CONCEPT OF ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT

Engineering Management is the Fusion of Business and Engineering Principles.

As per the definition by the American Society for Engineering Management

(ASEM) - “Engineering management is the art and science of planning,
organizing, allocating resources, and directing and controlling activities that
have a technological component”.

IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) has provided a more

streamlined definition: “Engineering management is the discipline addressed to
making and implementing decisions for strategic and operational leadership in
current and emerging technologies and their impacts on interrelated systems”.

The engineering manager is distinguished from other managers because he

/she possesses both an ability to apply engineering principles and a skill in
organizing and directing people and projects. They are uniquely qualified for
two types of jobs: the management of technical functions (such as design or
production) in almost any enterprise, or the management of broader functions
(such as marketing or top management) in a high-technology enterprise.

Evolution of Engineering Management

With the globalization of the manufacturing base, outsourcing of many

technical services, the efficiencies derived from advances in information
technology, and the shifting of our economy to being service-based, the roles
of the technical organization and engineering managers have dramatically
changed.

To understand the engineering management discipline, we need to understand

how the discipline relates to other disciplines. In reviewing the history of EM,
we assert that EM has evolved from the engineering and management
disciplines. Engineering management is the bridge between the engineering
and management disciplines.
Five disciplines mainly contribute to defining three different perspectives on the
engineering management field. The five discipline groups are:

Engineering Disciplines: The core engineering disciplines in which the focus is

on the engineering and design process unique to a domain (e.g., civil,
traditional industrial, mechanical, electrical).

Discipline-Specific Engineering Management: The engineering management

discipline that focuses on the management process for a specific engineering
discipline (e.g., management of the civil engineering process, management of
the industrial engineering process, etc.).

Generalist Engineering Management: The engineering management discipline

that focuses on the fundamental engineering management process across many
engineering disciplines.

Management of Technology: The business or management discipline that

focuses on managing the creation, development, and use of technology.

General Management: The management discipline that focuses on the

management of any organization.

Given these disciplines, three perspectives on engineering management are:

 Discipline-specific Engineering Management

 Generalist Engineering Management and
 Management of Technology

Engineering Management Representation

Main Functions of Engineering Management

 Planning (forecasting, setting objectives, action planning, administering

policies, establishing procedures).
 Organizing (organizing workplace, selecting a structure, delegating,
establishing working relationships).
 Leading (deciding, communicating, motivating, selecting/developing
people).
 Controlling (setting performance standards,
evaluating/documenting/correcting performance).

Few Example areas of Engineering Management

 Product Development
 Manufacturing
 Construction
 Design Engineering
 Industrial Engineering
 Technology
 Production

Challenges Faced by Engineering Managers

  Globalization
 Short-term profit focus
 Increased regulatory/environmental stewardship/ethical focus
 Changing demographics of the workforce
 Operating networks of relationships
 Managing and leading teams
 Understanding and managing uncertainty
 Changing culture
 Using tools and metrics to manage
 Developing the n

ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT SKILLS

Types of Skills Required for Managers

Managers need three types of skills: Technical, Interpersonal, and Conceptual.

Technical skills are skills (such as engineering, accounting, machining, or IT-based) practiced by
the group supervised. Lowest-level managers have the greatest need for technical skills since
they are directly supervising the people who are doing the technical work, but even top
managers must understand the underlying technology on which their industry is based.

Interpersonal skills, on the other hand, are important at every management level since every
manager achieves results through the efforts of other people.

Conceptual skills represent the ability to “see the forest despite the trees”—to discern the
critical factors that will determine an organization’s success or failure. This ability is essential to
the top manager’s responsibility for setting long-term objectives for the enterprise, although it
is necessary at every level.

