Engineers must ultimately graduate to technologists, as they are not scientists. At one time, people like Al Kindi, Al Raazi and others, who flourished in the 9th and 10th centuries were the refiners of old knowledge and polymaths of their time.
Unfortunately, today you cannot even have a new Einstein who is a polymath, as due to the discoveries already made. To evolve you must create substitutes, and the best route to discovery is a working, multi-disciplinary team. Technologists recognize the wants of people, not necessarily the engineer.
It is crucial to distinguish between a scientist and a technologist. A scientist works within the constraints of a laboratory whereas a technologist must make sure that the results of his work are solutions, not just findings, and are brought about by a well-managed team of experts from a variety of backgrounds. But it is not only about merit, another very important thing that technologist must deal with detail - ‘The detail in our days goes down to binary and that is where the devil resides!.’
During my work on an operative tank comprised of about 10,000 parts, 80% of which were manufactured at a Chinese aided complex and the private sector companies, we submitted a request for information on the parts and were provided with 11 rail wagonloads of data – drawings and other materials, of about 25 tons each. This forms the basis of building from fundamental bricks of knowledge and expertise, in order to bring about continuous improvement and development over a period of time. You can call this corporate memory, which makes industry training well defined.
Founded in 1977, EMMAY Associates carved its niche in the industrialization phase of the country with its specialism and is now steered by our 3rd generation’s welcomed successor Saif Ali Sheikh who being an active “fighter” in the field of engineering rejuvenated the organization with our spirit to engineer a better world as ‘technology achieves’.
