Engineer’s Day Special: Make sure you remain focused on creativity as an engineer

“I am one of the youngest engineers here and was recruited as a part of CYLP program. However, it hasn’t stopped my leaders from involving me in challenging projects. I am proud to be a part of the team that worked on reducing the AD-IPA recovery time cycle from 58 Hr/Batch to 43 Hr/Batch. I am one of the few engineers from my batch to be making good contributions to the Site initiatives at the early stage of my career.” Tarang Chandrana is one of the young leaders and an engineer. He is part of our Active Pharmaceuticals Ingredients plant at Ankleshwar.

Biswajit Mitra, Chief Mentoring officer at Cadila, who also leads the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients business takes a deep breath, you see a proud smile on his face after listening to this quote. Short of words he shares “I am proud of being an engineer and proud of my team at Ankleshwar. Tarang is the perfect example of what they call an engineer’s life. Everyone constantly looks at an engineer for finding solutions to complicated problems. It’s almost always an unsaid rule. For some reason, we engineers always feel we need to deliver to this expectation. I believe engineers are one of the most resourceful people to work with.” We got a chance of interacting with four engineers from Cadila and take Biswajit’s views on what he feels are the 4 aspects every engineer should focus on in today’s scenario.

Find application of your creativity

The world is moving at a breakneck speed. There are unimaginable breakthroughs happening around us every day and as an engineer, it’s important for you to keep your eyes open for these innovations. Once you start opening your mind to these innovations happening around, you will be able to find new applications for those innovations. The ability to find applications and inspirations from innovations is not easy. It is an ability that can only be developed by working hard every day with discipline.

One of the most important things I do every day is, I try and make time to read about the new innovations happening around us. As an engineer’s information overload is a part of our life. We are taught to use science, process information and come up with unique solutions. It’s important that this never goes away.

Not being able to differentiate yourself is your biggest challenge

I have seen a lot of engineers who are eager to become managers at a very young age. This can somehow become a limiting factor for an engineer’s growth. You often see people around you getting promoted to become managers and then you get caught up in the race and lose yourself to it. This, for me, is the biggest hurdle an engineer faces.

Everyone might not excel as a manager. For some, love for the subject and science is more appealing but they still succumb to peer pressure. It is important for an engineer to always think about creating their own niche. For some reason, everyone feels that becoming a manager is the ultimate step towards becoming a leader. What young engineers often forget is that becoming a super-specialist in your field would yield you similar results if not better.

As a subject matter expert one has the potential to reach even greater heights. Don’t get caught up in the rat race of becoming a manager. Instead, keep differentiating yourself and you will end up reaching places you might have not even imagined.

Digitalisation is here to stay, make it your friend

Will digitisation ever be able to replace the expertise of a human? The answer is no. If anything Digitalisation will give more freedom to engineers to come up with new ideas. A lot of day-to-day tasks can be easily completed and managed through technology. This will allow engineers to possibly think of wider applications of technology in their roles and help revolutionise the industry they are a part of. Data analytics, AI and IoT are going to change the entire R&D and Manufacturing scenario in the next decade. 

Be a team player, always

Engineers, a lot of times are seen doing their own thing. It is important for young engineers to understand the importance of collaboration. Working with new teams every day is going to be part of the coming future. With different uncertainties and fresh challenges, it is important to have an open mind and remain flexible. Collaboration and working with a different set of people will help you do that.

Engineers are known to change the world. I remember one such engineer I met back in 2011. He was none other than Baba Kalyani who started out as a shop floor worker, logging 15 hours a day and travelling 20 days a month. He single-handedly grew the Kalyani Group’s turnover from Rs. 3 Crore to Rs. 16,000 Crore. He is the engineer behind creating one of the biggest forgings manufacturers in the world.

These examples are evidence enough that the world needs more talented and dedicated engineers to bring a change to the world. This Engineer’s Day, I hope to inspire young professionals to take this stream pf science and create an impact in the world.