Mark Ivan R.

Thomas Engineering Management BSCE – 2C

Item for Research:

Prepare a forecast of the human resource needs of an engineering firm.

Human resources are the set of the people who make up the workforce of an organization,
business sector, industry, or economy.

Within each engineering discipline there are various job roles to choose from. In practice
some jobs will involve doing more than one of these, and some graduate schemes or
apprenticeships may give you the chance to try out different options to see what suits
you.

Here are some of the main roles.

• Research and development – carrying out original research into areas

that haven’t been investigated before.
• Design engineering – working on an engineering project before
construction/manufacturing begins, to make sure that there is a
detailed, practical design to work from.
• Project engineering/construction management – managing engineering
or construction projects to make sure that they are completed on time,
on budget, to the clients’ requirements and in line with safety
legislation.
• Process engineering – analyzing manufacturing processes and finding
ways to make them safer and more efficient.
Engineers can also work in different industries. Most industries need engineers from a
range of different disciplines for the different knowledge and skills that they bring.

To give a very simplified example, in rail engineering different engineers might be

responsible for the following areas:

• mechanical engineers – trains

• electrical engineers – power distribution
• electronic engineers – signaling systems
• civil engineers – tracks, bridges and stations.
Key engineering industries include:

• aeronautical (flight)
• automotive (road vehicles)
• built environment (buildings and infrastructure)
• chemicals (manufacturing substances on a large scale)
• defense
• electronics
• energy
• fast-moving consumer goods (manufacturing items such as snack foods
and cleaning products)
• marine (ships)
• materials and metals (developing new materials or improving existing
ones)
• pharmaceuticals
• rail
• telecoms
• utilities (covering water, sewerage, energy and telecoms).