INDUSTRY

Engineering

Broadly defined, engineering is the science-based profession by which the physical forces of nature and the properties of matter are made useful to mankind in the form of structures, machines, and other products or processes at a reasonable expenditure of time and money. An engineer is a person trained or skilled in designing and planning the implementation of such apparatuses as machines and structures and in supervising their implementation.

The various branches of engineering serve a wide range of industries. Electrical engineers, for example, design communications equipment, electric power plants, and computers. Mechanical engineers deal with machines and engines as well as with manufacturing such equipment. Such major projects as spacecraft or hydroelectric power plants require the talents of many people with different technical backgrounds and experiences.

Just as physicians with various specialties, nurses, and medical technicians are needed in medicine, the variety of engineering-related activities demands people with different levels of competence. Engineers deal with the advanced areas in which the latest tools of technology are required. Work that combines established approaches and often considerable practical work may be performed by technologists. Work in the shop or in the laboratory is normally carried out by technicians.

Branches of Engineering

An engineer working in one specialty usually requires some knowledge in allied fields, as most engineering problems are complex and interrelated. A mechanical engineer designing a power plant, for instance, must deal with materials, structures, and electrical equipment in addition to purely mechanical engineering problems.

Aeronautical engineering deals with the design, manufacture, maintenance, testing, and use of aircraft for all purposes. The field involves knowledge of aerodynamics, structural design, propulsion equipment, controls, and electronic communications, or avionics. Closely related is aerospace engineering, which deals with the design and operation of spacecraft. Here a background in rocket propulsion and space navigation is also required. (See also Airplane; Aerospace Industry; Jet Propulsion.)

Bioengineering combines engineering and medicine. The design and construction of medical instruments and of the advanced equipment used in a modern hospital are the result of the cooperation between engineers and medical personnel. The design of artificial limbs, artificial hearts, and other organ substitutes depends on bioengineers who must have a background in the biological sciences in addition to engineering. (See also Bioengineering.)

Chemical engineering deals with the production or conversion of chemicals for industrial use. Because of the variety of chemicals that may be used, problems are usually divided into unit operations or unit processes such as distillation, evaporation, absorption, humidification or drying, adsorption, separation of various constituents, size reduction, mixing, and others. A knowledge of chemical reactions--coupled with the basic laws of conservation of matter and energy as well as those defining chemical equilibrium--is prerequisite to the understanding of most unit processes. The chemical engineer must be able to move from the laboratory to large-scale and economical industrial production by arranging all the unit operations in their proper sequence. Continuous production is utilized in many modern plants for efficiency of operation rather than processing a batch of material at a time. This is possible only when well-designed automatic controls have been incorporated in the plant.

A petroleum refinery is a good example of a chemical engineering achievement. Depending on the crude oil being refined, different processes are employed to produce gasoline, jet engine fuel, and diesel oil.

Civil engineering is one of the oldest of the engineering fields. It is very broad with many subspecialties. Structural engineers are concerned with the design and erection of both large and small structures. These can range from small warehouses to skyscrapers, from highway overpasses to large bridges, and include dams of all sizes. Both steel and concrete designs may be called for.

Geotechnical and soil mechanics engineers evaluate the capacity of rocks and soils to bear heavy structures. Water resource engineers deal with water collection and purification: the erection of dams, flood control, irrigation, and water distribution systems. Environmental, or sanitary, engineers are concerned with water and sewage treatment as well as the disposal of residential and industrial wastes. The protection of rivers and lakes is part of their responsibility. Here a knowledge of chemistry and biology must be added to the engineering base. Transportation engineers design highway and public transportation systems to meet the needs of local and intercity traffic.

Electrical engineering began with the production, distribution, and utilization of electric power. The design and manufacture of generators, motors, transmission systems, and their appropriate controls are all part of electric power engineering. With the invention of the vacuum tube at the beginning of the 20th century, electrical engineering branched into communications systems--including radio and television--or electronic engineering. The complex systems required to switch telephone calls are the responsibility of the communications engineer. With the advent of the transistor, the transfer of information became the responsibility of electrical and computer engineers. A computer engineer deals primarily with the equipment required for computation, or hardware. A computer scientist is more concerned with programs to carry out computations, or software. Electric circuits, electronics, logic and switching, electrical machines, and communications systems are just a few areas with which the electrical engineer must be conversant. (See also Computer; Electricity; Radio; Telecommunication; Telegraph; Telemetry; Telephone; Television; Transistor.)

