FUTURE OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING, MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING, AND MACHINIST ROLES FOR INDUSTRY 4.0

Erin Peiffer; Francisco Plaza; Sahar Shamsi; Elizabeth Collins; Ashley Huderson

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Conference: 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
Start Date: June 26, 2022
End Date: June 29, 2022
Conference Session: DEED Technical Session 8 - Design Methodologies
Page Count: 13
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--41625
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/41625
Download Count: 500

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Erin Peiffer is Research Manager with Engineering for Change (E4C) where she supports an international cohort of Fellows completing research and design projects at the intersection of engineering, sustainability, and global development with partners across academic institutions, non-profits, multilateral organizations, private sector businesses, and government agencies. Erin graduated from the University of Dayton with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 2017 and a M.S. in Renewable and Clean Energy in 2018.

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Sahar Shamsi

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Sahar is the Program Coordinator for Climate Ventures at the Centre for Social Innovation in Canada, where she works nationally to help accelerate the growth of cleantech entrepreneurs and companies through six distinct acceleration programs. Sahar is an alumni of ASME's global Engineering for Change Fellowship program and is also an Expert Fellow for the program, managing several projects and fellows working at the intersection of technology and global development. Sahar graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, and her previous work includes the design and development of rainwater harvesting systems for Hands Across the Nations (HATN) and the provision of engineering support services to entrepreneurs developing wave-powered desalination systems for the Waves to Water Prize Competition held by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

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Francisco Plaza

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Elizabeth Collins

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Abstract

The increasing rate of change in technology development in recent years has led to concerns that the educational system is not built to adapt and update to match the pace of industry changes with some curriculum not having incorporated recent digitalization developments.4 In fact, much of today’s engineering education in the United States remains largely unchanged since the 1955 Grinter Report.5 Feedback from industry suggests that skills gaps are already apparent in new entrants to the workforce and that the current curriculum is not sufficient to address these gaps.6,7

To address these gaps, ASME, through funding from Autodesk conducted a multiphase research project that sought to understand the future job descriptions, typical workflows, expected duties and skills of Mechanical Engineers, Manufacturing Engineers and Machinists. The research questions we sought to answer included:

● Over the next 10 years, with the increasing adoption of Industry 4.0, what typical workflows for these roles might look like and what skills and perspectives will individuals need to secure and thrive in roles as Mechanical Engineers, Machinists, and Manufacturing Engineers?

● How are these roles shifting and converging, and what are the implications of these shifts for training and hiring?

● What roles can industry, academia, and government play in ensuring that students and aspiring professionals of all backgrounds are developing the skills and perspectives that they need to thrive in these roles?

To address these questions, phase 1 of the project included conducting an extensive literature review to analyze existing data on related topics from academic, government, and industry sources. The goal of phase one was to synthesize the existing literature reviews, draft job descriptions, and workflows for the future state of mechanical engineers, manufacturing engineers, and machinists. Phase 2 and 3(currently in progress) involve conducting 30 interviews and 300 online surveys to expand upon the findings from phase 1, focusing on what the future workflows and job descriptions of the three focus roles might look like ten years from now. The results of phase 1 were used to drive the survey and interview questions for phases 2 and 3. Results have indicated: (1) future workflow success will require Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) or equivalent cloud-backed software to connect all three roles via a single data model, helping to connect, share, and streamline the processes while breaking down information silos; (2) Future mechanical engineers will require more in-depth skills for data analytics, programming, simulation, and design for manufacturing (DfM) skills, such as generative design, in addition to being able to learn and work with new technologies and interfaces; (3) Future manufacturing engineers will require skills in automation and AI as they support the digitalization and optimization of manufacturing processes; and (4) Future machinists will shift from task-based workers who mainly produce parts to knowledge-based workers who can take a more active role in process improvement.

Citation
Format

Huderson, A., & Peiffer, E., & Shamsi, S., & Plaza, F., & Collins, E. (2022, August), FUTURE OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING, MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING, AND MACHINIST ROLES FOR INDUSTRY 4.0 Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41625

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - The increasing rate of change in technology development in recent years has led to concerns that the educational system is not built to adapt and update to match the pace of industry changes with some curriculum not having incorporated recent digitalization developments.4 In fact, much of today’s engineering education in the United States remains largely unchanged since the 1955 Grinter Report.5 Feedback from industry suggests that skills gaps are already apparent in new entrants to the workforce and that the current curriculum is not sufficient to address these gaps.6,7 

To address these gaps, ASME, through funding from Autodesk conducted a multiphase research project that sought to understand the future job descriptions, typical workflows, expected duties and skills of Mechanical Engineers, Manufacturing Engineers and Machinists. The research questions we sought to answer included:

● Over the next 10 years, with the increasing adoption of Industry 4.0, what typical workflows for these roles might look like and what skills and perspectives will individuals need to secure and thrive in roles as Mechanical Engineers, Machinists, and Manufacturing Engineers? 

● How are these roles shifting and converging, and what are the implications of these shifts for training and hiring? 

● What roles can industry, academia, and government play in ensuring that students and aspiring professionals of all backgrounds are developing the skills and perspectives that they need to thrive in these roles? 



To address these questions, phase 1 of the project included conducting an extensive literature review to analyze existing data on related topics from academic, government, and industry sources. The goal of phase one was to synthesize the existing literature reviews, draft job descriptions, and workflows for the future state of mechanical engineers, manufacturing engineers, and machinists. Phase 2 and 3(currently in progress) involve conducting 30 interviews and 300 online surveys to expand upon the findings from phase 1, focusing on what the future workflows and job descriptions of the three focus roles might look like ten years from now. The results of phase 1 were used to drive the survey and interview questions for phases 2 and 3. Results have indicated: (1) future workflow success will require Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) or equivalent cloud-backed software to connect all three roles via a single data model, helping to connect, share, and streamline the processes while breaking down information silos; (2) Future mechanical engineers will require more in-depth skills for data analytics, programming, simulation, and design for manufacturing (DfM) skills, such as generative design, in addition to being able to learn and work with new technologies and interfaces; (3) Future manufacturing engineers will require skills in automation and AI as they support the digitalization and optimization of manufacturing processes; and (4) Future machinists will shift from task-based workers who mainly produce parts to knowledge-based workers who can take a more active role in process improvement. 
AU  - Ashley Huderson
AU  - Erin Peiffer
AU  - Sahar Shamsi
AU  - Francisco Plaza
AU  - Elizabeth Collins
CY  - Minneapolis, MN
DA  - 2022/08/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - FUTURE OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING, MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING, AND MACHINIST ROLES FOR INDUSTRY 4.0
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/41625
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--41625
ER  -