How can you debunk common myths about manufacturing engineering?

The trash heap of companies that tried to manufacture and failed is a tall heap. Manufacturing Engineering is the Alchemy of our age. We take an idea and find a way to give that idea form. We make thought reality by skill, innovation and sweat. Making something at the quality expected by your customer, at a price the customer is willing to pay is no small feat. I would encourage everyone to consider this field it is a way to continuously give to our society and the betterment of the world. As an Aerospace professional I take it as a honor and responsibility to keep the flying public safe by hard work and dedication.

Manufacturing engineering has a promising future driven by technological advancements and industry demands. Automation, robotics, and artificial intelligence are transforming production processes, enhancing efficiency, and reducing costs. Sustainable practices are gaining importance, leading to eco-friendly materials and processes. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for resilient supply chains, spurring investments in local production. The growth of electric vehicles, renewable energy, and aerospace industries demand specialized manufacturing expertise. Collaborations between academia and industry are fostering. Its safe to say that the future of manufacturing engineering is brighter than ever

I am a mechancial engineer by training. My early career was in design and systems engineering. As I went through various engineering positions I found myself gravitating towards the tangible side of design by supporting the product on the floor. The more I did it, the more interested I became in the mfg and mfg eng side of the house. The aspects that were always to more intriguong was the variation in daily activity. I NEVER got bored supporting the build of the product. It is constantly changing and dynamic role that was immensely satifying because you can see and touch the output of your effort. As a MfgEng it also gives you more human contact with the people designing AND the people building the product.

90% of Manufacturing Engineering is common sense. The other half is math. Think about logical options and calculate data to support the resolution.

Not at all!! Manufacturing engineer is at the epicenter of value creation for the organization. While working on ME you will see all supporting areas working together to sustain the operation. This will bring you a better perspective on the business, will boost timely decision making and teamwork for any upcoming leadership role you may aspire in the organization. Definitely is a professional most.

Women inherently possess the skills to balance priorities and conflicting demands. I feel as a woman in Engineering I have an advantage in manufacturing with an ability to understanding how to balance to product performance with the manufacturing rate and cost goals.

As a female manufacturing engineer, I have never felt unwelcome or undervalued. In college, I was one of three female engineering students. Although I was aware of the female to male ratio, it did not have an impact on my education. My gender has no correlation to my ability to perform as an engineer. I am neither better suited for the role nor am I unqualified based solely on my gender.

I was raised in the 70’s in a very men oriented culture. I have learned along the years that the diversity brings perspective in more than 2 dimensions. Plus each individual multiplies the possibilities of success if we learn to listen and be humble .

While traditionally thought of as male-exclusive, manufacturing engineering is for everyone! My role as an R&D Model Maker is proof of that. Every day I get to show up & design the newest and latest from Fender Musical Instruments and offer my unique perspective as a woman in what guitars and basses can and should be.

This is an abject fallacy. If there are currently fewer women in manufacturing engineering, it is a (poor) reflection of the society we live in and the expectations we place on young women to become mothers and raise families rather than have independent careers. The stereotypes about women not being good at math need to be buried next to all the other nonsensical myths around differences between the sexes. We all come from the same DNA and are all capable of a higher understanding of the world around us. It is more a question of ensuring that there are equal opportunities in education and later on the job market for women to show their strengths and contribute to this growing field.

Fundamentally you can’t engineer what you can’t build therefore there is an intimate connection between manufacturing and engineering. Manufacturing is at the heart of our economic prosperity and the decades of offshoring have had dramatic impacts on the middle class and have severely weakened our supply chains. Manufacturing Engineering is a critical cog in our economic wheel.

Hahaha! Anyone who makes such as statement does not understand the real world. Look at any high-tech industry: aerospace, medical devices, chip fabs. What prevents you from duplicating those products and why do only less than a handful of companies across the world have the ability to make them? If you're reading this you probably own a microchip, every country can afford to buy a plane and with a bit of effort you can reverse engineer it all (materials, dimensions, specifications). But can you: a. Get the materials with the right purity and structure? (that's the realm of metallurgy) b. Manufacture it repeatedly, accurately and economically? (which is where we manufacturing engineers shine) Want examples, DM me and we can have a chat.

Manufacturing Engineering is never going to be outdated, any idea or patent just can be industrialized if Manufacturing Engineers have the capability to do such innovation to make Production in a cost effective manner. We see so many organisations invest in R&D innovate ideas & take patents but when those patents come to manufacturing they get Fail. Still Manufacturing engineering is much relevant for the success or failure of any business.

Manufacturing is the biggest industry in the global economy with the worth of $44.5 trillion as of 2022. If we want to be sustainable and preserve our eco-system, implementing right changes to the sector would be the biggest contribution. How to make a big difference with lesser resources is the driver of today's innovations. And Manufacturing is at the forefront of integrating new technologies into production. This is the birth of Industry 4.0. There is always something new to be implemented, processes to be optimized, costs to be reduced, quality to be improved, production to be flexible, energy consumption to be reduced, wastes to be minimized and much more. And it's only the tip of the iceberg in manufacturing industry.

Biased by recent generations that manufacturing has to be old and dirty factories, pumping out the same product over and over and over. While mass production is a goal for many types of products, the extreme need to use more efficient methods, guide product design to reduce cost, and the ever increasing customization trend, all mean that this role is relevant for a successful business. Not to mention that our global economy continues to add pressures which require a forward thinking profession that focuses on the "how". Even Elon Musk has made statements about how important and difficult it is to manufacture a design, as opposed to designing it in the first place. A powerful testament to this flavor of engineering.

