Making Connections: the need for good communication skills in manufacturing

The changes which have taken place in the manufacturing field have made communication and a knowledge of rhetorical principles critical if one wishes to succeed in the world of manufacturing. Manufacturers of goods have worked in generally the same way since people have been making things out of raw materials. They developed systems which worked really well in their times and with their level technology. The courses required in the curriculum at BYU work really well in this older system. Over the course of history manufacturers have pretty much done things in the same way, but recently things have changed. Manufacturing in present day isn’t the same as it always was, new technology and the advances in computers and communication has changed the way manufacturers interact with their clients. People still make something valuable or useful from something less valuable or raw, however, the way that people make products has changed, the way people present their products has changed, and the way products come to market has changed. Communication between consumer and manufacturer has now become extremely important in all these changes. Unfortunately the curriculum for manufacturing engineering doesn’t emphasize this contemporary style communication. I hope stress to you why it is important to and engineer to have a knowledge of rhetorical principles. With proper and effective communication comes growth and opportunity, without it complications, misunderstanding and rejection can frustrate your efforts as an engineer.

New ways call for new communication

You can see that production and manufacturing of goods has changed since antiquity, and even in the last fifty years. Change in manufacturing will never stop, and this change brings with it a need for communication in new ways. Everyone who has spoken to a car lover has heard the phrase, “they just don’t make them like this anymore.” Most often this phrase is said to show displeasure

with the current method of producing things. In this field in transition the techniques and technology of the present create new ways of manufacturing which might be viewed adversely when used in the production of certain products. For example, Ferrari still sand cast their engine blocks by hand, a very slow and arduous process.  With the advances of metallurgy and a processes like injection molding, many more engines could be produced both faster and cheaper, which means more Ferraris could be made. Even though Ferrari knows this, they still sand cast their engine blocks by hand. Ferrari insists that the old world way is better, they even say the method they employ makes their engines is a work of art and the customers think this way too. If a manufacturer were lucky enough to work with Ferrari, the engineer would need to be mindful of this sentiment. In many companies there is an idea that, “the way we’ve done it is the way we’ll do it.” Knowing one’s audience is critical in any position of consulting, even one which is related to manufacturing. Rhetorical principles will undoubtedly aid anyone who stands in a position where their opinion is shared. If an engineer were to disregard the attachment Ferrari has to their method they would be making a mistake, they could even offend people by suggesting to switch to another method. A knowledge of rhetorical principles brings about sensitivity and if it is absolutely critical, a way to most effectively make suggestions.

The new and old ways

For most of history a man’s reputation was a result of his hard work and superior skill, if you produced quality goods people heard about it. This has been the model for a very long time. Bartolomeo Beretta of Gardone received 296 ducats as payment for 185 arquebus barrels sold to the Arsenal of Venice in 1526. Beretta’s products were chosen by the highly discriminating Republic of Venice because of their excellence. Beretta already had a reputation from his prior clients which

Beretta's receipt fro the arsenal of Venice

helped him secure this business. Because of his prior customers’ satisfaction he flourished as a merchant-artisan. I’m sure that the armory of Venice had to rely simply on Beretta’s good name as they contacted him to make the barrels. Perhaps the arsenal had seen something Beretta had already crafted. This transaction shows how the majority of business was conducted in the past - if you make good products, you build a reputation which is spread by word of mouth and people come seeking your products. This is the classic way of way of building a reputation as an artisan. In this system a completed example is necessary. This seems only natural that a buyer came to inspect a barrel to see whether it was good quality. This has changed in our time, quite frequently in our time the product must be fully conceptualized and computer rendered before a prototype could be attempted. The engineer must communicate to his audience through digital renders what he wants his audience to know. Other times a plastic model may be 3d printed and shown to potential customers, maybe a model is milled out of metal and painted to look like the finished product. It depends on the audience.  Showing the head engineer a plastic model won’t be as effective as showing a CAD model. An engineer needs to recognize that the way they present their ideas matters almost as much as the idea itself. Ineffective communication may spoil even the best ideas. A manufacturing engineer must use effective communication if he wishes to promote his ideas in the best way possible. The engineer must understand his audience enough to know what will capture their attention, the engineer must show the qualities of the product without actually having the product in hand, the engineer can best do this by refined communication and the use of rhetorical devices.

How to communicate the strengths

In modern manufacturing the consumer wants some kind of assurance that the product they will receive is of sufficient quality. There are several ways to communicate this, but not all of them are equal, depending on the audience an engineer may change how he presents his product to potential customers. In Beretta’s time the only way was to show a finished product, or maybe a similar item which would show the craftsmanship by presenting the actual item which is being inspected. In our times it has become it is much too expensive to simply create a prototype as a first step.  

The engineer must show people how they can create something useful from the materials, without having the actual item in hand. Most of the time this is done without using any materials at all, with the advent of computer animated design software most early stages of development are in digitally rendered images and plans. This is a huge shift in the manufacturing world, no longer do manufactures make the product first and then analyze. Now they analyze first and then manufacture the product later. The communication has to shift in this new world of manufacturing as well to be effective. Engineers of the future will have to think what kind of presentation will best communicate the idea. Giving a presentation will have to be different when the main spectacle is a CAD drawing, for example you can’t as effectively perform a demonstration with a computer render as with a prototype. You can more easily show mechanisms and variations with a CAD drawing. What it boils down to is that often times you will have to present your work without having the finished product.

In conclusion

            Change will never cease in the world of manufacturing, there will always be a new technique, material, or process which will change how products are made. These changes require that people communicate differently than they have in the past. Not addressing this changes would be unwise and one can easily see how neglect of certain tools could make a manufacturer’s job more difficult. In that same spirit, I’ve tried to convey through this article that rhetorical principles and effective communication are tools which need to be utilized in order for the full potential of a manufacturer to be achieved.

references 

". in 1562." Beretta Since 1562. Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta, n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2014. <http://www.beretta.com/en/world-of-beretta/since-1526/>.