Saddled with shorter design cycles and the pressure to bring products to market faster, many design engineers are outsourcing their more routine tasks.

Recent surveys of the design engineering market indicate that design engineers are facing increasingly tighter deadlines as well as the challenges of keeping up with technology and beating competitors to market. It is not at all unusual for an engineer to report that his or her product design cycles have been cut from a year down to six months or from six months down to three. These changes are due to the fact that their employers want to beat their competitors to market. In addition, engineers are under consistent pressure to keep their designs under cost. 64% of the engineers who answered the survey indicated “shortening the design cycle” as the chief challenge they currently face. In a similar study conducted in 1997 engineers indicated their top challenge was “keeping up with technology.” As a result of these trends, engineering responsibilities have been steadily on the rise, as well as their stress levels and work hours. So, how do they manage to cover all these bases, you ask? Well, many design engineers have turned to outsourcing and the Internet for solutions.

Outsourcing services has become more and more popular among engineering teams. By outsourcing their more routine and tedious tasks, many find that they can focus a greater part of their energies on the creative aspects of their jobs, the aspects that make them and their company’s money. In addition, outsourcing auxiliary services allows a company’s engineering team to take on a greater number of projects without having to increase the staff. Of the top three industries that outsource, about 47% of computer and office equipment companies do so, followed by appliance and consumer product companies (46%) and communications and wireless companies, who outsource about 44% of their engineering services.

Companies that outsource tend to rely mostly on suppliers and consultants for engineering and design help. A smaller portion relies on systems integrators. For engineers in many industries, more than half the work that is outsourced goes to engineering consultants and service firms. Of the industries that employ engineering consultants, the top three are processing companies, about 65% of which turn to engineering consultants, heavy truck companies (62%), and medical equipment companies (60%). Following closely are aerospace companies, 59% of which hire consultants. A sizeable portion of outsourced work is also finding its way into the hands of engineers at supplier companies. When it comes to this type of outsourcing, communication and wireless companies lead the pack at 48%, followed by aerospace companies (40%) and appliance companies (40%).

Many design engineers have turned to the Internet to handle some of their core responsibilities, utilizing it in many different capacities. Many consider the Internet a tool to help them research customers or keep an eye on competitors. Others use it for locating services and goods such as tooling builders and machine tools. Quite a few engineers telecommute and use an Internet connection to do their work from an office at home, cutting down on both valuable commute time and transportation costs. Others use the Internet primarily as a means of communicating with their customers and partners. In a recent survey engineers revealed that they spend approximately 20% of their workday seeking technical data to aid them with their design problems. Most often they turn to the telephone or the Internet to obtain this information.

Source: Less Time for More Work
Bruce Wiebusch
Design News, July 2, 2001
http://www.manufacturing.net/dn/index.asp?layout=articleWebzine&stt=000&articleid=CA90016&pubdate=07/02/01