Feature

Inaugural Ceremony of CIPE held at BUET

An IP engineer is not merely an engineer but also a leader and most importantly a system improver.

We believe that to compete in this modern world we need to leave behind all obsolete ideas, and techniques persisting in our industrial and other related areas. We have to nurture the innovative ideas to proceed on in the path to success. That's why our theme is 'The spirit of innovation'.”

It was the evening of 14th October. Lecturers of IPE, BUET hosted the inaugural ceremony of CIPE. Now what is CIPE? It stands for 'Convention on Industrial and Production Engineering'. Bearing the theme 'The spirit of innovation' and aiming to bridge the gap between the industries of the corporate world and different universities, CIPE was held from 14th to 16th October of 2008 at BUET premises. It was organized by the department of IPE, BUET in association with AIPE (Association of Industrial and Production Engineers). Since 2003 this event has been arranged regularly under the name 'IPE Day' 4 times. The 5th one - this year's CIPE was divided into as many as 7 sessions.

The 1st session of the event commenced at about 5:15 p.m. At the very beginning a multimedia presentation was done on various features of IPE. The brilliant work simply highlighted what IPE is capable of doing.

Then the sponsor of the session Viyellatex, a leading name in Bangladesh's present garment industry, got the spot for a presentation covering their introduction to the audience. From their presentation I came to know a fact that should be shared with you: Bangladesh is now leading in garment manufacturing in the sub-continental region. We even have an edge over India.

After a short break for the prayer, the session continued. This time Mr. Hasanat briefed the audience about the importance of IP Engineers in the industrial sector of Bangladesh. But he reminded the upcoming engineers that it would not be an easy going for them. Mr. Hasanat has been recruiting IP Engineers for the past 4-5 years. Although their performance is very good, some officials
have not accepted the change that easily.

Mr. Anisul Huq talked about the importance of new graduates in the industrial sector to do well at the international level. He said that IP engineers can make that changes, so he welcomed them to create the Bangladesh we dreamt about.

Then came professor Tamim. He shared with us his appreciation for IPE. When he was in the mechanical department of BUET as a student in the early 90's he saw no light for IPE. But when Bangladesh started competing internationally during 80-90's through RMG sector, he gradually realized the necessity of IPE in the industrial sector of Bangladesh. 'Production optimization', 'Innovation'- the terms which didn't get the attention in the past are now of utmost importance. He expressed his belief that without IP engineers it would not be possible for us to compete in the international market.

The chief guest of the occasion, the honorable Vice Chancellor Prof. AMM Safiullah talked about some concerns made by the industry CEOs regarding the fact that most of the time students from the universities are found lacking in knowledge. He made it clear that students at the university level do not get specialized with particular functions of any industry, as those will vary from one industry to another. So what should the universities do? They should teach the students the basics, so they can learn those thoroughly. But he welcomed the industry personnel to come to the university to talk about their needs so that the gap between the university and the industries can be filled.

Afterwards Dr. Ahsan Akhter Hasin, the departmental head of IPE talked about the combination of engineering with business knowledge in IPE's curricula. He emphasized on management skills, as only engineering excellence cannot take one to the desired level. For example, between the two Japanese auto giants Toyota and Honda, Toyota is more popular worldwide. But according to a ranking based on technical performance, Honda excels over Toyota. So in spite of having an edge over Toyota technically, Honda lags behind because of their lackings in business strategy.