Geological and mining engineering deals with the discovery and exploration of mineral deposits, the various processes to extract these minerals, and their conversion into useful metals or other refined products. Petroleum engineering, a subspecialty of this field, is directed to the discovery of oil and gas sites and the economic recovery of these fuels. Geology, rock mechanics, extraction processes, and an understanding of the behavior of ores and metals are part of the working tools of engineers in these specialties.

Industrial and management engineering. The efficient use of a modern factory--including the layout of machines, the best use of human labor, and the safe operation of the plant--fall into the domain of industrial engineers. They are also involved in quality control and inspection to check that the final product meets specifications. Production techniques, automation, statistics, operations research, and the interaction between human beings and machines (ergonomics) are some of the fields that need to be mastered by the industrial engineer. Management engineering is an extension that adds the role of management to complex technical processes.

Materials and metallurgical engineering. The development of appropriate materials and alloys to meet various industrial needs is involved in materials engineering. If the emphasis is on metals, the term metallurgical engineer is generally applied. Materials engineering also covers the development of plastics and other artificial materials. An understanding of the characteristics and behavior of metals and alloys and of artificial materials must be combined with manufacturing techniques and many aspects of chemical engineering. (See also Metal and Metallurgy.)

Mechanical engineering encompasses the design, construction, and utilization of machines. These may be involved in the conversion of energy such as in the production of useful work from fuels. Automotive engines, gas turbines, and steam power plants fall into this category. The conversion of fluid and mechanical power in pumps, fans, propellers, and hydraulic turbines is another aspect.

Mechanical engineers also design machine components. The transmission, steering system, and brakes of a car are examples. Mechanical design can involve large machines, such as presses or forges, or complex equipment such as textile machinery. Frequently it deals with the design of machines that help to make other machines--the so-called machine tools, including computer-controlled lathes and milling machines. Manufacturing engineering, the making of parts and components (sometimes with the help of robots), is usually considered a subspecialty of mechanical engineering. Air conditioning, refrigeration, ventilation, and the control of air pollution also fall into mechanical engineering. The knowledge of thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, heat transfer, machine design, vibrations, controls, and robotics are all involved in the background of the mechanical engineer. (See also Air Conditioning; Automation; Automobile; Automobile Industry; Diesel Engine; Fan, Electric; Furnace and Boiler; Heat; Heating and Ventilating; Internal-Combustion Engine; Mechanics; Refrigeration; Steam Engine; Tools; Turbine.)

Naval, or marine, engineering deals with the design and operation of the power plants and all accessory equipment on ships.

Nuclear engineering deals with the safe design and operation of nuclear power plants for energy generation. Nuclear engineers are concerned with shielding systems to safeguard people from the harmful effects of radiation and with the safe disposal of nuclear wastes. In addition to a knowledge of nuclear physics, the field involves an understanding of materials that can withstand high temperatures and bombardment by nuclear particles as well as many aspects of mechanical engineering.

Functions of the Engineer

Most engineers are employed in industry, working in large manufacturing organizations. Their jobs differ significantly in such areas as design, construction, operations, and maintenance. The many different engineering functions include the following:

Research. The research engineer tries to develop new principles and processes by using mathematics, scientific concepts, and experimentation. For instance, large computer simulations developed by research engineers permit the prediction of the performance of an airplane to the point that wind-tunnel and flight testing have been significantly reduced. Most research engineers hold advanced degrees, usually doctorates.

Development. Complex engineering systems need long periods of time for their development. Involved are the designing of components, often using new materials or new ideas, the testing of these components, and then the improving of the original ideas. All of the components must then be put together to build the final engineering system. This often implies that the small-scale experiments performed by the researcher must be scaled upward to the level of industrial practice. The chemical engineer, for instance, must extend the findings of a laboratory experiment to a small pilot plant and, if successful, to full-scale production. Engineers engaged in development usually hold advanced degrees.

Design. Coupled with and following development is design. An engineering project must not only work, but it must be safe, economical, and reliable and must meet the needs of the customer. The specific layout of an engineering product or structure becomes the responsibility of the design engineer.

Testing. Most engineering products must be fully tested before they can be delivered to a customer. Testing may show possible failures. The product then requires redesigning. Development, design, and testing must work closely together.

