RPA Engineering offers on-site engineering and project management services to assist our clients with their day-to-day needs. On-site project engineers and project managers come from a variety of backgrounds and can handle many different types of projects. Our engineers are involved throughout the entire life cycle of a project, from project conception through project completion. Our project engineers can assist clients with concept development, establishing project budgets and schedules, funding requests and purchase requisitions. On-site Project Managers provide contractor oversight and installation supervision along with managing project close-out procedures.
One of our on-site Project Engineers is David Dum. David has a background in mechanical engineering and joined RPA in March 2021. He has been on-site the duration of his career here. He currently works on-site at a large Metals Manufacturing company.
We interviewed David to provide more insight and learn more about what our on-site engineers do!
Q: What do you enjoy about your job?
A: I like that there are a variety of tasks for me to do in my day-to-day job. It keeps things fresh. I enjoy working with different trades outside of just mechanical groups. Another benefit of being on-site is being able to see the final results of a project in person.
Q: What is the hardest part of your job?
A: One of the most difficult parts of my position is coordinating with multiple groups and teams and working on scheduling times where everyone can meet and collaborate. Another difficult part of the position is ensuring effective communication so that everyone from plant supervisors to production teams know what is going on. It has also been a challenge to deal with the supply chain problems due to the pandemic.
Q: What part of your job on-site were you most prepared for?
A: My background is in coil process manufacturing. As a result, I had some familiarity with the equipment that is used as it was produced by my former employer. In a sense, I went from being the manufacturer to the customer, which helped me to be prepared for my current position.
Q: What parts of being on-site had the biggest learning curve for you?
A: The wide variety of tasks have been one of the biggest learning curves for me. I started with projects I was comfortable with but have now begun to get more complex projects.
Q: What skills that you have developed on-site make you a better overall engineer?
A: Communication skills have made me a better overall engineer. Working with so many different people has helped me to learn to effectively communicate.
Q: What did you want to be when you grew up and why?
A: I always knew that I wanted to be an engineer. My dad was an engineer and I spent a lot of time growing up doing home improvement projects. I also enjoyed taking apart dirt bikes to see how they worked.
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
A: I’ve always wanted to see Alaska for the wildlife and landscape. Another place that I’ve always wanted to visit was Australia because of how far away and different it is.
Enjoy some photos of David outside of work!
If you or your company is interested in learning more about RPA Engineering’s On-Site Engineering and Project Management Services, email info@rpaengr.com.