Text 5B. The future of the engineering profession

Among various recent trends in the engineering profession computerization is the most widespread. The trend in modern engineering offices is also towards computerization. Computers are increasingly used for solving complex problems as well as for handling, storing, and generating the enormous volume of data modern engineers must work with.

Scientific methods of engineering are applied in several fields not connected directly to manufacture and construction. Modern engineering is characterized by the broad application of what is known as systems engineering principles.

Engineers in industry work not only with machines but also with people, to determine, for example, how machines can be operated most efficiently by workers. A small change in the location of the controls of a machine, its position with relation to other machines or equipment, a change in the muscular movements of the operator, often results in greatly increased production. This type of engineering work is called time-study engineering.

A related field of engineering, human-factors engineering, also known as ergonomics, received wide attention in the late 1970s and 1980s when the safety of nuclear reactors was questioned following serious accidents that were caused by operator errors, design failures, and malfunctioning equipment.

Human-factors engineering seeks to establish criteria for the efficient, human-centered design of, among other things, the large, complicated control panels that monitor and govern nuclear reactor operation.