Typical Engineer Story

Venue: Wisma IEM, 01- Auditorium Tan Sri Prof. Chin Fung Kee, Third Floor Date & Time: 02 Dec 2014 (5:30 PM - 7:30 PM) CPD/PDP: 2 Closing Date Before: 29-Nov-2014 Register here SYNOPSIS  All constructed buildings and installations begin with an intention to do so. These thoughts are subsequently crystallized into a Client / Consultant produced tender document. This document is then tagged as the Intention to Bid (ITB) document by the bidder and / or contractor. The interested bidder then puts together a proposal based on the scope of works within the ITB document for the project. Therefore, in the process, the bidder has to make an INFORMED CHOICE / DECISION based on the RISK MANAGEMENT of carrying out the said project. In most large companies, tenders are acquired by the Business Development unit for consideration. The company management then strategically addresses the tender for the highest success rate. The Contract Services Dept. in association with the Procureme

After the establishment of the Registration of Engineers Act in 1967, the number of consulting engineering firms increased and reaches nearly 2,000 at present. Until September 2014, there were about 16,537 professional engineers and 77,223 graduate engineers.  The rapid economic boom has opened up many opportunities for local professional engineers to set up their own consulting firms. Even so, most of the consulting engineering firms focused on the domestic market than global. The previous 1980s and 1990s recession has caused many firms to downsize their operation and their professional staff. Engineer’s salary also did not budge and stagnant until now. An average salary of fresh engineers (private) paid at RM2,000.00 while the government sector paid at RM3000.00 (including allowances). Wage increases in levels of government can be seen after the recent salary review. Meanwhile, the salaries of private engineers are still in the status quo. In September 2014, the Minister o

Highland Towers, as is collectively known, consist of three blocks 12 story high apartments named simply as Block 1, 2, and 3 respectively. It was constructed sometime between 1975 and 1978 and the residents who dwelled therein were middle income earners. Directly behind the 3 blocks was a rather steep hill with a stream flowing west, if it was allowed to follow its natural course. The attraction of this place was the natural surroundings with an extensive view of the city of Kuala Lumpur. On Saturday, the 11.12.1993, at about 1.30 p.m., after 10 days of continuos rainfall, Block 1 collapsed. When rescue operation was called off after days of searching, 48 people were recorded dead.  The nation declared this incident as a - national tragedy. Immediately after the collapse of Block 1 the residents of Block 2 & 3 were prevented from entering their apartments by the local authority having jurisdiction of the area, the Majlis Perbandaran Ampang Jaya (MPAJ) , for fear of

Cambridge, U.K. — The construction industry, which uses half of the 1.5 billion tonnes of steel produced each year, could drastically reduce its carbon footprint by optimizing the design of new buildings to use less material, according to research from the University of Cambridge. Smart design could slash the sector’s carbon emissions by around 50 percent, without any impact on safety. If buildings are also maintained for their full design life and not replaced early, the sector's emissions could in total be cut by around 80 percent — the target set in the UK's 2008 Climate Change Act. At present, in order to keep labor costs down, the construction industry regularly uses double the material required by safety codes. Analysis of more than 10,000 structural steel beams in 23 buildings from across the UK found that, on average, the beams were only carrying half the load they were designed for. The results were published in the June 4 issue of the journal Proceedings of the R

The Coalition has set itself an ambitious infrastructure target in the federal budget with billions of dollars earmarked for infrastructure spending. While this $11.6 billion investment package is strongly welcomed by the engineering profession, peak professional body Engineers Australia cautions that historical fluctuations in Australia's skills base casts a cloud of doubt over our ability to deliver. Engineers Australia Chief Executive Officer, Stephen Durkin, said that Australia’s engineering community is cautiously optimistic, “there aren’t many people in Australia who are more in favour of building better infrastructure than the engineers we rely upon to actually deliver it. “Australia is having real problems retaining skilled engineers in its workforce with over 40 percent of qualified engineers now working in jobs outside of the engineering profession. With 27 straight months of national decline in engineering job ads, we need to reinvigorate the engineering sector, and

Civil Engineering Blog: Building Collapse during Construction: Case Study : Currently, I am working on the site supervision for a construction of 20 stories building in a country in SE asia. Last week I did several r...