”Industrial engineering (IE) gives you the opportunity to work in a variety of businesses. The most distinctive aspect of industrial engineering is the flexibility that it offers. Whether it’s shortening a rollercoaster line, streamlining an operating room, distributing products worldwide, or manufacturing superior automobiles, all share the common goal of saving money and increasing efficiencies”, as stated in a brochure of the University of Illinois (Chicago, US), ”selling” this complex job of an industrial engineer.
In Romania, we can find a specialization in ”business engineering” at the Politehnica University in Bucharest, which is addressing ”both young people interested in building a career in the business environment (industrial and other fields), and those who wish to develop their own business”. This is a brief presentation and maybe not so precise from the perspective of engineering compared to the American one but, frankly speaking, the local industry itself has difficulty in explaining what could be the opportunities for a graduate.
Over 25 year ago, in the communist period, the Romanians where known - especially in the so called 3rd countries community - as good industrial engineers (of course, no one called them like this), mainly in the petrochemical sector. Holdings like Industrialexport delivered many turn-key projects as refineries (in India, Pakistan, Syria or Jordan), or chemical plants (in Egypt, Turkey or China). This history meant, first of all, having good specialists, well-trained professional staff, but also good partnerships with emerging markets.
That is why in the NACE code 7112 - engineering and technical consultancy or 3320 - installation of industrial machinery and equipment, now you can find a relatively high presence of so called strategic investors – well known industrial groups, in companies like IMSAT or ISAF, but also specialized Romanian holders familiar with the field of engineering (Romelectro, Romenergo, Moldocor or IMUC).
Which, by the way, is today more about service industries than manufacturing, a change to which even local investors seem to be adapting. Here are some examples about the new trend to secure the growth - diversification, finding new markets and growing a new generation of specialists:
A good lawn needs modern services
Maybe for one who has been observing the evolution of the UTI conglomerate since the beginning, 24 year ago, it could be hard to understand how a contractor in the IT field is congratulating himself for having reached the 100th football game (Romania - Northern Ireland match, in November 2014) on the National Arena in Bucharest, as the engineering services provider (from lighting and ticketing to the maintenance of the playing surface). The engineers are even managing the photosynthesis of a nursery yard of 100 square meters, so as to be able to quickly replace the lawn.
But it is no surprise to hear that the same group celebrated the first from the four year contract with the capital of Bulgaria for the maintenance of traffic light systems. Or that one of the UTI’s divisions provided the first Romanian application for the real-time encryption of VOIP calls and text messages dedicated to Android mobile users.
Good for growth - solutions for energy efficiency
What can also be called diversification is the decision of Romelectro (in consortium with the Germans from Baumgarte Boiler Systems GmbH) to take on the project of alternative fuel production from waste in the city of Timisoara. For EUR 60 million, they will build a facility which will be part of the local thermo-electric plant.
This is the first project to generate energy from waste in Romania, an effective and sustainable solution to eliminate sorted municipal waste, through a high efficiency cogeneration plant. Romelectro has experience in EPC (engineering, procurement, construction), as it has been a contractor on the local and international markets for over 40 years. This year, Romelectro has also won a four year contract (of over EUR 29 million) for the refurbishment of Transelectrica substation Bradu, an important point in the national grid.
Let us return to another company established after 1990, Adrem Invest, which is also involved in the wasteto-energy technology development, as the first investor into a thermo-electric plant based on biomass (in Suceava town, a project of EUR 90 million, developed in collaboration with an Austrian company).
This year, Adrem partnered with E.On for periodic checks of the gas installations. But, having its own solution for energy efficiency, Adrem is determined to conquer new markets abroad, signing contracts in China, Korea or Uzbekistan (of EUR 25 million, as vicepresident Corneliu Bodea stated in an interview for a local business publication).
An “engineered” competition on a competitive market
Despite some news announcing a wind of change, the life of major industrial engineering providers remains hard, on a domestic market where large industrial projects are still missing, and the “competition” to reach the available auctions is tough.
News speaks for itself - this summer, the Competition Council has conducted unannounced inspections at the premises of 13 companies which participated in public procurement procedures organized by Transgaz in 2011, as part of an investigation into a possible agreement between the respective companies rigged bids to participate in auctions; among these companies, we mention the former key players of EPC contractors like Moldocor or Bucharest Chemical Equipment Installation Trust (TMUCB).
This is a continuation of the inspections from 2012, when the Council gave Condmag, INSPET, Moldocor and TMUCB fines totalling RON 25.5 million (about EUR 5.6 million) for rigging two TRANSGAZ auctions.
