Competency Demonstration Report Career Episode Essay

Excerpt from Essay :

This information was used to assess the level of compliance by drivers with company policies and procedures, as well as to ensure that all transportation of product was performed in a safe and efficient fashion.

Application of Engineering Knowledge and Skills: This project required an extensive review of existing GPS technologies and how they could be used to capture the requisite telemetry from the GPS-equipped vehicles in a real-time manner. In addition, the requisite telecommunications required to provide this information was thoroughly investigated and an optimal solution was developed that was based on these findings.

Delegated Tasks and How They Were Accomplished: With approval from the company's general manager, two tasks that were part of the overall engineering project were delegated to other team members who had the requisite expertise in order to successfully complete the project by the management-imposed deadline. These two tasks were as follows:

1. Recapitulation and summary of existing GPS technologies in place in the company's vehicle fleet; and,

2. Analysis of the current telemetry provided by the company's telecommunications network.

Technical Difficulties/Problems Encountered and Resolution: The company's rolling stock fleet consisted of almost one thousand vehicles, all of which were equipped with GPS technology but a few of these GPS systems were legacy systems that required replacement with more up-to-date versions in order to achieve harmonization. Some of the other problems that were encountered during the engineering project included a dearth of maps that depicted the current status of the highways being used by the company's rolling stock for the transportation of hazardous materials. These various difficulties and problems that were encountered were resolved as described further below.

Strategies Used: For this project, I used a step-wise approach that involved a critical review of all relevant governmental regulatory guidance concerning legal and procedural requirements that applied to the GPS systems that were used in hazardous materials transportation, as well as what types of data were required to conform to these governmental standards; in addition, an analysis of the company's past compliance record was analyzed to identify further opportunities for improvement.

Collaboration with Other Team Members: During the research phase of the project, I collaborated with the other two team members who had been assigned responsibility for the above-described delegated tasks in order to ensure that the information provided was accurate and timely and fulfilled the project requirements. In addition, I checked in with these two other team members on a regular basis to ensure that they were making progress and to ensure that their submissions would be provided in a timely fashion in order to accomplish the engineering project by the deadline imposed by company management.



Personal Impressions of the Engineering Activity and My Role: My personal impression of this engineering activity and my role in it was that this was a mission-essential project for the organization that not only contributed to the overall efficient performance of the company but also helped to ensure all relevant legal requirements were being satisfied as well.

View of the Overall Project: Based on my analysis of the foregoing factors, I recommended that this type of assessment should be conducted more frequently than the government-imposed regulations required in order to remain proactive in terms of remaining compliant with regulatory requirements in the future as well as ensuring the company's management of its rolling stock was as efficient as possible by using the appropriate routes that would accommodate the transportation of the hazardous materials. This meant that in some cases, the most direct routes were not the best routes because of ongoing construction or repair activities or because of other factors that diminished their acceptability as hazardous material routes such as their proximity to densely populated areas and so forth.

Success of the Project in Meeting Its Goals/Requirements: This project was an overwhelming success notwithstanding the limitations concerning the availability of accurate and timely maps depicting the current status of the highways used for deliveries.

How My Role Contributed to the Project: As the point person for this project, I contributed to the project's overall success through the delegation of specific requirements as well as the consolidation of the project's results for the analysis presented to the company's top management's for their review and approval.

Career Episode No. 3



Dates and Duration of Career Episode: This career episode took place during the period from August 2002 through August 2004

Geographic Location: The geographic location of this career episode was Jiangbian District, Chunjiang Town, Xingbei District, Changzhou City, Peoples Republic of China.

Name of Organisation: The name of this organisation is Changzhou Qinghong Chemical Co., Ltd. The company manufactures a wide range of industrial chemical compounds, including sulfuric acid, dimethyl sulfate, phthalic anhydride, fumarate and triglycidyl isocyanurate. All of these chemical compounds are very hazardous to humans in varying degrees, and they all therefore require special care in their handling and transport.

Title of Position: The title of this position was Database Engineer



Nature of the Overall Engineering Project: Environmental Waste Disposal Management Initiative

Objectives of the Project: The main objective of this career episode was to develop a computer-based application to facilitate the waste disposal methods of the toxic materials that was routinely generated as a byproduct of the dimethyl sulfate chemical manufacturing process used by the company. Other toxic waste products were also involved in the production process at this company, but dimethyl sulfate required the strictest procedures which could then be applied in varying degrees to the other chemical wastes that were generated as part of the manufacturing process. Dimethyl sulfate presents a number of hazards to humans and the environment in general, and it can be absorbed directly through the skin or its vapors inhaled, making its safe transport an essential element in the company's successful operations.

Nature of My Particular Work Area: In this career episode, I was assigned responsibilities for identifying the specific toxic wastes generated during the manufacturing process and what governmental regulatory guidance required with respect to their disposal.

Organisational Chart Highlighting My Position:

Statement of Duties: The various duties that were performed during this career episode included, but were not limited to, the following responsibilities:

1. Facilitate infrastructure impact assessments;

2. Participate in establishment of maintenance of data management roadmaps, strategies and standards;

3. Work with planning and architecture groups on overall infrastructure strategies and plans;

4. Engineer and design database solutions for business applications;

5. Perform physical database designs in support of business applications;

6. Remain current with technology direction and initiate R&D activities;

7. Document and communicate database designs;

8. Provide technical leadership to project and support teams; and,

9. Other duties as assigned.


Personal Engineering Activity:

Actual Work Performed: Based on the findings that resulted from my research and analysis of the company's operations and legal requirements that were involved in the transport of hazardous waste materials, an application was developed in order to track all hazardous waste from its point of origin to its point of disposal, including relevant amounts of material, as well as the date, time and method used for their transport.

Application of Engineering Knowledge and Skills: This career episode required extensive expertise with a wide range of software applications, including Windows NT, TMS, Oracle 8 Enterprise Server, PL/SQL, UNIX, DB2 and Informix.

Delegated Tasks and How They Were Accomplished: Although no specific tasks were delegated as part of this initiative and the engineering project was pursued on an individual basis, the engineering project was based on contacts with other similarly situated chemical manufacturing companies in the region as discussed further below.

Technical Difficulties/Problems Encountered and Resolution: In spite of a growing need, there remains a paucity of waste disposal sites in the region that are suitable for the company's toxic waste disposal needs, making the identification of appropriate sites challenging but not impossible by using the strategies that are described further below.

Strategies Used: Telephonic contacts were made with other similarly situated companies in the region to determine their waste disposal practices and what sites were most readily accessible for the specific types of wastes generated by the company's manufacturing processes. This information was communicated to top management prior to developing the SQL database that remains in use today.

Collaboration with Other Team Members: As noted above, no specific tasks were delegated as part of this engineering project, but extensive collaboration was had with a number of other companies in the region in order to identify their waste disposal practices so as to provide salient recommendations to the company's top management concerning which approach was best suited for the company's unique needs.



Personal Impressions of the Engineering Activity and My Role: This initiative provided some personal gratification because it helped to ensure that the company's waste management practices conformed with governmental regulations as well as ensuring the…

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