Young engineers needed to continue our way of life

Citation

(2007), "Young engineers needed to continue our way of life", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 79 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.2007.12779faf.002

Young engineers needed to continue our way of life

Young engineers needed to continue our way of life

Britain has an ageing population. Although the population grew by 8 per cent in the last 30 years or so, from 55.9 million in 1971 to 60.2 million in mid-2005 (the last census), this change has not occurred evenly across all age groups. With many of our leading scientists and engineers looking to retire in the next decade – where is the next generation that will continue to provide the way of life we in Britain have become used to? Who will build new buildings? Who will maintain the ones we already have? Ian Ling posed this question recently when he made his Inaugural Address as President of the Society of Operations Engineers (SOE) and offered up one very clear solution.

Having been with the SOE's IPlantE professional sector since 1962, Ian takes on the SOE's top elected post for 12 months. His address speech took place at Ironmongers' Hall in London.

With the engineering industry already beginning to follow the medical profession's need to import skilled labour, the necessity of promoting this field as a valid career for today's pupils and students couldn't be stronger. The SOE has tasked itself over the coming year and beyond to promote the field, and help the country once again produce Brunels, Whittles and Turings, through its work as an education charity and professional membership body for the engineering industry.

Ian Ling's presidential speech

Good evening ladies and gentleman and a very warm welcome to the Ironmongers Hall. I'm sure you will agree that this is a wonderful setting right here in the heart of London. Built in the 1920s, the Hall has been used as a set in a number of movies and television series and was, most recently, up on the silver screen as a back drop in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

The earliest records suggest that the Ironmongers, then known as Ferroners from the Latin Ferrum (iron), were an effective body in 1300, when they took action against the smiths of the Wealds of Kent and Sussex over the quality of iron supplied for the wheels of carts in the City of London. But I would like to begin by bringing you back to a time slightly before the Ironmongers came into being.

From times immemorial there have been engineers in society – and to set the record straight, times immemorial are in English law defined by a statute passed in 1275 decreeing them to be any time prior to 1189 – the year Richard 1 ascended to the throne of England.

Without going back to the Stone Age, and even then the development of tools is recorded, we can trace the input of engineers. Evidence exists in parts of England of ancient hill forts constructed for defence.

The Romans came to Britain and built encampments and villas, pioneering underfloor heating and drove roads throughout the country then built Hadrian's wall.

At the time of the Norman invasion weaponry had been developed- swords, chainmail, etc. and fortifications were even more advanced.

Through the middle ages developments dependent on engineers continued and it was then that the title “engineer” first came into use.

The origin of the words “engine” and “ingenious” are from the Latin words “in generare” meaning “to create”. Thus, the person who created or designed engines of war – battering rams, catapults, assault towers, and the like – came to be known as the “ingeniator” or “engine-er”.

For centuries the engineer has been the backbone of society and been the means by which the world has progressed and developed.

Artist Leonardo DaVinci was valued as an engineer during his lifetime and conceived ideas vastly ahead of his own time, conceptually inventing a helicopter, a tank, the use of concentrated solar power, the double hull, and many others. In 1499, he devised a system of moveable barricades to protect Venice from attack. He also had a scheme for diverting the flow of the Arno River in order to flood Pisa.

From the eighteenth century and into the nineteenth century came the Industrial revolution and we start to recall engineers by name – Hargreaves, Arkwright, Watt, Stephenson, Telford, Brunel, Otto, Whitworth and others.

In the first half of the twentieth century we can recall Sidney Camm, R J Mitchell, Nigel Gresley and Frank Whittle, but none stand out in the latter half.

When we reach the twentyfirst century do the names of engineers come to mind, do the majority of the people around us – in every walk of life – recognise the names of engineers and appreciate that without engineers life as we know it in the twentyfirst century would collapse entirely? I believe they do not, as no names of engineers spring off the page.

This is because in these modern times it is teamwork that succeeds – individual engineers are not named, unlike architects.

But does society realise and recognise this?

Architects such as Norman Foster, Richard Rogers and others are known “names” but whilst they may have conceived the architectural design of bridges and buildings it is engineers who have brought them to fruition – structural, construction, mechanical and electrical, services and the whole range of engineering disciplines and it will be engineers who shoulder the burden of operating and maintaining them.

Bridges have been built by structural engineers over the years, Ironbridge, Brunel's bridges for the Great Western Railway, the Forth Railway Bridge.

The Millau Viaduct in France was the brainchild of Michel Virlogeux, a bridge designer, with style added by the architects Foster and Partners.

30 St Mary's Axe, I'm sure better known to most of you as the Gherkin, hailed as a significant building development, is dependent on the geodetic principle – used in the 1930s by Barnes Wallis to develop the Wellington bomber.

When the Richard Rogers Partnership received the 2006 Stirling Prize for Architecture for Barajas airport, Madrid, Richard Rogers acknowledged the work of the team. It should be realised that while it was an architectural concept the detailed design embraced the work of engineers of all disciplines and the continuing operation of it will be dependent on many engineers maintaining the equipment and services.

Does society know what an engineer is? Does society recognise the engineer, and know what an engineer does? Does society realise its dependence on engineers? I believe the answer is no!

This is because the general public, the man in the street does not know how much today's way of life is delivered by the engineering community.

Does society need engineers? Most certainly yes.

Do we make it clear what we do and why we are necessary?

If you say engineer to many people what vision does it call up?

