Typical tasks undertaken by a mechanical engineer include design and specification of components or entire systems, design and planning of manufacturing processes, plant operation and maintenance, consulting, research and development and management. Each of these tasks will take place in a wide range of different industries such as power generation, mining, mineral processing, transport, water supply and their support industries. The Professional Mechanical Engineer is central to national economic growth and wealth creation. Mechanical engineers design complex systems such as airplanes, automobiles, satellites, power plants and also simple devices like doorknobs, and fishing reels. In fact, mechanical engineers play a role in most of the things that people use.
Mechanical engineers are concerned with the principles of motion, energy, and force.
Generally, a machine converts one form of movement into another. It is the responsibility of engineers to design machines whose parts and assemblies function in a safe and reliable, efficient, and predictable fashion. Indeed the numerous laws and principles developed by scientists are everyday tools of the mechanical engineer. Anything the engineer does that is related the motion and dynamics of heat, gas, air, fluids and solid materials requires the understanding and application of science. In fact, there are probably as many definitions of what it takes to be a mechanical engineer as there are mechanical engineers.