The Engineer in Industry

Levin Daily Chronicle, 14 April 1917, Page 3

The Engineer in Industry

It is only during recent years that the ' industrial engineer has come into his own. For a long period he was regarded rather as an accessory in the manufacturing system, and the realisation that he is to a greater extent than ever before the mainspring of commercial enterprise may come with a shock to those who have been wont to look upon bookkeping and salesmanship as* standing in a higher category than production. Mr. F. W. Lanchester, in his presidential address to the Junior Institution of Engineers, did good service in emphasizing that in the continual advance without which he cannot hold his own the modern manufacturer must rely upon the efficiency of his engineering staff. A touch of egotism may have been in theclaims made, for Mr. Lancliester's own work is an illustration of the benefits which the trained engineer can confer upon industry; but there will be gen. eral agreement with his assertion that in a rapidly-increasing number of •trades the technical soundness depends ultimately upon the engineer, though his responsibilities may be shared by specialists in ether -directions. 'No branch of manufacture ban (prosper beyond the stage of mere imitation without a sound technical foundation; and that this foundation can be provided without reliance on extraneous sources lias been abundantly proved by the experience of the war. The need that the engineering trades shall draw more freely on the fine technical talent available lias been clearly shown, and its utilization to cope with the position which will exist after the war will be one of the wisest steps ever taken by the manufacturing community.—London Times.