I just read a very interesting article entitled "Does Engineering Matter and is Free Trade Really Free?" at the following link: http://www10.mcadcafe.com/nbc/articl...ticleid=216292
The author, Stephen J. Schoonmaker, brings up several good points and places a deserved amount of blame for the current state (or lack thereof) of engineering and manufacturing on various government agencies and policies. He has received several responses from readers that support his contention.
I think that Mr. Schoonmaker's essay is an extension of correspondence he and I had with regard to the Commentary I wrote for the October 17 edition of MCAD Weekly, entitled "With Few Options And An Uncertain Future, Delphi Files Chapter 11 Bankruptcy"
That was an emotional Commentary for me to write for a number of reasons. First, I'm from the Detroit area and still maintain an office and a residence there. Second, I went to college there and earned a degree in industrial design. Third, I'm actually a union member - UAW Local 1981 - the National Writer's Union. This background and people I come in contact with just make me wonder what the bigger implications are for mechanical design, engineering, and manufacturing in this country - whether innovative or at all.
Delphi's (and now GM's) serious problems have prompted heightened discord between salaried employees and UAW members on who is to blame for the woes at Delphi and the American automotive industry in general. While there has been a lot of the finger-pointing in the between those two groups, no one seems overly concerned with the party (pardon the pun) who may be the real root cause of the problem - the government.
In response to his question, "Does Engineering Matter?," it sure doesn't seem to in this country anymore. We interest and graduate only a fraction of the engineers that countries like china and India do, and the disparity grows every year. Just this morning I read a Reuters news story entitled, "Is U.S. Becoming Hostile To Science?" It described the bitter debate about how to teach evolution in U.S. high schools is prompting a crisis of confidence and is a warning sign that science itself is under assault and an issue with severe long-term consequences, because a good foundation in math and science is essential for pursuing engineering.
This all hits even closer to home for me because I have been a substitute high school math and physics tutor, but the school district has cancelled geometry, trigonometry, and elementary calculus due to lack of interest and enrollment. Algebra is now the highest level of math taught now. Chemistry and physics are combined in a watered-down class, largely because of the lack of math exposure to understand anything beyond the most basic of principles. I'm told this trend is occurring all across the country.
To further the negative sentiment, I was approached by a local community college to teach Mechanical CAD and Fundamentals Of Mechanical Design, but both were cancelled, again due to lack of interest. All very sad, but a statement on the perceived value of technical/technology education in an industry that is in serious decline and dying.
In response to the other half of Mr. Schoonmaker's question, "Is Free Trade Really Free?," I have to answer, "No." The way our government has set it up, so-called free trade has been paved as a one way street that benefits other countries much more than it benefits our country's manufacturers. Eventually, and in the not too distant future, we're going to see not just "Made In China," labels on products, but "Designed and Engineered In China." Are we relegating ourselves to just logistics, distribution, and consumption of products - the Walmart model on a national scale? It sure appears that way because we continue to consume more but actually produce less in this country. It's not only a sad statement, but is contributing to what I consider to be "The Continuing Fall of America" as an innovator and leader in engineering and manufacturing.
So what's going to come of all this? I don't honestly know, but as I said in my last commentary with regard to manufacturing - some things will be better, more will be worse, but all will be different. I hope that thought-provoking essays like Mr. Schoonmaker's continue so that an ongoing Discussion Forum can be created to attempt to address and resolve issues in the mechanical design, engineering, and manufacturing space.