Thoughts on outsourcing?

[Auriferous]

I don't want to create a thread that disputes the pros and cons of outsourcing from a socioeconomic or political perspective. But, I am curious if any engineering firms out there have ever used a foreign company for doing such work as design and drafting of a land development project. I have heard of such work being done for things like manufacturing and electronic components, but never civil engineering. Has anyone ever dealt with these outsourcing firms?

My firm is experiencing a big backlog of work, and in order to meet deadlines, we are considering this course of action. I know there are many reasons for and against, but I'd really just be interested in the strict business and operational issues that arise. For example, obviously, there is a geographic issue...the managers and the drafting team are across the ocean from each other.

Any input is appreciated, as long as it doesn't turn into a labor market, outsource-bashing flame fest. Thanks.

 

[GregLocock]

Sure, much of the design work on the Olympic facilities in China is being done by foreign firms.

I think it is easy to exaggerate the disadvantages of geographical separation.





Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[RDK]

Not quite engineering, but I have used the services of rentacoder.com where you can post a computer programming project and have bids placed on having the work done.

I had one bad and one good experience with India coders. The overall result was favorable and I am thinking of putting a fairly large computer development project together and having it coded through this site.

The bad was as much my fault as the coder’s, It was my first time putting a project there and I should have been more specific on my statement of requirements.

I really do not think that it is the fact of foreign vs domestic work that is the problem with a lot of foreign outsourcing but a problem in communication requirements and expectations that would occur if the work was done next door.



Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng

Construction Project Management
From conception to completion

http://www.kitsonengineering.com

 

[Slugger926]

Another thing to think about, some of the big firms in this state sub-contract out portions of projects or smaller projects to part time engineers and retired engineers on a regular basis when they need to free up time of engineers in their offices.

One example is that the USDA will have 30 small projects that will be bundled into one contract. The small firms and part time engineers can't handle that kind of volume at once. The bigger firm can handle the volume and bidding, but proffits may be greater on other projects. The big firm will bid the packaged project, and then subcontract out the portions it doesn't want to deal with.

By not being overly greedy, the large firms make more $$$.

 

[rb1957]

my experience is that out-sourcing is a bad idea. in a perfect world it would work well, but then so would marxism (and democracy).

i've worked on projects where it was believed (by projects) that the partners (out-sourcees?) would have the best interests of the project at heart (just as if they were in-sourced) because they derive a profit stream from the work. i think there are at least three errors in this thought ...
1) maybe they are making a profit, but more likely they are not (possibly because they were beaten down by contracts) and they'd like nothing better than to drop it like a hot potato.
2) in the best world they would be making a profit, but if there is another project making more profit then they'd support the latter one better.
3) following on from 2), i think they'll always have their best interests at heart, however this fits with your project.

that aside, there are all sorts of problems ...
getting someone else to fit with your design philosophy,
getting someone else to accept scops changes,
getting someone slse to change their design based on your experience (rather than a detalled calc.)

but all this is offset by the money they bring to the table.

 

[wes616]

My wife's last arch. firm sent out a few drafting projects to overseas firms. I'm not really sure why they did this, but it turned out to be a horrible experience for them. The communication was difficult to say the least. Since then, they have had some positive experiences with outsoursing to smaller American firms ( I think they outsource to a small firm in South Dakota). Sure they pay a little more, but without the headache and communication problems. Plus my wife is happy that she is providing Americans Jobs.

Wes C.

 

[EddyC]

My employer tried outsourcing a portion of his CAD work (We are an A/E firm). He didn't like the results. One of our employees approached him several years later and said that he had friends overseas that we could outsource our work to. The boss declined, based upon his previous experience with this. In any event, more than half the employees here are recent immigrants. So the boss has no real need to oursource. He immigrant-sources instead.

 

[Heckler]

"So the boss has no real need to oursource. He immigrant-sources instead."

Eddy I would be careful what you write on this forum the ACLU might file a law suite against you.

My company has started to outsource to China to reduce the bottom line and increase profit margin. It's bitter sweet with me because I've seen knock offs of our products.

 

[CarolinaPE]

Most of the stuff I see outsourced is desinger/draftsman stuff that most senior engineers pass off anyway. I worked for 5 years in product design and our company did some outsourcing but it basically consisted of transferring old cad drawings to new 3-d models. Not exactly rocket science. Even with that our results were mixed. I've always seen outsourcing as something like the guy in the front row at a football game stands up. Then everyone else has to stand up. In the end what has been accomplished?

 

[wes616]

Most of the stuff I see outsourced is desinger/draftsman stuff that most senior engineers pass off anyway.

Yes senior engineer passed this stuff off to... junior engineers... as part of the development of a senior engineer.

Wes C.
------------------------------
There are no engineers in the hottest parts of hell, because the existence of a 'hottest part' implies a temperature difference, and any marginally competent engineer would immediately use this to run a heat engine and make some other part of hell comfortably cool. This is obviously impossible.

 

[CarolinaPE]

It does not make sense to have an engineer do a job a draftsman can do, that just boils down to dollars and cents. I do realize some jr level engineers do CAD but it is not full time like a designer/draftsmen position. More of a get their feet wet with it so they can direct the draftsman (and understand what they are asking the draftsman to do). Their talents are better used elsewhere. Junior level guys are better off spending their time doing things other than CAD. Personally I am not a fan of outsourcing overall, but converting 2-D cad models to 3-D is not exactly good use of an engineering resource.