Phillip Keane over at engineering.com has written a piece of advertorial about the use of 3D printing in the automotive industry. It makes for interesting reading with some use cases of how desktop 3D printers are starting to take cost out, giving specific numbers in the often elusive “how much”. Read the full article if you’re looking for ways to use 3D printing.
Sadly, what caught my eye (and brought a little tear to it) was not the opportunity for hard savings but, instead, this paragraph: “Another advantage of printing tools in-house is that the engineers no longer have to deal with the purchasing department, meaning less paperwork and less headaches. Engineers can get on with doing what they do best… engineering!”
Wow. What a branding problem: paperwork and headaches. We sound worse than root canal treatment. And yet, just as bad, I can empathise with the sentiment. I, too, have been subjected to the sort of procurement people who want to stop you rather than help you go faster for the benefit of the business.
I’ve often found that 20th century functional model can make for handoff points that slow things down. But working in a particular organisational design is not a reason to act as a handbrake to speed.
Any person employed in any business of any size, irrespective of department, who is content with a reputation for generating only paperwork and headaches is, in my opinion, not going to survive for very long in the new work environment. It’s never mattered more than it does today to be very clear about what you are contributing in everything you do to bring value to the business that gives you your livelihood. Owners think like that every day.
When did it become okay to be the department 3D printing is giving engineers a means to avoid? And what are we procurement people doing to assist in rebuilding that tarnished brand?