The designs we said goodbye to in those years

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I am a equipment engineer with less than 10 years of experience. Over the years, from design to proofreading, and then to review. From designing things on my own to working together with many designers to complete the drawings, I spent day after day and night working overtime. Over the years, the designers around us, especially the young engineers, have left one after another, which has filled us, including the management, with mixed feelings of sadness and reluctance. Added to this is the passage of time and the fact that I am getting older myself; in short, my emotions are quite complex. Next, I’ll talk about the designers who have worked with me over the years. Design A, born in the 1980s, graduated from a traditional strong university in the field of chemistry, majoring in chemical engineering. The biggest advantage of A is his fast drawing speed and high level of proficiency. After he arrived, the manager assigned an experienced auditor in his 50s to guide him, teaching him while they worked together. The auditor explained in detail how to audit devices of the same type, gave him a few sets of drawings to work on, and after he handled a few more cases, he was good to go. I remember A saying when they first started working that they learned CAD in their sophomore year; they used it less over time and became a bit rusty with it, so they bought a CAD tutorial book. From then on, CAD began its pioneering journey in our company. He said that operating CAD is similar to playing Warcraft, and keyboard input is more efficient than using a mouse; many of us learned how to assign custom functions to our left mouse button from him. A also knows some basic Excel programming for calculations, CAD customization, and things like inserting Excel tables into CAD. To what extent can A’s drawing speed reach? For the heat exchangers I’ve seen, with 1–6 tube passes, when the process conditions are optimal and there are no issues, it’s not possible to design one per day. A once achieved a rate of 2 tanks per day (regular vertical and horizontal types). According to other colleagues, A once completed one tower in a single day. About 5 A1 sheets. By drawing, I don’t mean modifying existing drawings; although some components and nodes are already created and can be inserted directly, the assembly diagrams and such need to be drawn by hand. Unfortunately, after working for less than 5 years, A suddenly disappeared for a while. We wanted to involve him in the project, but upon asking we found out that he had taken time off. A returned a few days later, but then said he didn’t want to work any more. The manager tried to talk to him, but that didn’t work either. A said that they didn’t want to spend their youth here forever; they wanted to go back to school while they were still young to learn new skills, so as to do something different in the future. And that’s how A left. I heard that A was admitted to graduate school later on, and has now graduated long ago. After that, I don’t know. Design B, born in the 1990s. B graduated from a private undergraduate institution; under normal circumstances, B would not be able to work in design here. Although design isn’t considered a highly sophisticated profession, it still requires certain qualifications. It’s estimated that someone in Family B has connections and got in through those connections. B is completely incomparable to A just now; it lacks many basic concepts, such as the yield strength of materials and the flexural modulus – it basically has no understanding of these things. As mentioned earlier, person A can prepare calculation sheets by hand and derive the formulas specified in the standards. It’s a bit difficult for B to understand the standards. Under such circumstances, we don’t have high expectations for B either; basically, only simple equipment is arranged. Still, B is punctual and has basically never delayed progress, managing to complete the drawings on time. When the schedule is tight, I also come in for overtime. Plus, B has a decent personality; they can sing and play sports at the company, so they can be considered a qualified employee. After working at Company B for over two years, he said he wanted to quit, claiming that he wasn’t earning enough to cover his expenses, so he decided to stop working and learn programming instead. I was only 20 when I graduated from University B; having a younger age is an advantage – being young is great! At first, his family was strongly opposed, saying it was nonsense; they thought the idea of this job was good, but that it was pointless to go through all this trouble. But in the end, I couldn’t persuade him; B’s family probably has good financial conditions, and they only have this one child. In the end, I had no choice but to go with B. B went out to study programming for 2 years, and eventually heard that they really started working in programming. Working in Beijing. Design C is also born in the 1980s. C used to work in a manufacturing company, involved in production activities, and later came to work in design through connections within his family. But C is different from B; having worked in manufacturing for a while, C picked up design quickly. Moreover, C knows more about equipment welding, NDT, packaging and transportation, and even more than many experienced auditors. Furthermore, C has much better information than the design team regarding the prices, dimensions, and availability of various types of steel; after all, many people in the manufacturing industry are involved in procurement, so the prices obtained through them are quite accurate. When C first started working on projects with us, he was very enthusiastic; he showed us some photos of equipment that had been manufactured by his previous factory, as well as photos of various processing machines. Working on a project together was, I would say, a pleasant experience. Furthermore, we sometimes assign him the task of contacting the manufacturing plant; when there are changes or substitutions needed, he does a great job handling them. However, over time, the initial passion eventually fades away; C worked there for a few years before finally quitting as well. Before leaving, C said that when working in manufacturing companies, the design work wasn’t really tiring; although factories had to work overtime to meet order demands and produce more goods. Back then, he thought that the manufacturing plants were competing with each other by offering lower prices, resulting in a large volume of equipment being produced but extremely low profits. Thinking it would be a high-end design that required a lot of effort, but once the design was completed, things turned out to be just as disappointing – there was still competition over the design fees, with them ending up being extremely low. During the meal at which we said goodbye, we asked C about his plans for the future. C said that his father ran a restaurant business in a nearby tourist city, and he intended to go work with his father, thus quitting this line of work. These are the friends who worked on designs with me; during that time, a few others left, but I won’t mention them. Recently, the management said that it’s campus recruitment season, and they want to go to universities to recruit some college students to fill the gaps. But there are many difficulties. First, it’s hard to find people with high professional skills; they may not be willing to come, and those who are willing may not meet the company’s standards. Secondly, the company now wants to reduce its workforce by hiring as few people as possible in order to cut labor costs. Especially regarding equipment, there is a desire to gradually shift the design work to manufacturing companies or outsource it in part, which would reduce the need for staff involved in equipment-related tasks. A colleague was organizing things recently and found a photo taken during one of our previous team-building activities. Many young faces from back then were once so familiar, but now they are all gone, each pursuing their own path. I’m wondering if this is a situation unique to us, or if it happens elsewhere as well. Not to mention finance and IT, even industries such as communications and electronics, which are part of the manufacturing sector along with equipment, and are industries that fail to attract young people – do they still have a future? Is there any more development?