CAREER FOCUS
WHERE DIGITAL MEETS PHYSICAL
Mechanical engineers become indispensable as they bridge the gap between digital models and physical reality.
Written by Robin L. Flanigan
MECHANICAL ENGINEERS ARE ROOTED IN REALITY. A candlestick isn’t just a candlestick to a child with a mind for engineering, for example. It’s a long piece of wax that breaks when bent, pointed out Priority Designs Senior Mechanical Engineer Don Meves.
As a result, degreed MEs are “just quicker at knowing constraints before going in” to a project, said Meves, who works for the product development and innovation firm based in Whitehall, Ohio.
Balancing Act
In our increasingly cyber-physical world, the most successful MEs solve problems by balancing technical knowledge and a hands-on understanding of physical limitations.
“We have to consistently think about the real world and real implications, or we won’t understand how things actually work,” said Abe Almaraz, a graduate mechanical engineer at Halff.
While MEs use software, “the software’s not going to tell us everything,” added Almaraz, who works in the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing practice at the infrastructure consulting firm’s office in San Antonio, Texas.
Instead, he explained, MEs need to constantly consider weights, dimensions, clearances, and other factors that involve the understanding of physics in the real world. “If we detach from that, we’re just drawing things that look nice,” he said. “There are flaws in the real world, and if we aren’t able to design tolerance for failure, then things are actually going to fail.”
In High Demand
This is what puts mechanical engineers in such high demand in both emerging and traditional sectors. In fact, employment of mechanical engineers is projected to grow 9 percent from 2024 to 2034, much faster than the average for all occupations, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Justin Salamon is deeply familiar with this demand through his role as co-founder of Radiant, a research and product development consultancy in Tempe, Ariz.
As he works to grow the company, Salamon is searching for new hires who have “this understanding—not just on paper—that comes from experience with tearing things apart, reverse engineering, interacting with things,” he said. “If you’re just stuck in the digital world without that background, working everything out in CAD programs, things can fall apart really quickly. You’ll put so much time into something, and it can be like a wasted effort.”
The ramifications of such wasted efforts vary enormously, stated Meves. An inexpensive plastic toy snapping together is not as critical as the pistons in your car, for instance, because there’s no friction or heat expansion to take into account.
Even so, when Meves is putting two pieces of plastic together, the equation is more complex than what a digital equation can represent.
“The gravity, the sag, the friction—all these things are playing a part and I can’t just say, ‘I want the clearance to be the only thing that matters,’” he said.
That said, it’s critical that job candidates keep up with the latest technology and tools. “Striking this balance is really important,” Salamon said.
Photo: Getty
100 Percent Marketable
That balance ultimately helps with efficiency, but it’s that investment of time on the front end—accounting for constraints in the real world—that serves clients the most, noted Meves.
“You can make the product out of five parts and that will be great, but if you spend a little time to make it out of three parts, it will save a little money in the end,” he said.
Almaraz recalled when he started developing an appreciation for how things are put together, as well as the challenges that arise during the process. At age 10, he was given a large bucket of colorful LEGOs and a baseplate. The plastic bricks fostered his imagination and creativity, helping him develop spatial reasoning, structural integrity, design, and other fundamental skills essential to the engineering field.
And just as he gradually advanced to more intricate LEGO sets—an F1-8157 race car model, speed boat, and rocket ship station—Almaraz knows he’ll continue developing his real-world acumen because there is always something new coming down the pipeline to learn.
“It’s not just copy-paste-repeat,” Almaraz said. “If you know how to design and can also see what needs to be repaired or built brand new once something is in the physical world, you are 100 percent marketable in this industry.”
Robin L. Flanigan is an independent writer in Rochester, N.Y.
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