Analyzing the competences of production engineering graduates: an industry perspective

Abstract

This paper aims at conducting an analysis the competences of production engineering graduates, building on an industry view. To this end, we conducted a survey addressing 103 medium and large companies within the Brazilian manufacturing industry. The results suggest that companies do recognize the importance of competences. Some gaps in the competences of graduates were also pointed out by respondents. This study suggests the need for the development of efforts for providing the production engineer with a better professional background. The links between university and industry are likely to contribute towards such direction, notably as a starting point for institutions and industries to foster their student's competences, aiming their aptitude for an ever-competitive job market, which values the flexible, creative being, who is capable of creating innovative solutions.

Production engineers profiling: competences of the professional the market wants

“…Finally, as seen in the literature review (Passow 2012;Graduate Management Admission Council, 2017;Santos et al, 2017;Lima et al, 2017), the relevance of soft skills are highlighted. Although the most important competence is "Problem Solving", the other competences in the importance ranking are soft skills, such as ii) Low priority -low importance, low performance: are minor weaknesses and do not require additional effort and, iv) Possible overkill -low importance, high performance: indicate that business resources committed to these attributes would be overkill and should be deployed elsewhere.…”

“…In addition, both associations do not separate competences between soft skills and hard skills, also known as transversal skills and technical skills (Santos et al, 2017;Lima et al, 2017). This view is important as these competences are developed in different ways.…”

Production Engineering Competencies in the Industry 4.0 context: Perspectives on the Brazilian labor market

“…Recently, Santos et al (2017) and Lima et al (2017) studied the industrial engineering profile considering two categories of competencies: transversal and technical. Transversal competencies (also called soft skills according to Yanaze & Lopes, 2015) are related to aspects such as relational capabilities, learning, and communication.…”

“…Transversal competencies (also called soft skills according to Yanaze & Lopes, 2015) are related to aspects such as relational capabilities, learning, and communication. Technical competencies rely on abilities such as analyzing, designing, planning, and developing (Rouvrais et al, 2006;Santos et al, 2017). Table 1 presents the main transversal and technical competencies considered by Rouvrais et al in their research.…”

Integrating Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics contents through PBL in an Industrial Engineering and Management first year program

“…Six teams of students (of 8-9 members) are formed for IPIEM1 and they must demonstrate the acquisition of scientific and technical skills in the project, with the intention of producing solid and eminently practical solutions of products / production systems. By developing these solutions for the project, they also develop other skills essential to the proper exercise of Engineering, namely, teamwork, conflict management, argumentation, written communication, critical evaluation and decision making, while allowing expressions of creativity and initiative, which are fundamental drivers of the processes of innovation and industrial entrepreneurship among others fundamental to IEM graduates (Santos et al, 2017).…”