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Engineers vs Physicists
(mander.xyz)
A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.
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I work in manufacturing. The engineers at my plant think everything works like it does on their computer screens. I had one of them tell me the mix needs exactly 248.73kg of a product and they were shocked when I told them we just add five 50kg bags and don't actually weigh out 248.73kg.
Ask them if they know what SUPAC is and when they say no just shake your head and mumble "fuckin engineers" and never explain it to them.
Scale up post approval changes allow you that 10% variance in non active ingredients.
I just pointed out that our scales are only accurate to 0.5kg. How did he think we were measuring out 0.73kg when our scales don't have that amount of accuracy? If anything I thought an engineer would know about significant digits!
The funny thing is, the very first thing engineers learn in almost any class is significant figures and to make sure an answer makes sense in a real life scenario. Obviously not everyone is the same in terms of how they apply things, but engineers are definitely taught not to do stuff like that
The engineers need a "factory day". They spend a day trying to do the work they specify and it all gets tossed at the end of the day. They learn the scale is off, shit comes in 50 kg bags, and temperatures vary.
The factory guys could have an office day to learn about the paperwork and money.
Send both groups to do something fun after.
When I was a coop (intern), and I'd run out of work assigned to me, I'd head down to the floor or a lab and just talked to people. In 6 months, I knew more about the process than people who had been there years
Engineers that make things make sense in real life scenarios cost too much
As a contract process engineer with quality background/certs, I 100% agree. I charge stupid money.