7 Habits of Highly Successful Engineers:
Focus only on the most important things
It is so easy to lose focus in a plant environment. There are daily disasters, firefighting, management meetings, projects, and a hundred other distractions.
The challenge, of coourse, is to stay focused on those activities that will deliver the most value to the business. In a process manufacturing environment, the ‘main thing’ is usually some combination of these factors:
• Unit cost
• Production rate
• Quality
• Energy costs
• Reliability
• Environmental and
• Safety factors.
It will be very difficult to prove success if you cannot link your work to one or more of these factors.
Document the baselines
If you don’t know where you started, how will you know how far you have come?
Always take time to understand the starting point. The starting point should always be measured in business terms. You can supplement with some technical measures, but you should always establish a good baseline of business metrics, such as those mentioned above.
Use tools to be more effective
If you love to solve problems, it can be easy to overlook that there may be some much simpler ways to get the job done.
Sometimes, too, you have to get your ego out of the way. All engineers think they can tune problems quickly by textbook knowledge, this is a recipe for disaster, you may solve the problem ‘Quickly’, yes. ‘Properly’, not very often. Use the right tools to get the answers quickly and properly.
Network and communicate results
when you get some good results, you will need to communicate them clearly, concisely, and in business terms. Remember the baselining discussion above? Go back to your baseline measurements, and show how your work has had an influence on the bottom line.
Keep learning
Keep learning at each steps of activity, process, day to day activity in life.
you have a huge number of training resources available. You can take training course in your plant, at a training centre, or over the web. You can quickly find books and articles that delve into every possible subject.
Share your knowledge
Sharing your knowledge with others can help to make you and them more effective. For your own success, if people understand what you do, they will have a better appreciation of the value you bring to the company. Because other people often have limited process control knowledge, even sharing a little bit of your knowledge may be tremendously useful.
- Know the process
- Focus only on the most important things
- Document the baselines
- Use tools to be more effective
- Network and communicate results
- Keep learning
- Share your knowledge
Know the process :
Knowing the process is the first and most important habit for engineers. To be effective in the automation and control of a process, you must first have a thorough understanding of the processFocus only on the most important things
It is so easy to lose focus in a plant environment. There are daily disasters, firefighting, management meetings, projects, and a hundred other distractions.
The challenge, of coourse, is to stay focused on those activities that will deliver the most value to the business. In a process manufacturing environment, the ‘main thing’ is usually some combination of these factors:
• Unit cost
• Production rate
• Quality
• Energy costs
• Reliability
• Environmental and
• Safety factors.
It will be very difficult to prove success if you cannot link your work to one or more of these factors.
Document the baselines
If you don’t know where you started, how will you know how far you have come?
Always take time to understand the starting point. The starting point should always be measured in business terms. You can supplement with some technical measures, but you should always establish a good baseline of business metrics, such as those mentioned above.
Use tools to be more effective
If you love to solve problems, it can be easy to overlook that there may be some much simpler ways to get the job done.
Sometimes, too, you have to get your ego out of the way. All engineers think they can tune problems quickly by textbook knowledge, this is a recipe for disaster, you may solve the problem ‘Quickly’, yes. ‘Properly’, not very often. Use the right tools to get the answers quickly and properly.
Network and communicate results
when you get some good results, you will need to communicate them clearly, concisely, and in business terms. Remember the baselining discussion above? Go back to your baseline measurements, and show how your work has had an influence on the bottom line.
Keep learning
Keep learning at each steps of activity, process, day to day activity in life.
you have a huge number of training resources available. You can take training course in your plant, at a training centre, or over the web. You can quickly find books and articles that delve into every possible subject.
Share your knowledge
Sharing your knowledge with others can help to make you and them more effective. For your own success, if people understand what you do, they will have a better appreciation of the value you bring to the company. Because other people often have limited process control knowledge, even sharing a little bit of your knowledge may be tremendously useful.