This edition of Member Spotlight highlights the engineering experience of new UK Chapter President and Technology Transfer Associate, Benjamin Ting.
When did you first know you wanted to be an engineer?
It was probably confirmed in the middle of high school. I spent 1 week as part of our careers work experience at Arup in Cairns, shadowing civil and structural engineers, playing around with Microstation and Oasys GSA and visiting site. It was a great, albeit short experience that sold it for me.
What is the best piece of advice you have been given?
No problem IS a problem. On many levels, this is something I've really taken on. From a wider perspective, being in a work environment where talking about problems is encouraged is highly conducive to teamwork and developing better solutions. Also, if 'no problems' can be seen, they often, you're not looking hard enough or challenging the environment enough to find the next improvement. People can sometimes think this means 'complaining', but it's about identifying and articulating problems constructively. In many ways, it's about saying 'great stuff, you've identified a problem/opportunity... no worries, we can do something about it'.
What are your top two career highlights?
In no particular order, one highlight was when I was previously working for the defence contractor, Thales in their Protected Mobility business as a Manufacturing Engineer. We held a celebratory event marking the delivery of the 1000th Bushmaster vehicle and one of the guest speakers, a General from the Australian Army gave a very candid yet articulate, specific example of how our vehicle platform had a direct effect in the saving a number of lives of Australian soldiers in Afghanistan. I can honestly say that everyone in company had a direct contribution to the on-time delivery, the no-compromise design and quality manufacture of our vehicles, so when we received feedback from the end-user, it really gave a sense of pride that we 'made a significant difference' to a lot of people.
Another highlight is in my recent role in technology commercialisation at the University of Cambridge, where I was able to help a group of researchers gain incredible traction in commercialising their new battery material technology - going from the lab to founding a company, linking in with partners and securing a very large UK government grant, all within a year, and against the critics who had cast a lot of doubt on our plans. Of course, time will tell if the technology takes off but I'm confident that I was able to engineer a stable operational foundation to give them a good chance of success.
How does being Chartered assist in your career?
I often read on job applications of job specs which specify that the candidate must have '10 years’ experience' doing something very specific and focused. In some ways, it's less about the 'duration' of the experience and more about the quality of the experience. I think the self and peer assessment across the competencies required to become Chartered help qualify the quality of experience that someone has had, and is a better reflection then of capabilities of that person to add value to an organisation. Personally for me, I believe it has helped me establish credibility when working with a wide range of other professions and with people who are more senior than I am, even though to them, I am still considered quite 'young'.
What advice do you have for graduate engineers?
You always have something to learn from those around you and that the sooner you appreciate the ideas of systems thinking in both technical and operational responsibilities, the more effective you will be in your job. Also, (and I may be making a gross generalisation here), but 'young people' have been criticised in the media for 'complaining and not taking action'. Graduate engineers can sometimes be guilty of the same - we can complain about inefficient systems, outdated thinking, slow processes etc. My question is- what are you going to do about it? What's your plan? How can you influence change/improvement? Where do you start?
How has the profession changed over your career?
Well, I can't comment over a long period as I say I'm still in the early stages of my career, but through my research in industrial systems and observation of a number of sectors, I think we are constantly seeing a transfer and adaptation of operational methodologies from the manufacturing sector into all other sectors, and into all different functions of other sectors. For example, 'being lean' seems to be spreading fast throughout construction (albeit there are many interpretations of what this really means), agile methodologies are being embraced in design functions outside of the realm of software dev, a specific example with scrum being used to improve the cycle time and communication of project teams in infrastructure development.
The flip side is that if such ideas are implemented with a focus on short term gains, areas like vocational (on the job) professional development and fundamental technical knowledge development can be diluted, or the opportunities to develop in such areas can be reduced, particularly in high-cost centres/countries.
Who (living or dead) would you like to sit next to on a plane and why?
Taiichi Ohno - the father of the Toyota Production System. Having studied in depth organisations like Toyota and its competitors, I find the lessons and concepts of Taiichi Ohno quite inspiring, particularly as there is growing 'push' towards sustainable businesses - not just in an environmental sense, but also in terms of the impact and contribution to its employees, the wider community, society etc. He was a real leader who was tough, yet incredibly clear in his philosophy and approach.
What was the most recent thing you have done to promote the profession of engineering?
Recently, I volunteered and was elected the Honorary President of Engineers Australia UK Chapter, where I have been a committee member over the previous 18 months. Whilst this in itself isn't promoting anything per se, I hope to challenge the committee this year, our 40th anniversary and the 'Year of the Engineer' in the UK to think of some innovative ways to promote the profession.