ENGINEERING DEFICIENCY IN ZAMBIA Engineers are creators first and last and if they dont do that, they are less than their professional calling. As an economist, I count on them to make life easier for everyone and which, on a global scale, they have. But there is an apparent and evident huge gap in engineering capabilities in Zambia and it shows! Specifically in the key areas of product design, manufacturing systems and project management. Of course Zambia has brilliant qualified engineers, some of my friends are; but it ends there, the classroom calculations! However, drawing room (now computer-aided design), prototype development, design of manufacturing systems and putting products on the shelves to sort out peoples daily problems are a tall calling for them. Pretty much why there is nothing about a Zambian- designed product that has been commercially successful. Many engineers no doubt work on large projects in the mines and power utilities but the design systems are usually foreign inclined, condemning our engineers to maintenance and operations like Professor Clive Chirwa observed recently at a EIZ meet in Livingstone that Zambian engineers are M&O specialists only. When people talk about growing the manufacturing sector and specifically about value-addition of mining produce within Zambia, I always wonder, what will be produced when it cannot be designed? You got to design products first, test them, develop the manufacturing systems and sell. From furniture, fridges, stoves, paints, centre pivots and other irrigation systems, tractor, wheel chairs that are battery operated for instance, pretty much the basic things people use. But if nobody can design these how can Zambia manufacture them? It is the reason why we must rely on foreign engineers for almost everything and why the shops (GAME Stores for instance) are full of little things which Zambian engineers have failed to design! The Japanese-designed Great East Road from the Airport turn off near my home is being rehabilitated by a South African company. I am impressed with the project management system. It is neat, smart and certainly 21st Century. There are nice signs directing motorists and everything on site is neat. Contrast this with the Kabwata - Chilenje roads being done by the Chinese, total chaos. No signs! In fact I found the Chinese (pretty clever fellows) taking pictures of the signs by the South African contractor on GER today (many Zambian engineers would be coming from their farms!). The RDA-(Road Development Agency)-designed roads are an eyesore and God knows just why they are allowed to design these roads in the first place. I am not sure they have highway engineering capabilities. What I have seem mostly about the RDA are new 4x4 vehicles all over but the outputs are less impressive. I rather think that we have to start from the bottom. Develop creativity from the formative years (kindergarten) and also artistic expressions at a tender age. Engineering designs are for the most part as artistic as they are quantitative. It is difficult for a kid to become a great engineer by learning design from first year university alone. The Japanese are such great designers partly because it is almost inherent in their culture, including their script. We have to be smarter to catch up in the next one hundred years. we got to start planning now. Otherwise we shall continue to have our brilliant engineers attending workshops, sitting in offices and following up on payments everyday instead of being on the drawing board and in the garage developing prototypes.
Posted on: Sun, 27 Apr 2014 15:43:53 +0000
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