In the June 2002 issue of SA I&C, Michael Brown, in his regular feature article, (entitled ‘The only magic: understanding what you are doing’) commented that about 85% of loops in nearly all plants he had observed were operating inefficiently in automatic. He went on to remark that a reason for this lack of practical understanding was due to the fact that the teaching of control in educational institutions was highly theoretical and people have to “learn to fly by the seat of their pants”.
This article was followed up later in June with an open letter to the SAIMC chair by Charles Palmer of Illovo Sugar who reported on the fact that some graduates from a Technikon that he had interviewed for the position of trainee instrument technician did not know what a thermocouple was, nor could they explain the operation or principle of a bourdon tube pressure gauge. Dick Perry responded on behalf of the SAIMC and shared the concerns raised by Brown and Palmer, lamenting on the shortage of competent people. One of the other very valid reasons put forward was the decline in apprenticeship and training programmes across industry and Perry hoped that this trend would be reversed through the implementation of the skills levy and the use of this funding for training by industry through their respective SETA.
It is currently the trend to blame the overall lack of competent people on the 'brain drain', but my personal belief and experience leads me to believe that this assumption is incorrect. Much of the responsibility unfortunately must be placed at Government's door with their push for so-called employment equity and the resultant appointment of staff with often less than the desired competency. The effect on the competent personnel from the so-called 'previously advantaged' community is that they see their promotion prospects disappear. The exceptional ones then take their opportunity to become entrepreneurs and establish their own businesses; the remainder probably guard their knowledge even more closely. Another disturbing trend in industry is that companies are retiring highly skilled and experienced personnel at the age of 60 rather than 65, in order once again to achieve equity targets.
The comments on the Technikon courses being too theoretical are somewhat disturbing. In the more than 20 years I spent at CSIR my experience was that Technikon graduates in general were hands-on people and could be put to profitable work virtually the same day they started. It was the University graduates that had been through a course that was too theoretical, and they had no hands-on experience. Here it often took up to a year of mentoring before they could be let loose on their own.
I have looked at the course content for industrial engineering as offered by several of the local Technikons and this appears to be reasonably broad-based, covering computer skills, manufacturing/production engineering, engineering drawing/design and automation with instrumentation & control itself being defined by some of the institutions. The lack of knowledge exhibited by graduate students of such simple devices as thermocouples and pressure gauges would seem to be inexcusable based on the curriculum itself. However we must remember that written examinations do encourage students to cram and to 'specialise' by focussing their learning on questions they perceive will be asked. Remember a 100% pass rate is not expected so there will be gaps in the knowledge of even the most distinguished students. As for the curriculum itself this has to be standardised countrywide (or broader) as otherwise how can employers in different sectors of engineering know what kind of skills they are acquiring?
Although it varies, in addition to the theoretical training, students undergo up to a year of experiental training in different industries. The purpose of this is best defined in the Port Elizabeth Technikon prospectus that defines it as follows: "Experiental training ensures that the diplomats [graduates] have the correct skills and knowledge to be immediately productive in their chosen careers after completing their academic studies at the Technikon".
In other words, experiental training is meant to ensure that the students can apply the theory learned at the Technikon. The 'Catch 22' is of course that during this period they need effective mentorship and to be supervised in such a way that they are taught to work independently.
The question really is who is to blame, the student, the Technikon or industry itself? In the first case we probably expect too much from a recent graduate despite his experiental training. Remember he has been educated as a generalist in a number of engineering subjects and even his experiental training may not have been suitable for his final employer. For example his training may have been in a machine shop whereas in reality he ends up in the control side of the mining or petrochemical industry. Michael Brown himself in the original article indicated that delegates to his courses sent by their companies have often started with an aggressive attitude, but by the end of the training they had realised that they actually did not know everything about control, and the vast majority were enthusiastic. If this is the case with experienced plant personnel then the new graduate must require specialised training and/or mentoring to cover his job functionality.
As for the teaching institutions many of their lecturers have no hands-on industrial experience so how could they effectively pass practical skills onto their students? Even if this were practical (sic) the subjects chosen would have to be those with which a lecturer was intimately familiar with and would therefore vary between institutions. A further question that arises is how would the lecturers themselves keep pace with modern practices in industry unless they themselves were subjected to continuous experiental exposure.
Of course if the industry is really serious then why not re-institute in-house apprenticeships or training, complemented by formal Technikon courses? At management level there is always succession planning and comprehensive training, including encouragement to acquire business-related degrees. Why not use the same approach on the plant floor itself?
Let us look briefly at in-house apprentice and technician training schemes.
CSIR as just one example used to have a major scheme that produced instrument makers (artisans), the government grant providing most of the funding. Many of these were absorbed within the organisation but for many others there were no positions and they provided a source of skilled labour to industry in general (a real return on tax payers money). Today many of these erstwhile apprentices are running their own machine shops continuing to take pride in their workmanship as in the days of old. The big advantage of the in-house apprentice and other training schemes is that theoretical knowledge can still be obtained through attending the local Technikon, but the hands-on experience is gained on the job. At the end of the apprenticeship period the supervisor himself knows who are the most talented personnel and can select the most appropriate for permanent employment, a highly successful alternative to an interview and a probationary period.
Within the manufacturing side of the I&C industry many companies (such as valve manufacturers) have maintained their own apprenticeship schemes and have benefited by working closely with their local Technikons. Another example reported in an article in the December 2002 issue of SA I&C is Circuit Breaker Industries. Although they are now benefiting from the proceeds of the skills levy, at their own cost they bucked the trend and maintained their in-house training scheme. A two-year programme spent in various departments within the company provides a steady flow of individuals with well-rounded skills and has the additional benefit of seeing where the employee can best fit into the organisation, be it in manufacturing, sales, logistics or whatever.
The old adage is true: The process of learning never stops - at least until you really are dead. Any degree or diploma imparts specific knowledge to the participant but more importantly prepares them for their future learning from system manuals, textbooks and the Internet. It should also put them in the position of knowing where their failings lie and where lack of knowledge can be corrected through participation in a specialised training course. A Technikon/University degree or diploma must be recognised as only the first step in the learning process. If the graduate has had hands-on experience in the industry in which they are finally employed then they may be of immediate use. Otherwise it is the responsibility of the employer to make use of internal training or external courses presented by a specialist in the field to ensure that the individual acquires the required knowledge. This should be an ongoing process in the particular industry as the individual hopefully progresses during his work life to new and more challenging tasks.
As technology develops, specialisation must be the order of the day as reflected in the medical and legal professions where graduates undergo the same basic theoretical and practical training but later can choose to specialise in niche areas. We do not expect a new graduate from medical school to carry out complex orthopaedic surgery nor would we ask a divorce lawyer to handle a criminal case. In regard to the case of control loop optimisation that was the concern of the initial article by Michael Brown who has conveyed to me the fact that some of our more outward-looking companies have recognised optimisation as a separate discipline within their organisations. If more do this then no doubt we will eventually see the subject incorporated into the curricula of the Technikons with hopefully real hands-on experience for the student.
Dr Maurice McDowell has many years' experience as a technical journalist, editor, business manager and research scientist. His third party analyses of world-class companies and processes, as well as his insight into industry and technology trends are well respected.
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