Education and training in manufacturing systems engineering

The educational processes in Britain, unlike those of our major industrial competitors, are biased towards the production of specialists. The ratio of scientists to engineers is out of balance with contemporary needs. Industry requires a new balance in the output of specialists and engineering generalists to ensure that the two key functions of product engineering research and development and manufacturing systems engineering research and development are adequately supplied. Also, engineering generalists capable of progressing to senior leadership positions are in short supply. To design, develop and operate the new types of factory required to meet the competitive market requirements of the 1 980s and 90s, we need a very large increase in the supply of manufacturing systems engineers. Traditional production engineering has not coped with the new challenges offered by Japan. The paper discusses the detailed manufacturing systems engineering curriculum requirements of courses for undergraduates and technicians, and also indicates the efforts being made in industry via continuing education to make up for past deficiencies in the higher education system.