By Barbara Wolcott E ngineers are accustomed to working with precision mathematics and immutable physical science, and that sense of order has traditionally spilled over into their approach to employment. Then, with luck, settle in. It worked well for a long time, at least until the last decade of the 20th century. Fundamental engineering has not changed except to progress by embracing new technologies based on established science. However, the businesses that exist because of engineering expertise have changed drastically.
Companies have to move fast and stay lean.
No longer can they afford large staffs of specialized engineers on the payroll. The traditional narrow focus of delineating a job into components and assigning workers to complete isolated tasks has yielded to a skills race in which a group of employees is assigned a project with a deadline. At the same time, niche engineering has given way to integrated design, planning, and production. That's not the case anymore. Stacey Swisher Harnetty, an ASME member who works in Kingsport, Tenn., is a case in point.