Emin Beganović, Aiša Čanić

Have you ever asked yourself what the future holds for engineers? Digital engineering is one of the answers, for sure.

Throughout engineering, digitalization has been leaving its mark, improving the processes and collaboration throughout teams working together. Our goal with this blog post is to showcase the benefits of going digital, and hopefully inspire you to make that change! We will also shortly discuss the gap that is present, between faculty education and the market needs, in terms of the software-related knowledge that is obtained. 

Are the courses taught at faculty outdated and what can we do to merge the gap?

Let’s now take a look at some of the ways in which mechanical engineering has initiated digital transformation by going through the benefits and innovations.

Benefits and innovations 

There is no doubt that one of the biggest advantages of digitalization is speed. Being able to access information, process it, and exchange it in a short period of time saves time and money. Digitalization also improves resource efficiency, reduces energy use, reduces downtime, and machine failures. However, some of the benefits and innovations have a bigger echo.

3D design

This is already quite familiar to everyone and is applied in practice. 3D print is a futuristic design for making prototypes. 3D design is becoming popular at high speed and is spreading in all industries, including mechanical engineering. 

3D design has been taken to new heights with the introduction of BIM technology, further increasing access to information throughout the project’s lifecycle, and additionally allowing for easier communication between all participants of the project.

Certain software that allows 3D design has been around for quite some time, such as:

AutoCAD, ArchiCAD, Allplan, CATIA, Revit, etc. with some of them being examples of outdated software, and some of them being modern, digitized versions! Further information about the improvement of 3D design and it’s software can be found below in the section that mentions the gap between faculty education and modern market needs.

Additionally, if you are interested in some extra examples of 3D design done using BIM technology, go ahead and visit our website.

Hybrid vehicle technology

Digitalization has made impacts all over various industries, thus the vehicle industry has been “changed”, as well.

Hybrid electric vehicles are powered by an internal combustion engine and an electric motor, which uses energy stored in batteries. A hybrid electric vehicle cannot be plugged in to charge the battery. Instead, the battery is charged through regenerative braking and by the internal combustion engine. The extra power provided by the electric motor can potentially allow for a smaller engine. The battery can also power auxiliary loads and reduce engine idling when stopped. Together, these features result in better fuel economy without sacrificing performance.

Digital twin

It is a virtual replica of real-time physical models using different algorithms. This allows better planning in the future by imitating the physical world. It allows you to analyze data and monitor the system to eliminate problems or downtime before they occur. In addition to troubleshooting, it is also used to develop and plan new capabilities using simulations. Digital twin saves resources by going into physical production only when the shadow of the device behaves according to the engineers’ wishes.

Eco-friendly production

Being eco-friendly is of great importance. Minimizing harmful waste, but also looking for alternatives when it comes to materials, is one of the biggest benefits of the digital machine industry at the moment. Using just the digital twin, we can see a massive improvement in waste reduction.

Our business operations are digital and paperless. Through a digital simulation of constructions, we find the most optimal solution in terms of energy, time and costs, all for the sake of our clients’ satisfaction!

We’ve recently been chosen as one of the finalists for the UNDP’s Leaders of Sustainable Growth Development in the category “Resources & Environment”, further acknowledging our mission to provide eco-friendly solutions.

Blockchain

Organizations and their partners can stay connected and trustworthy by using blockchain, a distributed ledger technology. It’s ideal for supply chain engineering since it incorporates transparency across the whole process. A digital signature may be detected, authenticated, saved, and shared for every agreement, procedure, task, and payment.

This communication in the supply chain eliminates risk and improves security while increasing the efficiency of collaboration due to faster access to data by all participants of the project.

The gap between faculty education and market needs

Mechanical engineering is a very complex and comprehensive field that overlaps with sciences such as physics, chemistry, construction, and many others. We often wonder what skills are needed to work in this industry, and what is contemporary in this field? We asked one of our colleagues, Sanin Solak, to answer this question.

“The biggest problem is that the faculties, specifically the faculty of Mechanical engineering, focus on CATIA modeling software. CATIA is a powerful tool but it is outdated, versions from 1998 are used without any updates. BIM was not mentioned during our studies, while a vast majority of companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina are strictly seeking BIM and Revit knowledge. SolidWorks was mentioned a few times, but not through mandatory lectures nor was it studied thoroughly. This contemporary software was usually studied through some independent work of students.”

“Another problem, in my opinion, is that students get to know these types of software only in the third year of their studies, and even then the full capacity and versatility of the software is not studied. That results in a large number of students that finish faculty without knowing the basics of modeling. Not every segment of software is needed for construction and development of models, but nowadays it is difficult to look for a job in only one sector and focus on only one branch of mechanical engineering.”

The process of digitalization is changing all segments of life and it is natural to expect such changes to happen in the machine industry as well. In addition to the skills that have been in demand so far, we must add good digital skills and knowledge of various programs because these skills became the main requirement in this field. 

What used to be the biggest difference between mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and IT has become their biggest similarity.

Conclusion

Digitalization is much more than the improvement of already existing practices and processes because it also represents the creation of completely new areas and opportunities in the engineering world.

We have mentioned just some of the innovations that have emerged and gained popularity in the last few years in the machine industry, and these are certainly not the only benefits. Digitalization should become a norm for faculty education in order to prepare the students for the actual market requirements, rather than focusing on outdated technologies that will only lack in purpose as time goes by. Let’s embrace the potential of new tech throughout the engineering industry in the early steps, rather than making up for it in later stages.

Experts’ predictions are very optimistic when it comes to this industry given that it is developing at a high speed. Being in this field requires constant improvement of skills and new knowledge of digital and information technologies. And while digital engineering is said to be the future, we in fact conclude that it is the present.