Pinstripe engineers
8 Sep 2009
London - Based on current trends it seems that process engineers will in future need a much broader range of skills than today: their required expertise extended to cover many more aspects of electrical, mechanical and chemical engineering, as well as IT.
But, another increasingly important string to the engineer’s bow is likely to be business knowledge, including the ability to communicate effectively with financial managers.
Process engineers would do well to become much better at persuading boardroom executives of the value of investment in technology and more crucially, perhaps, the cost penalties of not keeping equipment and systems properly up to scratch.
This selling role should also include highlighting where government money is available for new projects - as reflected in the Sept/Oct edition of Process Engineering print magazine, which includes coverage of the tax credits and the new Regional Superfunds.
Word from the business world is that finance managers are even more set in their ways than their engineering colleagues. Beancounters, it is argued, could do with more than a little encouragement to exploit all the emerging financial support available for engineering and R&D projects.
Please email your views to the editor: patrick.raleigh@centaur.co.uk