Major focus points required for Engineering Manager

Team Alignment: Visualize the business intent and contextualize the business requirements so
that the team understands them fully.
Scope of Facility: Synthesize the integrated facility scope within the boundaries of cost and
schedule.
Engineering Execution Plan: Develop and implement an engineering execution plan as part of
the overall project execution plan.
Technical Risk Management: Identity, assess, rank, and manage technical risks holistically; and
Philosophies, standards, and specifications: Contract and ensure appropriate design
philosophies, standards, and specifications are set and met.

Team Alignment

The engineering manager is typically the person that interfaces with the business owner.
He/she must understand what the business owner wants to achieve and then translate that
understanding into “engineering talk”. Very often a business owner has a rough idea or concept
in his mind, but that does not translate into a defined and executable project. The engineering
manager plays a pivotal role as the interface between “the business” and “the project”,
translating and communicating between the two parties and managing the relationship.

To do this translation, the engineering manager must have a good understanding of the drivers
of the economic and operating models of the facility. In this way, he/she is the person that
ensures the alignment of people’s thinking and the total engineering effort through all the
project stages.

The engineering manager must ensure that his entire team of engineers understands the
business objectives and project objectives and establish alignment.

Scope of Facility
The scope of the facility must be developed that will meet the business needs. It needs to be
Restrained, Inexpensive, and Elegant and it needs to be done Fast. The proposed solution must
delight the business owner. Only once a scope is in place can the responsible manager
determine the cost and schedule. The engineering manager must understand the boundaries of
cost and schedule that will make business sense and guide the engineering teams toward
developing a concept within the boundaries of cost, schedule, quality, and reliability.

The description of the facility must be broken down into a facility breakdown structure,
supported by individual work packages with appropriate details. Operating safety and
environmental requirements must be properly translated into the engineering scope. Each
work package needs to be written up in detail, reviewed, and approved by at least the
engineering manager, the project manager, and the business owner. This scope definition
package forms the basis for the total project.

Achieving approval is crucial as it aligns everybody on what the project will deliver (and not
deliver) and is a crucial document through which changes are managed and scope creep (and
thus cost and schedule overruns) prevented. A proper definition of how engineering scope
changes will be managed and controlled is an essential element for a successful outcome.

Managing the development of the scope of the facility towards an optimized solution requires
consideration of the complete business value chain during the front-end loading of the project.
The engineering manager should continually be on the lookout for an elegant solution, keeping
it “pleasingly ingenious and simple”.

Engineering Execution Plan

The engineering execution plan lays out all the methods, procedures, milestones, decision
points, and decision-makers, as well as the resources required to complete the engineering
work. A well-developed plan is essential for completing the work fast. Exercising restraint
during the development of the execution plan means ensuring resource requirements, tools,
and decision-making processes that would adequately support the overall intent of achieving a
successful project and business venture.

All too often the front-end development is spoiled by indecision and recycling of concepts,
under the guise of reaching a proposal that is both technically and economically feasible. This
often adds many months to the front-end development that can be mitigated through a
focused drive by the engineering manager, always keeping the business objectives and
boundaries in mind.

Technical Risk Management

Projects are subject to a plethora of uncertainties, i.e., risks and opportunities, that can affect
the project and business objectives. Although the activity is normally referred to as project risk
management, it covers both risk and opportunity management. Potential positive and negative
outcomes deserve equal attention.”

If production is delayed through technical problems, either during construction or start-up, the
slower ramp-up of the revenue can have a devastating impact on the project finances and even
on the owner company itself. Proactive identification and mitigation of risks can go a long way
toward securing the expected outcomes. Engineering managers use various techniques like
potential deviation analysis, innovation assessments, and decision analysis techniques to
identify potential risks associated with for example planning, technology maturity, and
technology selection processes.

Philosophies, Standards, and Specifications

Specifications should contribute during project execution to minimize cost and schedule, deliver
technical integrity, and during plant operations to meet operations requirements such as
maintainability, reliability, operability, throughput, product quality, and safety.

