Engineering... the Future

One of the aspects of the off-highway industry that is readily apparent is the enthusiasm of those who have made it their career. Whether it's designing and building a machine to harvest grain, move dirt, or cut down trees, there is a certain excitement that is evident by those who are happy to, simply put, build big cool machines with big cool engines. In many cases these engineers are completing the circle by taking part in the development of machines they once used on the farm or designing full-sized versions of the machines they once used in the sandbox. As every industry looks for ways to ensure its continued success and growth by attracting the brightest young participants, communicating the benefits of a career choice has become more important than ever. Fortunately for off-highway engineering, help has already arrived.

Life imitates art

Derived from the Latin ingenium, "engineering" means something like brilliant idea or flash of genius. The word "ingenuity" shares the same Latin ancestor.

And it's this ingenuity that producers of television shows like "BattleBots", "Monster Garage" and "Junkyard Wars" are hoping to capitalize on. But these TV shows, in addition to providing entertainment, also serve to bring engineering principles to the mainstream viewing audience.

"Junkyard Wars", a British television series, which aired on The Learning Channel in the United States is an example of how these shows employ and highlight classic engineering concepts.

On the show, two teams are competing against each other to build a machine out of parts scavenged from a junk yard. Team members don't know what they are supposed to build until the morning of the show and once they find out, they only have 10 hours to build it.

While we haven't quite gotten to the point where off-highway equipment development cycles have shrunk to 10 hours in today's fast-paced, first-to-market environment, it sometimes might seem like it. Being able to quickly develop and bring products to market is one of the keys to success in today's global economy.

And this means being able to shift directions quickly when things aren't working out as planned. This concept becomes greatly magnified when working against a 10-hour countdown.

Greg Long, a member of the successful Long Brothers Team, which appeared on four episodes of "Junkyard Wars", makes his living as a manufacturing engineering consultant. He can draw many parallels from his experiences on the show to what he sees on a daily basis in an engineering environment.

As he describes, on the show, once they were given their assignment, the production company had a general direction they wanted the teams to take, but they weren't locked into a particular design. For instance, when the Long Brothers team built an off-road buggy, the show wanted the vehicle to be light and be powered by a small engine, but they weren't locked in to a particular design.

"I would say that parallels with a project proposal and project timelines that you get from sales and marketing. Projects aren't starting out with a totally clean sheet of paper," says Long.

Once the assignment was given, they had to relatively quickly pick a design direction and start building.

"With only 10 hours you really don't have the luxury to work on 12 different options. You can get a lot of input, you can do some brainstorming, but eventually you need to say 'this is what we are going to do'."

Long sees this same scenario played out on a regular basis in the companies that he works with. "I've worked with a lot of engineering groups that have really struggled to get beyond that step. They get into the 'what ifs', and eventually end up with a project that is over budget and time frames that are twice as long as what sales and marketing wanted, and no one is happy."

Once you've decided on a direction and actually started building something on the show, Long says, you have to be able to change directions quickly if your plan doesn't seem to be working.