Frustration is a natural byproduct of all engineering fields. We are presented with problems and need to find an answer we do not currently know. This will require a lot of trial and error, effort, and thinking outside the box. I cannot describe how rewarding it feels when we solve the problem!

Two factors that make Manufacuring Engineering challenging and stressful: 1. People do not like change and will fight it up to the point of sabotaging new methods, processes and flows. 2. Ignorance and superstition (related to number 1) based on "this is how we've always done it". And the skilled trades and crafts thinking they know so much more than they really do. In the immortal words of a mentor from years ago "ignorance and superstition will always triumph over truth and justice" if you are not careful and aware of what is happening on the plant floor. All it takes to hose things up is for one member of upper management to listen to someone who they trust and respect to feed them a line and start a firefight to regain control.

Manufacturing Engineering is never a difficult and stressful when the below activities are carried out ; Proper Process Planning. Tool Life Monitoring. Offset pattern monitoring. Mistake Proofing solutions wherever possible. Operator Certification. Implementing Statistical Process Techniques.

A very common thing in this field is the secrecy many engineers adhere to. This makes it incredibly hard for potential newcomers to get comfortable in the field as they are discouraged by this veil of "hush hush". While in all honesty, just a tiny bit of homework will allow you to mimic the existing system and potentially improve upon it. Don't fall for the "it's incredibly complex" trap. It's not, it's only made to SEEM complex. Big difference. Any and all systems must have a degree of interoperability otherwise they won't stand the test of time.

In Manufacturing Engineering, success means being really good at making things efficiently, with top-notch quality, and at a good price. It's tough to do all of that at once, but that's what makes it interesting for engineers – tackling hard problems.

There are a lot of overlaps between industrial engineering and manufacturing engineering but fundamentally IE is about efficiency, staffing, capital and tooling requirements, and overall product line performance. Mfg Eng is more about the fundamental processes (machining, assembly, composites, wiring harnesses, etc) and the design of the product for overall producibility and affordability.

Industrial engineering is only a subsection of manufacturing engineering. As a manufacturing engineer you will be performing data analysis like an industrial engineer while also designing components or assemblies like a mechanical engineer. While there is overlap certain tasks are best performed by one or the other. Put together they can make a excellent team!

Industrial engineering optimizes processes and workflows holistically. Manufacturing engineering focuses more narrowly on how to physically make or assemble products. While manufacturing engineers design production methods, industrial engineers analyze the full system to improve efficiency, lower costs, and eliminate waste. The two work together - manufacturing engineers create processes to produce goods, while industrial engineers refine the broader workflow. Overall, industrial engineering takes a high-level view of the end-to-end process flow, while manufacturing engineering concentrates on the hands-on "how" for fabrication and assembly. The two complement each other in streamlining operations.

As taught in universities, Manufacturing Engineering(ME) is focused on machining, and so is the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. Never mind that machining is only a small part of Manufacturing today. The ME departments in most schools have a machine shop for student projects. Industrial Engineering(IE) departments don’t. IE is the engineering of human work. It started in Manufacturing but rapidly branched out. The modern surgical operating room applies concepts from IE Frank Gilbreth in the 1910s, and the American household kitchen is the brainchild of IE Lillian Gilbreth.

A manufacturing engineers role is to develop parts and assemblies, using the right tools, machines, quality aspects, etc. This is done by putting processes in place that ensure reliability and reproducibility and ensure zero defect parts. Industrial engineering complements manufacturing engineering to ensure productivity, cost, etc. are met and that the customer is satisfied

In the A&D world, all engineers bill direct, especially manufacturing engineers. The myth is, continuous improvement is part of the job and should be free. All improvements costs dollars. The issue is engineers talk technical improvements, details, how it is going to be done and what capabilities it will bring. Most of the people holding the dollars don't speak technical details, they speak dollars. You just have to get good at calculating ROI's, and showing them in their language.

Broad Scope of Work: Manufacturing engineering is not limited to repetitive, monotonous tasks. In fact, it encompasses a wide range of responsibilities, from designing innovative manufacturing processes to implementing automation and robotics, optimizing production lines, and solving complex technical challenges. It offers opportunities for creativity and problem-solving.

A few problems I've seen in some corporate cultures that give engineers a bad rap: 1 What do companies make? Money. The product is their strategy for making money, and profit is the goal. So naturally the financial and accounting people get final say. What they get wrong is to put engineering into "overhead" which is an expense unrelated to profit which is to be severely limited. That causes engineers frustration and less of the success they could provide, compounding the issue. 2 Competent line technicians are often given a promotion and a title of engineer, without the training. They make mistakes due to a lack of knowledge and give the impression that SO-CALLED engineers are dolts.

Myth: Manufacturing Engineering is all about manual labor and factory work. Reality: Manufacturing engineering focuses on designing, optimizing, and improving production processes. Engineers often work with advanced technologies, including automation, robotics, and computer-aided design (CAD), to streamline production, reduce waste, and improve quality. It’s more about problem-solving, innovation, and efficiency than hands-on manual labor.

Manufacturing engineering is far from being outdated or irrelevant. It continues to evolve and adapt to the changing demands of the modern world, incorporating advanced technologies, sustainability practices, and customization capabilities. Manufacturing engineers are instrumental in driving innovation and ensuring the efficient production of high-quality products.