Acknowledge our worth - engineers SPEAKING CONFIDENTLY of the high levels of expertise to be found in the engineering fraternity, the Jamaica Institution of Engineers is on a drive for full recognition of the profession's true worth. The JIE campaign began with a drive to revamp university engineering syllabuses which concentrate heavily on design, to incorporate new subjects that give a macro view of the profession. And, as the JIE moves to celebrate the annual Engineering Week of activities starting Sunday, it is attempting to refocus its own membership of over 300 engineers, and the clients they serve, to the "economic importance" of engineering. At the micro, or firm level, engineers are engaged in system design for the most efficient operational use of technology in industrial and manufacturing enterprises. They build and maintain things. But they are also central to determining the best mix of resources, and defining the approach to tasks so that the production process runs smoothly, and is cost efficient. In this way engineering becomes a "value creating activity," said JIE president Harold 'Danny' Nembhard, in a Builder's Forum interview. But Jamaica is largely unaware of the full levels at which engineers are utilised, says Nembhard. And, engineers too are not sufficiently aware of "the bottomline implications of their work," he adds. Engineer's Week, which focuses engineers' attention on advances in their field, "will try to identify the not so usual areas of engineering, and making direct links between what engineers do and how profitable companies are," says Nembhard, "and extending that to how Jamaica's economic development is fostered by engineering." Engineers must appreciate that their job is not merely about building a hotel for example, said Nembhard, it's about the business of running a hotel which the design and plant layout has to encapsulate. Road construction is not only about facilitating the movement of people and vehicles, it is about making life more convenient for Jamaicans with the conveniences that will make their lives easier, he said. In a clear reference to the skewed distribution of large public sector contracts to foreign consultants, leaving the smaller jobs to locals - sector research has shown that 80 per cent of jobs worth under $50 million go to Jamaicans while contracts of $500 million and over end up being done by overseas firms the JIE said the country was not fully utilising the intellectual capital that engineers represent. But its push to have it happen is hampered by two factors: shoddy work on some road and building projects; and the fact that engineering training is skewed towards design. Given the confluence of expertise on development projects, it is not so easy to pinpoint the degree of culpability to assign to any one consultant when things go wrong. And, there "are a lot of practitioners who are not certified" and for whom there is no legal mechanism to "bring them to account," said Nembhard. On the latter problem, the engineering fraternity is working with the University of the West Indies and University of Technology to revolutionise the training. The aim is to bring a complementary mix of subjects for a binary focus on engineering's economic input as well as the design aspect. "This process is led by JIE and PERB (Professional Engineering Registration Board)," said Nembhard. PERB is the regulatory arm of the profession. - Lavern D. Clarke
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