Panelists at Congress will explore impacts of offshoring engineering

Emily M. Smith
ASME NEWS

Among the tracks at this year's International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition will be a session about how the challenges of global competitiveness have affected the relocation of jobs from one country to another.

"Offshoring of Engineering Services — How Far Does It Go?" will take place from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 14. The session will be part of the Engineering Business Management Track at Congress in Anaheim, Calif.

The challenge of global competitiveness has led many companies to use non-domestic, low-cost employees, which has resulted in the migration of work and loss of jobs in a variety of industries in several countries.

The growth of this phenomenon has had a big effect globally on white-collar professions such as engineering, architecture, accounting and medical technology. In fact, the Internet has made it possible for teams of engineers to work on projects 24 hours a day around the globe. As a result, ASME has been challenged to evaluate the impact of offshoring of engineering services and potential avenues of action.

Five panelists will discuss the issues related to offshoring such as the various policy options used or considered by governments to address this phenomenon.

The invited panelists are: Philip Bond, who is Undersecretary of Technology at the U.S. Department of Commerce; Al Frink, a small business owner who has been nominated as the Assistant Secretary for Manufacturing at the U.S. Department of Commerce; Don Wainwright, who is chair of the Manufacturing Council at the U.S. Department of Commerce; John Cassidy, Jr., who is senior vice president for Science and Technology, United Technologies Corp.; and John Zysman, who is the co-director of the Berkeley Roundtable on International Economy.

To find out more about the 2004 Congress, or to register, visit asme.org/congress.

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