Engineering your future

Mechanical engineer Geoff Henderson has developed a prototype windturbine. Picture / Brett Phibbs

Ask mechanical engineer and entrepreneur Geoff Henderson about his life's passion and you will find the answer blowing in the wind. Henderson has designed and built the prototype of a new wind turbine which he hopes will give manufacturers from other countries a run for their money.

Henderson's Windflow Technology was formed in 2000 to provide a manufacturing and services option for the electricity generation industry in New Zealand and Australia.

Interested in renewable energy from a young age, Henderson graduated from Canterbury University with an honours degree in mechanical engineering in 1980.

While working as an energy consultant abroad he received a British research and development grant and invented a torque limiting gearbox (TLG) system which was later patented in New Zealand, Australia, and the United States.

Passionate about the use of wind energy, Henderson returned home in the early 90s and worked as an energy consultant and sole trader of a company called Wind Torque before launching Windflow Technology.

Investors have since poured millions into the fledgling company, resulting in the completion of a 500-megawatt prototype wind turbine and initiating a production run that will hopefully see Windflow produce 97 turbines over the next five years.

"Meridian, Trustpower and other players will be able to evaluate our technology alongside the Danish system. This industry is worth hundreds of millions of dollars," says Henderson.

While Windflow requires Henderson to stay focused on economics and wear an entrepreneurial hat, his first love is engineering. "You combine art with science and do things in a world that is not ideal."

Henderson's passion for engineering is one the Government employers, universities and professional organisations wish more New Zealanders had because as a nation we are critically short of engineers.

Charles Willmot, engineering director for the Institute of Professional Engineers New Zealand, says the shortage of engineers stems from a number of factors.

"New Zealand produces up to 1000 engineers a year and we really need about four times that. But the population has quadrupled since the 50s, the building industry is still booming, it takes a long time to train as an engineer, and the profile of engineering hasn't been high enough," says Willmot.

Ipenz launched a Government-funded education programme last year called Futureintech which promotes engineering in secondary schools, universities and online.

According to a survey and report from the Recruitment and Consulting Services Association of Australia and New Zealand, a lack of suitable candidates is the biggest problem facing New Zealand recruiters at present, and therefore employers.

Of the top-10 occupations suffering candidate shortages, civil and electrical engineers are in the top five.

RCSA says this puts essential services at risk, and Robyn McCulloch, manager business performance for the Manukau City Council agrees. McCulloch says when local councils lack engineers, work programmes for roads, water pipes, stormwater and wastewater are stalled.

"New Zealand employers are presently in a bidding war for engineers, and local councils are desperately short of civil engineers.

"We need them for developing policy and to monitor the delivery of transportation, water, and resource consent projects by outsourced construction firms," she says.

In a move designed to attract more engineers, the city council launched its first graduate engineer programme in a decade, in partnership with civil construction firms Fulton Hogan and GHD.

Each company provides one year of employment for graduates on the programme - a total of three years' post-graduate experience and assistance towards post-graduate qualifications for each engineer. At the end of the programme the engineer can choose a full-time position with any one of the three organisations.

Willmot says employers such as Manukau that go the extra mile and run graduate programmes, and those that pay for the post-graduate or tertiary training of young engineers or fulfil the desires of graduates by initially offering overseas branch positions, encourage industry training and are likely to reap employee loyalty.

While employers may baulk at coughing up tertiary fees to secure young engineers, engineering can be unattractive for a young person not keen to see a student loan pile up over the course of a four-year degree. An employer who foots that bill is likely to stay in favour with a new graduate.

However, because engineering graduates evolve from an elite group of secondary-school students with an affinity for maths and the sciences, organisations such as Ipenz and the education and career guidance sector must make engineering attractive as a career option before employers can begin to invest in an undergraduate.

"We are all equally accountable for raising the profile of engineering, and profile is important," says McCulloch.

Willmot says part of the profile problem is the generic nature of the term "engineer" - not only are there a number of lesser-known but legitimate engineering disciplines, many people consider Government ministers to be "social engineers", and car mechanics, plumbers and washing machine repairers have all been called engineers by someone.

So what is an engineer? The consensus is that it is someone who has a dedicated tertiary degree qualification in engineering from a recognised institution. In New Zealand, the common qualification is a Bachelor of Engineering and a list of recognised institutions and courses is available from Ipenz.

A passion for designing and constructing something practical - whether a bridge, robot, wind turbine, website or software application - is the mark of an engineer.

Willmot says those who manage to de-mystify and embrace engineering can look forward to a career that delivers professional pay rates, overseas career opportunities, challenge and variety.

"I'm everywhere at the moment. I can be doing calculations on the strength of the nuts and bolts one day and working out where the next million dollars is coming from the next," says Henderson.

Becoming an engineer

* Secondary school: Maths is the critical subject to excel in at this level, closely followed by pure science subjects like physics, chemistry and biology. Subjects like food science and information technology may be important.

* Tertiary training: Research specialist engineering disciplines and decide what appeals. Research Bachelors degree engineering courses appropriate to the discipline you choose. Check your course with IPENZ to ensure the course is recognised and will enable you to work internationally and nationally, and towards specific post graduate qualifications.

* Post graduation: A number of post graduate courses are available and some are necessary. A key example is the CPEng registration administered by IPENZ which enables an engineer to use the title Chartered Professional Engineer (CPEng) and is required by Government regulations for certain types of work.