With the opening up of the power sector and planned revival of the real sector, plant engineers may soon become hot cakes in the labour market. Daniel Essiet reports.
As the plant head in a company in Ikeja, the Lagos State capital, Philip Okon handles anything from a drop in output to equipment fixing.
Some time ago, the company had a leak in one of its production units which caused impure products to be formed. He had to tackle the problem since the company didn’t want to produce faulty drugs. His intervention saved the company lots of money.
Plant manager play key roles in organisations. They manage the production shifts. If anything happens, they call a meeting, involving chemical engineers and other analysts.
As a team, they find out what the problem is and set out the priorities.
Once they find the problem, they look for the way out.
It is their job to ensure that everything runs smoothly.
There are lots of job prospects for plant engineers, especially with the opening up of the power sector.
The Executive Director, National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation (NCAN), Mr Okechukwu Azogu, said employment growth was expected in engineering, especially for those who can manage the production process. The economy, he said, required a lot of expertise, with the reforms in the power sector and other areas of manufacturing.
According to him, engineers with background in production will always find a job, because there will always be some kind of system, whether it’s people or products, that will need to be developed, improved, implemented and evaluated.
With their skills, plant engineers can be used in any type of organisation.
Plant engineers, he said, were needed in food processing companies which take crops and process them to make food and animal feed ingredients, and naturally-derived alternatives to industrial chemicals.
The opportunities seem endless because they centre on complex problem-solving issues related to agricultural production and processes.
Their key areas of responsibilities are implementing projects that improve safety, quality and production efficiency and output.
According to him, job prospects are very good in the energy industry for plant engineers.
He sees hiring of plant engineers increasing with new power stations coming on stream with the concessioning of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).
For him, engineers will continue to be in demand and he doesn’t see that dropping in the near future.
In some areas of the economy, plant engineers are also designated as production engineers.
By job description, they help management deploy production machines effectively to make a product or offer a service.
The Managing Director, Elkins Marine Training International, Dr Hugh Friday Nwaneri, said there are job opportunities for plant engineers. This is because companies hire them to manage machinery and equipment.
Across the country, manufacturing companies, such as Cadbury, Coca Cola, are among the major employers of plant engineers. Many large companies employ several engineers to ensure that there is an engineer on the premises round the clock.
They work in different manufacturing industries, and in factories, warehouses, laboratories, and construction sites. In fact, just about every large scale manufacturer needs plant engineers to help them solve their problems.
Largely, manufacturing firms employ plant engineers to conduct daily safety checks on heavy machinery and equipment. They perform tests to ensure machines are working smoothly.
In many places, companies are legally required to perform regular safety checks and local inspectors liaise with plant engineers to ensure that all health and safety regulations are being observed. Plant engineers must perform regular preventative maintenance on equipment, and this requires that they have a thorough knowledge of the machinery involved.
For this reason, plant engineers are expected to liaise with management and production teams to rectify problems with machinery and equipment that slow down production or create safety hazards. Some plant engineers are responsible for developing ideas to speed up production and cut costs.
With the reforms in the power sector, he said plant engineers would be engaged to perform basic tasks related to maintenance and safety.
Nearly all plant engineers work full time. Because this can be a very deadline-driven occupation, working overtime is frequently required as deadlines approach.
Most plant engineers start as a member of a plant crew and handles general maintenance issues. Senior engineers can be promoted to supervisory and management positions. Engineering managers must help to train and recruit new employees as well as coordinate staffing schedules and manage departmental budgets.
Entry-level positions often deal with maintenance and repair of plant equipment while senior positions are usually managerial in nature.
The daily routine of plant engineers includes providing assistance and direction to other plant personnel in proper plant procedures and manufacturing methods. Part of this routine involves providing guidance for preventative and repair maintenance to ensure that plant operations are able to meet output quotas and deadlines.
A former president of the Nigerian Institution of Structural Engineers, NIStructE, a division of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Kunle Adebajo, said engineers were central to innovation and improving the quality of life.
Adebajo, Chairman/CEO, Ove Arup, an international engineering consulting firm, said companies seek out job candidates with an engineering degree that is relevant to the particular industry, such as a mechanical, , chemical, or electrical engineering degree. Because of this, employees with such skills are in high demand.
According to him, most employers require job applicants to hold a bachelor’s degree in engineering. Depending on the industry of the employer, a degree in chemical, civil, electrical or nuclear engineering may be more relevant to the desired job.
A bachelor’s degree in engineering is required for almost all entry-level engineering jobs.
Graduates with degrees in electrical, electronics, mechanical, chemical, civil, or materials engineering are hired for plant engineering positions.
Entry-level salaries vary based on experience, education, supervisory responsibility, geographic location, size, and industry of the employer.
The general engineering training, Adebajo said, allows them to shift to fields with better prospects to those that more closely match their interests.
