To Engineer is Human

I am assuming that
<a href="http://www.insurancejrnl.com/html/ijweb/publications/IJTexas/t0402">http://www.insurancejrnl.com/html/ijweb/publications/IJTexas/t0402</a> 01/images/04.02.01%20Texas.pdf is what is being referred to here.

Is there an implied cause and effect in the message?

Engineering failures are far worse than the OJ trial. They take much longer to analyze (simply because of the huge number of factors involved, both human and machine) and even then, there is often no clear pointer as to what went wrong so we can learn from mistakes. Engineering failures undermine the fundamental trust that exists between society and the boffins that make the things they use on a day-to-day basis. That is why it is of utmost importance that the communication of design concepts not be muddled, confusing or gee-whizzed-up by corporate management's pet automation projects. I'll bet that my favourite forensic engineer will be chiming in again soon.

CAD has its place, and it's not in the back room anymore, it's everywhere, thanks to hype. Remember back when the cavemen talked to each other by drawing pictures in the sand? I've always said that drafting is the *true* world's oldest profession, but who knows what the cavegirls were doing while we were grunting out; "OK, OOG, you go get that Tyrannosaurus [draws stuff on that nice dirt, you know, the kind that doesn't stick to the stick] over on the left, I'll circle around. OK?"

Henry Petroski's book is a good read. Highly recommended, but virtually invisible in the mainstream press (is it still in print?).

Paul

Geoff wrote:

> Tell that to the dudes at Petrobas with their prized rig that
keeled over like a
> dead warthog.

> im one of the old guys. been invoved with piping since '76 when
all you got
> is the slide rule, a tsquare, trinagle and scale and measuring
tape. in a
> year or 2 i plan to do jsut that. the acronyms is not important
it is the
> experience - fabircation, design, erection, testing,
commissioning, welding,
> modification, repair.
>
> it is now different paul. palnt are no longer being built the
old fashioned
> way anymore. its built better, quicker and more reliable now.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Paul Bowers [mailto:pbowers@pipingdesign.com]
> Sent: 26 May, 2001 8:03 AM
> To: <a href="/group/PipingDesign/post?postID=2TRJk23YgwekdEmSjKXBrhdpIbYsAhg18_uwFktko-1me9yYe2cVOctAGFDPwvfHInnBHIkzVshjQsPbQ8yOU4-A7hqX">PipingDesign@yahoogroups.com</a>
> Subject: Re: [PipingDesign] P&ID
>
> SARE makes a good point again.
>
> I guess all we "old school guys" should just go out to pasture,
> since now the most important thing seems to be the understanding
> of acronyms.
>
> One has to wonder how refineries were once built in the old
days,
> though.
>
> Paul
Received on Sat May 26 19:51:00 2001