Quote:
Originally Posted by Yorkie
I think its unfair to state that the tech leaders of today are to ingenuity what the Kardashion's are to talent. Look at Elon Musk. The guy not only brought us a way to easily pay for things he brought us a very good electric car and SpaceX. Branson is paving the way for space flight. Apple made the cell phone indispensable.
I agree that Engineers are not celebrated today as they were back in the 19th century but don't think that what we engineers build these days does not matter as the conversation ends up being one of those generational battles where the old guys start complaining about the "youth of today"
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I agree--I work at a lot of manufacturing facilities and whenever I get the opportunity I always view the process. Certain plants are based on "old school" technology, but the process has been stream-lined or updated by advances in the process introduced by engineers. The new steel mills I work on being built or expanded(yes, this is happening in the US) are vastly different than the "original" mills I work on, although the end product and result are the same. So, innovation is still occurring but instead of inventing the process, they are making it more efficient.
This was most evident at the Mahle piston facility a few years back--they had 2 lines going, one consisted mostly of robots handling the pieces, the other had 4-man crews making /finishing the parts. Both lines did the same thing, and it was interesting watching both, unfortunately, the robotic line was...efficient, and more unfortunate, in the loading /storage area, there were multiple large crates, containing...more robots. The precision displayed by the robots, and their singular purpose in the process was thanks to engineers, so there are those still out there actually interested in making things, which is nice to know.