The vital need for precision in engineering

While it irritated her at the time, Mrs Simms now looks back fondly on the days when, even into her late-20s, she was still often required at clubs, bars and venues to show ID to prove she was over 18. I mention this because a sign in my local supermarket suggested that anyone under 25 might be required to show ID. But the wording contained its own get-out clause: rather than saying “Anyone who looks under 25…” it said “Anyone who is under 25 might be required to show ID”. What that implies is that, if challenged, merely saying that you’re 26 gets you off the hook. As engineers, our projects live or die by the precision of our technical specifications. It’s rare indeed that we can look back with hindsight on errors in projects gone by with any degree of fondness. It’s an old adage, but worth repeating nonetheless, that engineering should be the most precise language of all.

With best regards

Mark Simms, Editor
editor@machinebuilding.net