Standards and specifications are often blamed for cost overruns in that projects appear to be
gold-plated. Considering the business objectives in terms of the facility life, reliability,
maintainability, and operability the engineering manager needs to guide the engineering
fraternity toward the development of fit-for-purpose specifications.

Once the project requirements are set and detailed design, manufacturing, and construction
commences, an engineering quality plan is required to ensure that the deliverable does meet
the agreed quality. A proactive and thorough quality assurance plan will enable non-
conformities to be identified early on with enough time to correct the defects. If critical defects
are only discovered late during construction, it inevitably leads to long delays in start-up and
will have a serious impact on the viability of the business.

ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT DOMAINS

Engineering management is the fusion of business and engineering principles.
By having knowledge of economics and management they can forecast or can
predict the utility, advantages, and disadvantages of the product and also, get
to know the scope of the product and its contribution to growth.

The American Society for Engineering Management (ASEM) is a global

professional society dedicated to the promotion and advancement of the
engineering and technical management profession. ASEM provides a foundation
for anyone wanting to engage with or become knowledgeable about the field of
Engineering Management.

A Guide to the Engineering Management Body of Knowledge (EMBOK),

published by the American Society of Engineering Management (ASEM) divides
the various engineering management domains and competency areas into sub-
areas. The EMBOK Guide includes competency areas under 11 domains that
were derived from a role delineation study and should be possessed by
professionals, managers, and executives in the field of engineering
management.

 Engineering Management tools and skills

 Leadership and Organizational Management
 Strategic Planning
 Financial Resource Management
 Project Management
 Operations
 Marketing and Sales Management
 Management of Technology
 Systems Engineering
  Legal aspects of Engineering Management
 Professional Codes of Conduct and Ethics

To discuss a few of them:

Engineering Management Tools and Skills

It defines planning, organizing, allocating resources, and directing and

controlling activities that are involved and required in the sector.

Leadership and Organizational Management

It will mainly require skills regarding managing and motivating knowledge

workers, organizational structure, management systems, systems thinking,
leadership and human resources management, and teaming.

Strategic Planning

A Strategic Planning Process is a continuous activity that deals with the

changes, both short-term and long-term, that should be made to the Strategic
Plan because of unknown variations in the political and economic environment
or technological breakthroughs. The most productive area of an enterprise is
where it understands and utilizes the strength of teams, technology, and
political and economic environments. This is normally done through Strategic
Engineering Management.

Financial Resource Management

The concept of producing the maximum benefit for Financial management

involves planning, organizing, directing, and controlling financial activities in an
organization. They ensure the basic objective of financial management is met
by: Making important decisions through profit and loss analysis, financial
forecasting, and ratio analysis, among others. Managing Financial Resources
addresses the complicated issues of financial planning and control. These
include performance measures and cost analysis, methods of improving
profitability, and techniques of financial monitoring and control.
Project Management

Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and

techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements. Because the
number of projects undertaken by organizations has increased dramatically,
project management has become a critical skill for most companies. The
EMBOK refers to the PMBOK (project management body of knowledge) Guide as
the accepted best practices for the project management profession and
describes the integrated processes as initiating, planning, executing,
monitoring, controlling, and closing.

Operations Management

The ultimate success of any commercial organization depends upon its ability
to determine and satisfy its customers’ needs. Today, organizations focus on
quality, speed, efficiency, and customer value to be globally competitive, and
the long-term sustainability of any organization depends on its commitment to
continuous improvement.

Management of Technology

Technology is a key to business success. The development and use of

technologies provide organizations with a competitive advantage to improve
the human condition. New Product development and product enhancements are
an integral part of managing technology.

