[James Pennock]

The Graphics Technology Tsunami
By James O. Pennock

I don’t think there were many people in the world that did not see the horrible action and aftermath of the Japanese Tsunami that occurred in early March 2011. That Tsunami happened on one specific day and took only a short time to do its damage. It gave us all a truly frightening look at the effect of an unstoppable, irresistible and irreversible force. Japan will never be the same again and the loss of livelihood will forever affect that country.
There has been a “Tsunami” of sorts in the engineering and design profession as well. This Tsunami has, so far taken more than thirty years and it is not done yet. This Tsunami is the growth in graphics technology that has washed over all areas of the engineering, design and “drafting” fields. This rising tide has also proven to be an unstoppable, irresistible and irreversible force.
In this Graphics Tsunami there have also been causalities. These causalities are not the actual death of a human. It is however the death of expertise, the death of quality, the death of pride, the death of dedication and the loss of desire to train others in the craft. How did this happen? Why did this happen? Simple! It is human nature. It is as predictable as starting a small snow ball rolling down a hill. It gains size; it gains momentum and soon becomes an unstoppable force.
Digital Graphics is a great invention. The companies that created the graphics went looking for a market so they could sell this new product. They found many and among them was the process plant engineering and design companies. These companies were told that Graphics was the best thing since sliced bread and will save a lot of money. The engineering companies tried it out. In the meantime the graphics companies went to the people who are the Clients of the engineering companies and sold them on how great this new thing is and they should require it for all their projects. Companies got greedy. Management pushed the systems onto the work force. Management believed the sales hype that these graphics “Do all the things that your present staff does” and “it does it faster and cheaper”.
The Tsunami wave rolled in. It decimated the training budgets in every company who cared and who had developed ongoing training system that fed the stream of expertise. Quality was the next victim to go. There was no one who understood that the computer is a dumb machine that is ruled by the God “GIGO” (Garbage In= Garbage Out). They (the Graphics companies and engineering company management) believe that the computer is right because it is “programmed”.
Young inexperienced designers now are given only a few hours of basic training on how to run the graphics computer. They were not taught “Piping” so there is no pride in what they are doing. They are just manipulating the graphics and collecting a paycheck. With no pride in what they are doing there is no dedication to doing it right.
Yes, there are still a few of the “old timers” around, but they are normally not allowed to train the inexperienced workers. As a result they see the lack of quality and lack of pride and the lack of dedication and they in turn are disenchanted about what they are doing. They gravitate to a mode of hoping they can hold onto their jobs until it is time for them to retire. What a waste of talent and knowledge. This industry will never be the same again and the loss of skilled professionals will forever affect future projects.
The graphics Tsunami rolls on and there is nothing you or I can do to stop the flow. There is nothing you or I can do to change the direction or reverse the flow. We are all now just spectators watching a television screen as it broadcasts the affects and results of the carnage.

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