Mechanical Engineering In A Nutshell

Blog 1
An Explanation of Your Field
Erik Weber

First, a little background about myself, I have two siblings, an older brother and a younger sister, which makes me the unlucky one (if you’re a middle child as well, you can relate).  I grew up outside Buffalo, MN in a rural area on 30 acres of mostly woods.  We had 17 cats at our highest (outdoor cats), three dogs, four horses, chickens and the occasional guinea pig or hamster.  Throughout my childhood I spent most of my time outdoors tinkering with mechanical toys of mine.  This included everything from taking apart my brothers remote control cars to shooting my sisters dolls with a 22 caliper rifle.  This “how stuff works” interest of mine grew into a hobby.  I like to save money where I can so I generally try to do my own repairs.  For instance, I fix all I can on my vehicle to avoid bringing it in.  Since I love working with my hands to find solutions to any mechanical problem that surfaces, I figured Mechanical Engineering was the place for me.

In this blog, I plan on describing the profession of mechanical engineering.  I’ll start with some simple statistics defining its relevance in today’s world then I would like to talk more about how I divvy up engineering as a profession.    

We all know technical innovation is a very important part of a country’s growth.  Engineers play a huge roll in developing innovative ideas that propel a country towards success and economic power.  In the U.S., engineering degrees awarded by universities make up 4.4% of all the undergraduate degrees.¹  This is lower than European countries (13%) and key Asian countries (23%) however, America still sails at the top as an economic power…’Merica.  As most of you know, engineers come out of college making a healthy amount of money.  According to Forbes, 2015 engineering graduates can expect to make $57,000 starting salary.²  With this very attractive pay, it’s no surprise more and more students are choosing an engineering degree.  The figure below shows the number of awarded engineering degrees in the United States of America from 2003 to 2012.  We can see there has been a 20% increase in bachelor’s degrees in under a decade.  Now there are many engineering disciplines that all these new students can go into.

Did you know there was such a thing as Mining Engineering?

One, very common, very well-known engineering discipline is Mechanical Engineering.  Among enrolled engineering students in the U.S., 21.5% of them are trying for ME.²  In the America’s workforce, ME’s make up about 17% of the engineering jobs.² 

Mechanical Engineering can be divided into multiple fields and specialties, but for the purpose of this blog, I am going to divide it three ways: Project Design Engineering, Test/Quality Engineering, and Manufacturing Engineering.  

Project design engineer’s main job is to develop new products while focusing on functionality and efficiency.  They need to have a technical mind set and be able to make something out of nothing.  Being familiar with computer aided drafting and design software programs is very important as well as having good communication skills.  I was told by speakers from Cargill, a worldwide provider of food and agricultural services, that the most important skill an engineer can have is to be able to give and receive advice.  A product design engineer needs to be able to communicate with workers using existing products, figure out what is missing, and design a new product that fills that gap.

This is where test/quality engineers differ.  Their main duties are to improve existing products.  A mindset that allows a person to take faulty equipment and use it as a base guideline to design a newer, improved product is required in test engineering.  Test/quality engineering is a favored position because it allows an employee to go out in the field instead of staring at a computer screen all day. 

Once a new product is designed, or an old product is improved, someone needs to be in charge of turning that design into an object available for the people.  This is where manufacturing engineering comes in.  These people are responsible for laying out the process that will turn a blue print into a tangible, usable product.  They start from scratch, deciding what materials need to be used to match the stress and strain requirements for the given products job.  For example, if there are weight restrictions, one might use aluminum over steel.  They also decide what machines will be used to shape the material.  CNC mills for low tolerance or iron casting for greater speed but higher tolerances. It’s always a three way struggle of creating something as fast as possible that’s as strong as it needs to be for as cheap as it can be.

This has been a quick overview of myself and my background which led me to the degree I am seeking.  Along with some simple facts about engineering with an emphasis on the Mechanical engineering profession.  Followed by the three main fields, in my mind, of engineering.

¹https://www.nae.edu/Publications/Bridge/119585/119587.aspx

²http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2014/11/19/the-college-degrees-with-the-highest-starting-salaries-in-     2015/