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As some of you may have been watching on the SCADASEC email listserv recently, there has been a bit of an uprising… again. Pondering this in a semi satirical state last night (after about the 20th email sent and received on the issue), I started wondering why this happens so often. It finally hit me… we have two very distinct camps on polar opposite ends of the spectrum. Let’s call them pneumatic pumpheads and bit-twiddlers. Now, before any feathers are ruffled, keep in mind that this post is equal-opportunity - everyone is going to be given an equal ration of grief…

For the purposes of this post, its VERY important to remember that everyone has a lens through which they view the world. Even using the same terms and language, people can see different messages because of the lens that they use, it’s unavoidable. So, while we are reading this post, let’s get our prescriptions checked and try to think in as much of an unbiased way as we can.

Pneumatic pumpheads represent the “classic” versions of engineering. They are mechanical, electrical, chemical, civil, logistical, and just about any other version of engineer out there. They often represent folks that have lots of experience and knowledge about any given process, but they also often are locked in the ways that they have always thought. If you have every been to any type of plant, you recognize the person immediately. They are the ones that can crunch calculus in their heads, work a calculator like no one’s business, but they are also the ones that look down their nose at computers and constantly complain that the computer, “just doesn’t work.” Their knowledge of engineering and process is often first rate and of vital importance, but many just don’t want to know about computers. They are often very precise, very literal, and very utilitarian when it comes to solving very complex problems. But, they are much happier to solve the problem with a wrench, blowtorch, and good ‘ol fashioned sweat equity.

Now, bit-twiddlers. These are the folks that think in 1’s and 0’s, they see the world through computer logic, state machines, and that nothing is “absolute” quite often. These are the folks that bring us things like linear algebraic solvers to optimize a blending process, monitoring and control solutions that allow one person to support eight plants, and would rather sit at their desk than don fire retardant clothing, hair nets, steel toed boots, and venture into the plant. They often arrogantly view engineering as a “subset” of computer science, and don’t understand why distributed control can be a bad thing (tell an operator of a turbine or a boiler that you want to make changes from three states away, and you are likely to learn a few new words from him or her). To these folks, they can not understand uptime, availability, etc. They would rather sit at a keyboard and direct the plant. They are into problem solving, but in a more abstract manner. Problems to them require elegant solutions, and they are more likely to write a logic tree, decision support matrix, or some kind of statistical solver to deal with natural variability in a process. There are no absolutes to them, only optimization. Theirs is a discipline where elegance often wins out over practicality, and critical issues such as safety. I’m reminded of an auditor a few years back that told me (after they shut down the plant and created several major issues from a network scan) that their way was much faster and they would keep doing it the same way from now on. She just refused to believe that these were possible safety issues… her lens told her that there was no way that a network scan could ever hurt someone.

Arrogance abounds on both side of course, and these are definite polar opposites. Many people sit somewhere in the middle. Myself, I’m an IT person (software developer and systems admin) that happened to land in engineering and industry. So, I probably fall somewhere in the middle. The modern plant is developing more of these middle ground folks, it is where we have to go. Some schools are offering courses at the bachelors and masters level now in “mechatronics” which fuses engineering disciplines with IT and computer logic disciplines. This IS the plant of the future.

So, its not an “either / or” but rather a “both / and.” We will not solve the challenges of today by thinking like the engineers of yesterday, and we can not arrogantly assume that the cutting edge of computer systems and technologies can solve all problems. Students coming out of school today and folks that are coming up to replace the aging workforce have more computer skills than ever before. Economics and the need to compete in the global economy is driving the need for more efficiencies, and is casting “one-trick ponies” off to the side. If you only understand one discipline, don’t be surprised when you job moves overseas and you are left in the easy chair complaining about it being unfair. The world is a different place and we all must be ready at any moment to reinvent, diversify, and lead.