individual cannot help but rise to the top of their chosen profession.
Digitisation
Mechanical Engineering is being redefined by the advent of digital technologies. From the introduction of CNC machining in the 1980s to a burgeoning additive manufacturing industry, defined by 3D printing; digital advances have impacted almost every facet of Mechanical Engineering as an industry and discipline.
With the advent of an Internet of Things (IoT), digitisation has reached a state of maturity, permitting every aspect of the digital landscape. Computer models of aircraft, engines, cars, bridges. If fact computer models are constructed of anything, and everything in order to speed-up design and production. Not to mention, advancing safety and environmental imperatives.
The latest advancements in Augmented, Mixed, and Virtually Reality technologies have allowed users to visualise complex systems, hitherto only available as discrete entities. It is the interconnectedness of all digital assets that allow tangible and intangible assets to interact as a single system, delivering value from cradle to cradle.
Additive Manufacture
Subtractive manufacture has been the de facto since humans first scratched marks in bone and rock. This tried-and-testing method from creating objects has served us well throughout the industrial revolutions.
However, we find ourselves facing a new frontier - that of additive manufacture. To most, the term additive manufacture is expressed as 3D printing, the method by which objects are created through the continuous layering of viscous material that solidifies as it cools.
This technology is maturing into a manufacturing process capable of creating artefacts in metal, carbon fibre, nylon, and the ubiquitous, plastic.
Several industries now print in metal; utilising technologies that can produce a final product with 98% the structural integrity of traditional manufacturing.
Apprenticeships & The Role of Industry in Higher Education
The Education-Industrial Complex is a multi-faceted entity, with its roots firmly embedded in Neoliberalism. This article does not attempt to address all of these facets, merely one: the role of industry in higher education and vice-versa.
The UK network of universities offer world-class education that produces cadres of graduates that can add real value to business from day one.
Business has the ability to create cadres of students ready to enter the workplace and drive-forward any given sector. To this end Apprenticeships offer both entities the chance to co-operate in an individual’s learning journey, whilst simultaneous giving them the tools and techniques to thrive in a work environment.
Furthermore, universities have the potential to educate future Engineers, further expanding the competitive advantage of their employer and the products & services they sell.
It is vital that Academia and Industry work in close collaboration to develop the skills of existing and future Engineers. Degree Apprenticeship programmes may well offer the best model for this coherence. Coventry University offers many degree apprenticeship programmes that combine academic and practical learning, that foster collaboration between academia and industry.
Conclusion
Mechanical Engineering is the very life blood of innovation, providing products that allow people to engage with the world in a safe and rewarding manner that brings joy.
Mechanical Engineers are the pioneers of this environment; defining and exploring new frontiers; designing and developing new products; shaping our future world.
Renewable energy, additive manufacture, future transport, and the built environment are all within the remit of a Mechanical Engineer. The first step on this journey is education - where will Mechanical Engineering take you?