Manufacturing or construction. The actual making of the parts, whether in a factory or by assembling a structure on site, involves all the tools of production. The manufacturing engineer selects the right tools, schedules the flow of material and parts for the right machines, and supervises assembly.

Quality control and inspection. The quality control engineer checks that all parts and assemblies meet technical, and various other, requirements.

Sales and marketing. Interaction between the manufacturer and the customer is the responsibility of sales or marketing engineers. They must know all the technical aspects of their products as well as fully understand the needs of their customers. Frequently they may need to educate the customers. These needs may require special features or even major redesign of a product. Thus the sales engineer must be in contact with all parts of the manufacturing organization.

Maintenance. The continued safe and reliable operation of equipment and efficient repairs are the responsibility of the maintenance engineer.

Management. The management of a complex technical venture is different from normal business management. It requires knowledge of both engineering and of management techniques. Most engineering managers are promoted from the ranks of engineers. Often these engineers take advanced work in business administration.

Employment in the Field

The National Science Foundation estimates that in the early 1980s there were nearly 2 million engineers employed in the United States. Nearly 90 percent of them had bachelor's or advanced degrees. These included about 471,000 electrical or electronic engineers, 372,000 mechanical engineers, 272,000 civil engineers, and 115,000 chemical engineers. The greatest concentration of engineers was in the following industries: electrical machinery 15 percent, transportation equipment 13 percent, nonelectrical machinery 12 percent, communications equipment 8 percent, and aircraft and parts 7 percent. About 76 percent of all engineers were employed in business and industry, about 8 percent by the federal government, nearly 4 percent in educational institutions, and the remaining 12 percent in various areas, including state and local governments. From 1976 to 1983, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, engineering employment in the United States grew by about 40 percent. It promises continued growth. The greatest demand is expected to be for computer, electronic, and aeronautical engineers. Engineering in general promises to be one of the few careers with high chances of professional employment.

Development of Engineering

The building of canals, bridges, and roads was carried out by specially trained civil engineers as early as the middle of the 18th century. With the advent of steam power at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the last part of the 18th century, mechanical engineers started to develop engines, locomotives, and various other machines. The automatic knitting machine was probably the most advanced. Originally steam was used merely to extend power beyond that of animals. During the 19th century, however, mechanical engineering expanded to include such labor-saving devices as the sewing machine and the mechanical reaper (see Industrial Revolution; Technology).

The increasing need for metals furthered mining engineering. With the invention of the Bessemer steel- making process, steel began to replace iron in both machinery and construction. Large bridges and skyscrapers became possible. This led to the development of metallurgical engineering as a separate field.

The invention of electric generators and motors and the development of the electric light bulb led to the growth of electrical engineering. This was originally a subspecialty of mechanical engineering.

Advances in chemistry during the latter half of the 19th century demanded that small-scale laboratories be extended to large-scale production, opening the way for the chemical engineer. By 1900 these various fields of engineering had been established.

Following the introduction of the assembly line by Henry Ford in 1913, the demands of the growing automobile industry led to a specialty in automotive engineering. The rapid spurt of airplane development following World War I led to the new field of aeronautical engineering. The increasing need for petroleum products to provide fuels for transportation, energy generation, and heating fostered petroleum engineering. With the development of radio just after the turn of the 20th century, electronic engineering--a part of electrical engineering--was born. Radio, television, and almost all modern communications techniques depend on the electronic engineer. Following the invention of the transistor in 1948, new vistas in communications and in computing were opened. The information revolution caused by the computer added computer engineering as a new specialty.

The advent of nuclear power was reflected in the field of nuclear engineering. Combinations of medicine and technology to build artificial limbs or organs and to improve medical instrumentation started the field of bioengineering.

The need to produce goods cheaply and efficiently became a primary responsibility of the industrial engineer. Following the development of space flight, aerospace engineering was added to aeronautical engineering. A number of further specialty areas also came about such as ceramic, safety, agricultural, environmental, and transportation engineering.

Machine parts are designed with the aid of computer graphics. They carry out all the technical computations needed to make a part meet performance requirements. This aspect of computer-aided design (CAD) is frequently coupled with computer-aided manufacture (CAM) to produce parts automatically.

The use of robots is a major factor in the increasing automation of factories. New energy conversion devices--such as direct conversion of the sun's energy and advances in nuclear power--are expected to be significant. The protection of the environment against pollution, including acid rain, remains a challenge. Advances in medical technology and the increased use of artificial materials--such as plastics and ceramics replacing more expensive and heavier metal parts--are additional challenges for engineers.