Systems Engineering

Systems engineering is a multi-disciplinary approach that deals with large

complicated and complex systems. The focus of systems engineering is on
system development, but it also considers the full life cycle of the system.
Typically, the systems engineering process is requirements-driven, using
requirements to ensure that the system developed m

PRODUCTIVITY, EFFECTIVENESS, AND EFFICIENCY

Productivity is generally regarded as a measure of outputs divided by inputs. All
the activities you get done in a day may be considered your output, and the
time you put into them is your input. Efficiency is a measure of how well you do
those things. If you can get more outputs from the same inputs, you are said to
have increased efficiency. Effectiveness is a measure of doing the “right things.”
Highly effective individuals and companies act in ways that move their highest
priorities forward regularly.

Productivity = Output / Input

Efficiency = Doing Things Right

Effectiveness = Doing the Right Things

Difference Between Efficiency and Effectiveness

Efficiency

Efficiency refers to the ability to produce maximum output from the given input
with the least waste of time, effort, money, energy, and raw materials. It can be
measured quantitatively by designing and attaining the input-output ratios of
the company’s resources like funds, energy, material, labor, etc.

Efficiency is also considered a parameter to calculate performance and

productivity by making comparisons between the budgeted output and the
actual outputs produced with the fixed number of inputs. It is the ability to do
things in a well-mannered way, to achieve the standard output.

Efficiency is an essential element for resource utilization, as they are very less
in number, and they have alternative uses, so they must be utilized in the best
possible way.

Effectiveness

Effectiveness refers to the extent to which something has been done, to achieve
the targeted outcome. It means the degree of closeness of the achieved
objective with the predetermined goal to examine the potency of the whole
entity.

Effectiveness has an outward look i.e. it discloses the relationship of the

business organization with the macro environment of business. It focuses on
reaching a competitive position in the market.

Effectiveness is result-oriented that shows how excellently an activity has been

performed that led to the achievement of the intended outcome which is either
accurate or next to perfect.

Key Differences Between Efficiency and Effectiveness

 The ability to produce maximum output with limited resources is known

as Efficiency. The level of the nearness of the actual result with the
planned result is Effectiveness.
 Efficiency is ‘to do things perfectly’ while Effectiveness is ‘to do perfect
things.
 Efficiency has a short-run perspective. Conversely, the long run is the
point of view of Effectiveness.
 Efficiency is yield-oriented. Unlike Effectiveness, which is result-oriented.
 Efficiency is to be maintained at the time of strategy implementation,
whereas strategy formulation requires Effectiveness.
 Efficiency is measured in the operations of the organization, but the
Effectiveness of strategies is measured which are made by the
organization.
 Efficiency is the outcome of actual output upon given the number of
inputs. On the other hand, Effectiveness has a relationship with means
and ends.

Comparison Chart: Efficiency and Effectiveness

Difference Between Productivity and Efficiency

If Andy produces 1,000 lines of code in a week while Brad produces 800 lines,
it may look like Andy is the more productive worker; that’s true if he has a low
error rate. But if his code requires 30 hours of debugging, and Brad’s works the
first time it compiles, Brad is far more efficient than Andy — and this plugs
straight into his true productivity, his penchant to do the right things right.

Key Differences are:

Productivity is quantity; efficiency is quality: The biggest difference between

productivity and efficiency is simple: productivity measures bulk output;
efficiency measures the proportion of output that works as intended.

Productivity is performance; efficiency is how well you perform: Just because

you perform something doesn’t mean you do it well. Consider daytime TV
actors vs. their movie and TV counterparts. Daytime actors produce a new show
every weekday. They tend to do a decent job, no knock to them; but the movie
and TV actors have weeks or months to perfect their work, plus special-effects
budgets.
Productivity doesn’t consider underlying costs; efficiency does: Consider the
coding example above. Andy did 1,000 lines of code that week while Brad did
800, so Andy was the winner of the productivity award. But his code was so
buggy it doubled the cost of production. Meanwhile, Brad’s code worked right
the first time at half the cost of Andy’s. His more careful, methodical work
saved money instead of just getting the product out the door.

