As Patrick Kniveton starts his term as president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, he is simultaneously embarking on a one-man mission to get his peers to speak up and to make sure their voices are heard.
For Kniveton thinks that engineers are too reticent to cast themselves into the spotlight. And he thinks this has to change if the true value of the profession is ever to be understood in wider circles. “As a group, as engineers, are a modest bunch. I see it every day at work,” he says. “Engineers are effective, they deliver a lot, they are extremely professional, but they do it quietly, without any fuss. I believe it’s about time we shouted a lot more about what we do.”
He hopes that a new breed of confident, vocal engineer will emerge – to such an extent that one day the country might even be led by someone with an engineering background. “Perhaps we need to be more direct,” he says. “There’s nothing to stop more engineers standing to become politicians. And I would be delighted if that happened. There are too few MPs with engineering backgrounds.”
These remarks give a clue to the tone that Kniveton will set during his one-year presidential term. One of his key themes will be political persuasion – using the power of 100,000 members’ voices to help influence and inform government policy. He says the IMechE has done well in recent years with attempts to get its voice heard – the food waste report was covered by virtually every mainstream media outlet – and that those efforts must continue. “We need to be influencing politicians. We have managed to do that through our themed reports and our policy statements. We have things to say and are well-prepared and professional in the way that we do that. And I’m pleased to say politicians have listened.
“It’s important, because I believe we have a real opportunity now. Engineering and manufacturing has become flavour of the month. The value-added through doing these sorts of activities is now recognised. So let’s continue to take that opportunity,” he says.
But if the IMechE increasingly has the ear of our political leaders, then what is the message that it should be delivering? This is a conundrum, because an organisation with more than 100,000 members will contain a mass of conflicting views. Kniveton acknowledges this, but thinks there are certain policies that the vast majority of engineers would agree with. One is the need to regenerate our ageing national infrastructure such as rail systems and power stations. “We are sitting on infrastructure that in many cases is close to life expired,” says Kniveton. “There is an urgent need for investment and upgrade, and time ticks. We need to provide a thrust for this. Our policy statements and reports have reflected that. We’ve got to keep plugging that key message so it finally gets through.”
But as you drill into the specifics of such a message, controversy emerges. Take High-Speed 2, for instance – an infrastructure investment that has cross-party support. The IMechE has backed the project, claiming it is welcome news for the economy. But there will be some members who disagree.
Kniveton acknowledges that HS2 is controversial. He personally thinks that there is a clear need for additional capacity on the rail network, although whether this is best addressed by freeing up existing bottlenecks or building new lines remains open to question. If the project does progress, he says, then HS2 must retain cross-party support so that it has momentum over the long term to ensure that it gets built without delay.
There are other areas that Kniveton will be focusing on during his tenure. He says that over his many years of being an engineer, particular topics continue to reappear again and again, mainly because they arouse such strong opinions. One such subject is the widespread and common use of the term “engineer”.
Kniveton thinks that use of the word is now so ingrained in common parlance that any change, even via legislation, would take years to occur and would be practically unenforceable. In addition, even if the subject gained any interest from government, which he thinks it does not, opinion is evenly split down our own engineering community. Some big companies already use the term “engineer” in its broadest sense and would be unwilling to implement a change that would serve only to demotivate their own employees.
However, although the use of the term “engineer” cannot be easily changed in common language, Kniveton says that the community does recognise the titles engineering technician, incorporated engineer and chartered engineer.
“These are protected by law. These titles cannot be appropriated by unqualified people. Action can be taken against people misusing them, and this does happen. If a major misuse is referred to me, I will refer it to the Engineering Council,” he says.
Therefore Kniveton’s proposal is that engineers should refer to themselves by their full professional registration title, be it chartered engineer, incorporated engineer or engineering technician, at every opportunity. “This is a route that the accounting and surveying communities have adopted for many years with great success – you are more likely to hear these communities refer to themselves as chartered surveyors or chartered accountants,” he says.
“As engineers, we constantly talk about wanting to improve our status. I argue we already have that status, but we are too modest to tell anyone. Everywhere I speak I am going to stress this. We have these titles – we don’t need to invent a new one. These are professional titles – use them everywhere, don’t be shy.”
So a full and varied year as president beckons. The title of his presidential address – which he delivered at One Birdcage Walk at the end of last month – was Proud to be an Engineer. “That said it all. It’s an honour and a privilege.”
Presidential credentials
Patrick Kniveton, from Derby, is the 128th president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
He graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Leeds in 1976. He has worked in sectors such as nuclear power, instrumentation and infrastructure planning.
During his career, he led the installation of the Isaac Newton telescope in the Canary Islands and developed a revolutionary traffic signal technology in the 1990s which is still in use today.
Currently he is head of engineering improvement at Rolls-Royce Marine Power, and has worked at Rolls-Royce since 1989.
Helping smaller firms to grow and prosper
Patrick Kniveton thinks that small firms are often the unsung heroes of the British engineering and manufacturing fraternity. Half of the IMechE’s members work in smaller companies, and part of his remit during his presidency is to provide them with greater support.
“Giants like Rolls-Royce depend on small companies in their supply chain. They are often fleet of foot, fast-moving, meaning they can respond quicker than many other bigger companies,” he says. Kniveton says studies have shown that there are key conditions to enable small firms to grow, and, if these are not present, they will fail to break out and expand. These requisites include the right qualified people with project management skills; access to development programmes for all their people; and a firm grasp of new processes and design and manufacturing methods.
The IMechE has provided support in this area through the strengthening of its learning and development activities. But Kniveton wants more activity in knowledge dissemination and technical delivery. “We hold some of the keys,” he says. “The interchange of ideas is crucial and one of the challenges I’m laying down is how we go about adapting our current lectures and events to help small and medium-sized firms grow.
“I want to help accelerate development times, ensuring that we do all we can to help bring forward the next Rolls-Royce or the next Renishaw.”