If you ask the man how he got the jacket he is wearing the answer will likely be “from M&S” but no thought is given to the chain of engineering activity that enabled M&S to sell the jacket in their shops.

As engineers we know what we are doing – but do we really appreciate how our expertise and activity contributes to society.

If we stop to think it soon becomes obvious that what we do goes down the line to touch everyone's lives, contributes to the well being and the life that everyone enjoys today.

But does society have any idea who made it happen, who does it? What education, training, skills are needed?

So society is left in the dark as to the importance of the engineer in today's world.

This is because engineers are working in teams and no outstanding name is front page news. We engineers fail to blow our own trumpet, we just get on with the job.

The result is that the greater majority of society is totally unaware of the fact that life in all aspects in today's world starts with engineers.

When you meet a stranger and he asks “what do you do” you reply “I am an engineer” does that mean anything to him/her?

And when you ask “What do you do” and he replies “I am a sales manager/ solicitor/ undertaker” or any of a myriad of occupations, you as an engineer have an immediate idea of what they do – and how you might require/utilise their services. But what do they understand?

Go into any company that contributes to the gross domestic product of the country and you will find that in most cases it is divided into departments for each part of its operation. But that the one person who is present in and behind all those units is the engineer – in design, processing, production, packaging, warehousing, distribution, transport, providing the power and services and even in contact with Human Resources and the accountants.

In other words – the engineer is the one person who operates in all areas of the company.

Currently, the Olympics are a major topic – revolving around the cost and the logo – but it will require the activities of a large number of engineers in the design, construction, fit out, supply of services, power, water, drainage, transportation, and ancillary items.

At the same time various rail projects are mooted, cross rail, docklands extension, the creation of St Pancras international, for example, all of which depend on engineers for their completion and operation.

Building new nuclear generation capacity is envisaged together with the upgrading and replacement of coal fired stations- again requiring many engineers. Continuing upgrade of water services, effluent disposal, electrical distribution is planned requiring more engineers.

Where are all these engineers coming from?

If society is not aware of us – how is it going to ensure the next generation will produce the engineers to continue to survive?

From the 1790s through to the 1820s, the British government tried to maintain the country's industrial leadership by banning the emigration of artisans and mechanics alongside the exportation of technical drawings and machinery. Of course, it was unsuccesful – being continually violated – and was repealed in 1824.

However, unless we recognise that engineers today go unnoticed, and take steps to promote the profession, we are in danger of having no one to ban from emigrating!

With the cessation of the training boards and the ending of many apprenticeship schemes in the demands of manufacturing to cut costs, the exposure of engineering as a career was reduced. It is interesting to note that Lord Leitch, in his review of skills, has hinted that there may – in the long term – be some form of return to a system of “levy/ grant” funding in order to ensure increased employer engagement and investment in skills.

Further, the target for 50 per cent university entry led to the development of degree courses in other subjects that were perceived as being easier than the rigour demanded by science and engineering disciplines.

Only now are we beginning to see modern apprenticeships emerge again and the universities providing a wider range of engineering courses leading to degrees.

But the students of today have to be made aware of what engineering is and what it has to offer in terms of excitement and job satisfaction, and the breadth and depth of the discipline, or they will not choose to pursue the courses.

We have to ensure that we are known, that our values are appreciated. We are a profession that is ever there and one that offers a career that affects so many aspects of today's life. But unless we are known to exist and provide the careers for the youth of today there will be no tomorrow for all to enjoy the benefits that come from the hands and minds of engineers.

We must sell ourselves, we must ensure that there is a steady flow into our profession, that today's young persons see engineering as a career – a rewarding and satisfying career.

If we each stop to think of where the effects of our different activities finally reach we may well be surprised. Ensuring that this or that machine or piece of equipment works efficiently and safely is not the end of our impact on the community. Engineering is not the end, it is the means to an end but without it there would be no way of reaching the end.

In my own appointments, I can say that my work in the end contributed to you being able to enjoy a pint of beer, to being able to clean your contact lenses in a sterile solution, to being treated with a highly effective burns cream and, in my last appointment, ensuring that the continuing operation of a highly serviced sterile processing plant brought relief to haemophiliacs and others with blood disorders who benefited from the products of human blood plasma fractionation.

I am sure that if each of you thinks where is the end point, you may well take a wider view of your contribution to society at large.

Recognition of the true value of the engineer can only come if we are outspoken in our contribution to society.

We have to ensure that society, the general public, realise and appreciate their dependence on engineers and that today's students see engineering as a career that offers satisfaction and reward.

Further, without a healthy engineering populace, UK plc will fall behind the world. Even now China and India are producing more qualified engineers than the UK and some companies are having to recruit from these sources. At the SOE we are welcoming engineers based in Hong Kong and China into membership and as SOE's President I will be visiting China later this year to meet some of them in person. This is not say that it's all doom and gloom here in Britain – after all, the SOE is leading the field in registering Engineering Technicians with ECuk – but there is a need to take stock of the situation.

As an engineering institution the SOE's members are to be found operating across the whole field of engineering in utilities, transport, rail, the armed forces and a range of manufacturing companies, demonstrating and maintaining the high standards of professionalism that membership demands. As a body we are keen to develop relationships with like-minded organisations and are committed to making it known to the public that our professionalism is vital to their well-being and safety.

I'm delighted to be representing SOE as President in what is such an exciting time for the organisation.

To conclude – on a lighter note – may I remind you that it is said that architects cover their mistakes with ivy, surgeons bury theirs, but engineers, if they make mistakes, have to put them right.