Productivity is a raw measure; efficiency is a refined one: Raw productivity

shows how much someone accomplished. Efficiency reflects productivity that
generates profit and should always serve as an input to production planning.
Productivity is just output; efficiency includes built-in quality control. It may not
help speed productivity, but it ensures that what you produce fits your needs
and requirements first, so you don’t have to spend more resources fixing it.

Productivity is the combination of efficiency and effectiveness. This means that

a company that only attains efficiency or effectiveness is either partially
productive or not productive at all. To be productive, a company needs to be
efficient and effective at the same time.

Productivity + Efficiency = True Productivity

PRODUCT MARKETING AS A PART OF ENGINEERING

MANAGEMENT
Marketing and sales management are tightly coupled with engineering and
engineering management. An understanding of the business side of product
development, marketing, advertising, and sales on the part of engineering
managers can be of enormous benefit to both managers and the companies
that employ them. Engineers or similar professionals everywhere are involved in
activities traditionally reserved for marketing and salespeople. Figuring out how
to meet a customer’s needs, helping convince a prospective customer to choose
a product or service, and developing spec sheets for a conference are all
marketing and sales activities that engineering management professionals are
routinely involved in.
Sales and Advertising Practices

Sales are the act of motivating a potential customer to decide to purchase a

product or service. Advertising is communicating to a target audience to make
that audience aware of products and services that exist. Both advertising and
sales are critical to helping get the products and services that engineers create
into the hands of the right people.

It’s important to understand that, when advertising and selling internationally,

differences in culture and language need to be successful.

Customer Satisfaction Strategies

Customer satisfaction is important for any organization to measure and

manage. Engineering managers are not exempt from this. Customers are well-
informed, intelligent, and able to choose different providers if they aren’t
satisfied with the products or services. This counts as much for internal
customers as it does for external customers.

To improve customer satisfaction, it must first be measured. Traditional

techniques for measuring customer satisfaction include surveys, focus groups,
and interviews. It is very important to design these tools carefully, as poor
design can obfuscate results, and even lead to drawing incorrect conclusions.

Marketing and Branding Techniques

Marketing is the act of determining what a given market needs and how to
satisfy that need given what the organization’s capabilities are and what
competitors are doing. Marketing involves four primary elements, commonly
known as the “Four Ps” of marketing:

 Product: What it is you sell

 Price: What customers will pay
 Place: How you will get the product to customers
 Promotion: Advertising and sales
Engineering managers play a key role in developing an organization’s products
and services, establishing cost structures (which inform price), setting up
distribution channels, and developing product specifications and trade show
materials.

Branding is about giving products an identity that acts as shorthand for the
attributes of a given product. BMW’s brand stands for luxury and performance.
Walmart’s brand stands for value and convenience. Both brands say very
different things but are equally powerful. Engineering managers play an
important role in giving brands credibility through their design decisions.

Global Trade and International Operations

With globalization, companies in every industry will be faced with at least one
of the following: competition from abroad, needing to source materials or
talent from abroad, or trying to enter overseas markets. It is important to bear
in mind that values and management practices differ throughout the world and
Engineering Managers cannot assume that business as usual will work in any
other market.

Given that operating in an international market can necessitate different

practices, it is important to be aware of the various options that are available
for doing business abroad. Domestic companies can import or export goods,
invest directly in foreign entities, license their products or services to others,
set up franchises, or use management contracts to profit from outside markets.

Pricing Strategies

A product’s price is what the customer pays for a given product. Pricing is
something of an art and must consider the customer’s ability to pay, the
organization’s goals and targets, the product’s cost, and how the competition
prices alternative products. Pricing should not be driven by cost alone and
needs to reflect the value conferred by the product. For example, books
generally cost pennies to produce but are priced orders of magnitude higher.
This is because they provide much more value than the sum of their physical
parts.
Engineering managers can be heavily involved in product pricing, especially
concerning controlling product costs and understanding how competitors’
products are positioned.

