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60 SMT Magazine • April 2016 high labor rate markets, the root causes need to be addressed as well (e.g., education). • Labor cost can be reduced by reducing la- bor content as well as finding sources of low la- bor rates. However, it requires a workforce that can automate the process. 2. Looking upon the manufacturing, assem- bly (production) industries and industrial en- gineering as subservient to the product design and engineering professions. • This is a perception that has evolved over the years as those students who could solve dif- ferential equations majored in mechanical and electrical engineering and those who couldn't built things in shop class. This mentality led to the fact that the VCR was invented in the U.S., but few were ever built here. • Today's challenges presented by the need for sophisticated automation on the production floor requires a level of math and engineering education that rivals the other engineering dis- ciplines. The technology demands a workforce that can exploit the ever-increasing complexity of the automation (i.e., an engineering work- force). • The expectations of the academic commu- nity as to what is needed in the real world has driven many potentially valuable candidates away from this profession. This is largely a con- sequence of educating in one community (the Ivory Tower) for employment in another com- munity (the real world). 3. The value of segmenting engineering into specialized areas is over. • In industry, we continue to group employ- ees into departments of common skills (e.g., mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, test engineering, process engineering, etc.). • During their academic experience, engi- neering students are forced into silos (e.g., elec- trical, mechanical, industrial, computer, etc.), that ultimately support this industrial organiza- tional structure. This is largely a function of the arrogance of the academic community and who makes the rules that define academic success. • The engineering part of mechanical, elec- trical and industrial engineering is the same. What differs is the part of the physics that each address. • Today, software exists to cover the physics. • Students need to develop a solid under- standing of the physics across all sciences, and develop the engineering skills that cut across all the areas of the physics. • An Engineering Science degree that is built upon these principles is more valuable to the students and to the company that ultimately employs them. Schools have offered Engineer- ing Science programs for years. Restructuring the curriculum that leads to this degree to provide a balance between learning for learning AND learning for earning should be the goal. Yes, we need to teach Wilde, Voltaire and Moliere, but we also need to teach continuous flow manufac- turing, the potential that the Occam™ process offers by eliminating the need for soldering in product assembly, and the principles of motion control that are at the heart of automation. 4. Our industry, consciously or subcon- sciously, has become resigned to the fact that they must be prepared to tolerate two- or three- year learning curves for recent graduates to be- come productive. • Few schools employ professors or instruc- tors with real world experience; academically, they are at the top, but they are not well-versed at hands-on manufacturing and assembly. Un- fortunately, those with real world experience are out of industry and in the schools, quite frankly because many do not do very well in the real world. School provides them a comfort zone. So relying on people to prepare students for success in the real world of high-tech prod- uct assembly is inconsistent. Future columns will address these and oth- er topics. Your comments and suggestions are welcome. We want to create a forum for people who want to Jump off the Bandwagon! Summary The workforce that a company needs to compete successfully in the global electronic product assembly marketplace will never be established by educating in one community (academia's Ivory Tower), and then sending graduates to work in another community (the ThE imPorTancE of bEinG EarnEsT (EducaTEd)