This grant funds a pilot study of two closely related problems that have arisen as a result of the offshoring/outsourcing of engineering work. Specifically, have the complex processes of economic and political development, motivated by globalization, enhanced electronic communication capabilities and recessions in the advanced industrial countries resulted in substantially increased worldwide competition for engineering jobs and engineering talent? If so, then: 1) Engineering educators must confront the issue of ensuring that graduates will continue to bring value to a market place in which their salary demands are three or four times greater than their international competitors; and 2) US companies must redefine the roles and assignments given to US based engineers, especially those in the early stages of their careers so that they receive that value. Faculty from the University of Pittsburgh School of Engineering will conduct this project in conjunction with colleagues from three diverse US corporations with operations in the Pacific Rim (HJ Heinz, Kennametal and Sima Products Corporation). It will take advantage of a unique opportunity to study key Pacific Rim countries first hand in combination with US science and engineering students and faculty as part of the Summer 2004 Semester at Sea Program. As part of this program, faculty and students will visit firms in Korea, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Japan and Vietnam, meeting with production managers, corporate officers, engineers, and shop floor workers. They will also meet with university colleagues in each of these countries. By focusing on manufacturing, a sector that has progressively moved offshore over the past three decades, a better understanding as to where engineering practice and, as a result, education might be headed will be obtained.
If successfully completed, this study will provide a first-person, in-depth overview of the impact of outsourcing in a series of US and multinational companies' facilities in at least six Pacific Rim countries. The comprehensive, rigorous fieldwork will ensure should result in a clear, concise picture of the issues facing US manufacturers in general and their engineering personnel requirements in particular. This timely study is not only relevant to engineering, but to any profession in which knowledge can be transmitted electronically to highly skilled, but lower cost, personnel anywhere on the globe.
