Typical Engineer Story

Courtesy of Ram-Tech Construction Inc “Taichi” terminology was a norm word used by Malaysian as the act of shifting the blame / responsibilities to other individual or parties. Construction industry comprises of many teams from different fields. Some may have already known or works together while others are just total strangers. I would like to emphasize the four (4) primary players, the Architects, Civil & Structural Engineers, Quantity Surveyors and the Contractors. Architect will lead the team players and acts as the front line towards the respective clients. For design and build contracts, the contractors will be the pay master and appoint their own teams while the conventional contracts process appoint the team players separately. Good coordination is a must for the client to achieve their target and cost. Now, how would the “Taichi” fits into the picture? When one issue crop up and jeopardize the time frame and cost, all team players will scramble to issue thei

Image Courtesy of life975.com I still remember the very first day that I had reported to duty as Design Engineer in a small Engineering Consulting Firm. My superior simply handed over a sketched structural key plan and instructed me to perform the structural analysis and design. I did as he requested. Well, as many of the typical fresh graduate traits, I design strictly as what I had learned in the university. However, the nagging feeling of uncertainty struck me. Although I manage to design according to the codes, I am still unsure if the design was workable or not on site. Then, I refer my work to my superior. Mind you, he has more than 15 years of experience in structural engineering. Only two (2) things he looks at, the load and the sizing / reinforcement of the beams and columns. Within a minute his verdicts was: my design is not workable based on his "judgement" . I was instructed to review my design. So, how to develop the so-called engineering judgement

On April 18, 2015, The Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM) held the 56th Annual Dinner at Sime Darby Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur. The prime interest would be on the keynote on "Liberalisation of Engineering Services - The Wings For Engineers to Soar" by IEM President Dato' Ir. Lim Chow Hock. So, what is it in the keynote speech that would benefit us, the typical engineer :). Will liberalisation bring forth more invaluable opportunities or will it open the floodgate of foreign engineers to our small market? Some small players already spooked by the liberalisation of engineering services as they fear it will crowd the market and perhaps leave them out of business. To be fair, such perceived fears are understandable since the local players trying to protect their business and the influx of foreign engineering services may start of the bloody competition war. On the bright side, the local engineering firms also have the golden opportunities to export th

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