Market-Driven Engineering Management Business Model-Sample

QUALITY CONCEPTS AND DIMENSIONS

Definition of Quality

Quality, as it applies to an object (product, service, process), is defined as the

“degree to which a set of inherent characteristics (attributes) of the object
satisfies a set of requirements.” Therefore, the quality of an object is
determined by comparing a predetermined set of characteristics against a set of
requirements. If those characteristics conform to the requirements, high quality
is achieved, but if those characteristics do not conform, a low or poor level of
quality is achieved.
Modern quality management approaches relate in many ways to modern project
management approaches overall. More and more attention is being paid to the
human aspect of the processes, the team approach to quality, and the concept
of total quality management. The quality management process is more oriented
toward permanent small incremental improvements and multiple inspection
points in the processes than it was in the past.

Principles of Quality Management System (QMS)

Quality Management is a generic term for Quality Framework (procedures,

processes, tools, checklists, etc.) which covers the Quality Assurance disciplines
necessary to manage the Quality of products and services in an Organization. It
is most closely linked and implemented as part of the ISO 9000 family of
standards. The following eight main principles form the basis of QMS:

 Customer-Focused Organization
 Leadership
 Involvement of People
  Process Approach
 System Approach to Management
 Continual Improvement
 Factual Approach to Decision Making
 Mutually Beneficial Supplier Relationships

However, adaptation to the Quality Management system varies by both the type
of company and the industry sector. So, the easiest and most popular way to
implement QMS in an organization is to adopt the ISO 9001 model and develop
the framework according to the standards.

ISO 9000:2015 Principles of Quality Management

Dimensions of Quality

The most fundamental definition of a quality product is one that meets the
expectations of the customer. However, even this definition is too high level to
be considered adequate. To develop a more complete definition of quality, we
must consider some of the key dimensions of a quality product or service.

Performance

Does the product or service do what it is supposed to do, within its defined
tolerances?

Performance is often a source of contention between customers and suppliers,

particularly when deliverables are not adequately defined within specifications.

The performance of a product often influences the profitability or reputation of

the end user. As such, many contracts or specifications include damages
related to inadequate performance.

Features

Does the product or services possess all the features specified, or required for
its intended purpose?

While this dimension may seem obvious, performance specifications rarely

define the features required in a product. Thus, suppliers designing products or
services from performance specifications must be familiar with their intended
uses and maintain close relationships with the end users.

Reliability

Will the product consistently perform within specifications?

Reliability may be closely related to performance. For instance, a product

specification may define parameters for up-time or acceptable failure rates.
Reliability is a major contributor to brand or company image and is considered
a fundamental dimension of quality by most end-users.

Conformance

Does the product or service conform to the specification?

If it’s developed based on a performance specification, does it perform as

specified? If it’s developed based on a design specification, does it possess all
the features defined?

Durability

How long will the product perform or last, and under what conditions?

Durability is closely related to the warranty. Requirements for product durability

are often included within procurement contracts and specifications.

For instance, fighter aircraft procured to operate from aircraft carriers include
design criteria intended to improve their durability in the demanding naval
environment.

Serviceability

Is the product relatively easy to maintain and repair?

As end-users become more focused on the Total Cost of Ownership than

simple procurement costs, serviceability (as well as reliability) is becoming an
increasingly important dimension of quality and criteria for product selection.

Aesthetics

The way a product looks is important to end-users. The aesthetic properties of

a product contribute to a company’s or brand’s identity. Faults or defects in a
product that diminish its aesthetic properties, even those that do not reduce or
alter other dimensions of quality, often cause rejection.
Perception

Perception is reality. The product or service may possess adequate or even

superior dimensions of quality but still fall victim to a negative customer or
public perceptions.

As an example, a high-quality product may get a reputation for being low

quality based on poor service by installation or field technicians. If the product
is not installed or maintained properly and fails as a result, the failure is often
associated with the product’s quality rather than the quality of the service it
receives.

Eight Dimensions of Quality (Garvin,1988)