Engineering Education

Until the 18th century, engineering was essentially a craft in which cumulative experience was considered more important than formal learning. The exception was military engineering in which formal education dates back to the middle of the 17th century. Civil engineering education began in 1747 with the founding in France of the National School of Bridges and Highways. France influenced the United States. The first American school initially devoted to engineering was the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., founded in 1802. Several two-year schools were founded before 1830 that emphasized technical education. Some of these eventually evolved into engineering colleges. The oldest are Norwich University in Vermont, founded in 1819, and the Rensselaer Institute of Technology in Troy, N.Y. (1824). Engineering education did not grow, however, until after the Civil War, when state universities were founded with federal land grants to "teach agriculture and the mechanic arts." By that time mechanical engineering programs were added to those in civil engineering. Electrical engineering soon followed.

Although mathematics and the physical sciences were incorporated into engineering education early on, the development of scientifically based engineering courses was much slower. Such practical crafts courses as machine shop, surveying, drafting, and welding were offered in almost all schools. The emphasis on the scientific background of engineering began only after 1950.

Undergraduate. Engineering is a challenging course of study that requires a thorough understanding of mathematics and science. These are normally taken in the first two years. English, humanities, and social studies also form a part of every program. Such courses are included because engineers must consider the social effects of the products and processes they devise. Good oral and written communication skills are also needed. The last two years of the undergraduate curriculum are devoted almost entirely to technical courses.

The vast majority of the more than 70,000 engineering students who graduate annually from American engineering schools with a bachelor's degree are hired as engineers by industry. About 15 percent of the total go on to full-time graduate work. Many undertake graduate work part-time while employed as engineers. Others use their engineering education to enter a variety of fields, including business administration, medicine, and law. About 260 colleges in the United States that have one or more engineering programs are accredited by the Accrediting Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). There are also non-accredited programs, but graduation from a non-accredited program may make the student ineligible for a professional engineering license in some states or bar employment by federal agencies.

Accreditation in Canada is carried out by the Canadian Accrediting Board of the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers. Programs in about 30 colleges and universities are accredited.

The majority of accredited programs are in electrical and electronic, mechanical, civil, chemical, and industrial engineering. Fewer schools offer programs in aeronautical, nuclear, and materials engineering. There are also a few highly specialized programs such as ceramics, environmental engineering, bioengineering, and geologic or petroleum engineering.

Graduate. With the continuing and rapid changes in technology, it is difficult to teach enough engineering in a four-year undergraduate curriculum. Students who wish to stay in the forefront of technology find that further study at the graduate level is required. Both master's and doctoral programs stress further technical depth. In the latter an independent research program resulting in a thesis is also required. Engineers planning to enter management also frequently take advanced work in business administration.

Continuing education. Electrical engineers who graduated in the early 1950s would not know about transistors or computers unless they learned about them after leaving college. There is a danger that engineers can become rapidly obsolete unless they recognize the need for lifelong learning in the profession through continuing education courses offered by universities, professional societies, and other groups.

Professional Societies

To remain current in their field, most engineers join one or more professional engineering societies. They publish technical journals, encourage engineering research, provide assistance to various levels of government, hold meetings at which technical advances are presented, offer continuing education courses, and look after the technical welfare of their members.

The major American engineering societies date back to the late 1800s. The American Society of Civil Engineers was founded in 1852; the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers in 1871; the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1880; the forerunner of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in 1884; and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in 1908. Most professional societies of other branches of engineering were founded in the 20th century.

This article was contributed by Fred Landis, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee.

FURTHER RESOURCES FOR ENGINEERING

Crump, D.J. How Things Work (National Geographic, 1980). Florman, Samuel. The Existential Pleasures of Engineering (St. Martin, 1977). Florman, Samuel. Engineering and the Liberal Arts (Krieger, 1982). Kerrod, Robin. The Way It Works (Mayflower, 1980). Kock, W.E. The Creative Engineer: The Art of Inventing (Plenum, 1978). Parsons, S.A. How to Find Out About Engineering (Pergamon, 1972). Pawlicki, T. How to Build a Flying Saucer and Other Proposals in Speculative Engineering (Prentice, 1980). Schaub, J.H. and Dickison, S.K. Engineering and the Humanities (Wiley, 1982). Weiss, Harvey. Machines and How They Work (Crowell, 1983). ^[1]

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