Engineer Vs Client Vs Workers
Dear All,
I am a skilled tradesman in numerous fields of mechanical endeavours, and I concur with you that engineers have to closely work with the end user to correctly design products that suit the 'Fit For Purpose' requirements. I have been in industry circles for almost 50 years and have seen so many 'Engineered Designs' having to be retouched to make them workable to meet the design criteria and this is another added cost to overall initial installation.
My own 'TECMATE Mine Services P/L' company I use for my design work has an Idealogy (Done Once, Done Right) and Philosophy (There is NO such thing as a PROBLEM, Just an ISSUE requiring a SOLUTION). When I was 16, an old steam engineer told me a story about the 'KISS Principal' (Keep It Simple Stupid) but he said that he added a phrase and had a different approach '(Keep It Stupidly Simple AND IT WILL ALWAYS WORK)'. This Philosophy has never let me down. ■
Engine Room Shipmates
Hi,
I hear you, I hear you. One maintenance engineer told me, you don't have to go into that dusty ore handling plant - why don't you send one of your young engineers.
Good advice, but I still like to get my hands dirty, and come home to my wife looking like a coal miner. There is something magic about feeling the dirt with your fingers, and hearing a bearing screech, that triggers brain links in the subconscience.
My supervisor and I were looking at a magnetic drum separator and listening to the noise it made. Yep, the bearing is gone allright. We can hear it moan as clear as day. Our mechanics stripped the bearing - nothing. A magnetic drum is hollow. We were hearing the echo from the other end of the shaft, where the Vendor had forgotten to put grease in the greased-for-life bearing.
You are a project manager. Your job is to manage. So focus on that and don't get bogged down in the technical details. So we appointed a turnkey contractor. They had plenty of Maintenance Shut experience, and knew our plant from years back. And we insisted they appoint a qualified mechanical engineer. Back came the CAD layouts.
This belt is carrying lumps to a lumps crusher. How big are the lumps, and how big a hole do you need at the bottom of the dump hopper to prevent bridging? How close is the tail drum to the dirt? How do we get under to clean out the spillage? This crusher platform looks flimsy - have you checked out natural frequencies? What are the safety issues? And what are you doing about dust control?
Many consulting engineers today are using CAD draftsmen who have no mining plant experience, and have never been on site. One engineer asked me "What are those circles on the conveyor layout drawing?"
Hmm. That one represents the drive pulley, and that is the tail pulley, and those are the bend pulleys for the gravity takeup. Any other questions?
That's our computerised, push-button engineering of today [OK I exaggerate a bit for laughts].
It hurts me big-bucks to hear of your stories.
Regards - Sgt John.rz
www.latviantourists.com.au ■
Research and development a function of field experience
The Colorado School of Mines asknowledges its formation in the roots of mine personnel who got the job done and got it done correctly.
I blieve there exists a lot of R&D ideas in the field as well as in the university which are of a practical nature.
I good mechanic is as good an engineer as a billiards player is practically skilled in the science of trig functions.
I would recommend that university research personnel begin first in an observers setting.
Practicle ideas, coupled with the capability of the engineer could very well begin whole new product development programs which wouldnot only assist in the support of university endowments but reward the scholar who applies the sciences to the mechanic's observations ■