When US universities began developing free range mechanical engineers in the late 2010s, expectations were high.
“This was supposed to change everything,” says William Sandler, dean of Northeast Minnesota College of Mining and Engineering. “This was supposed to be the mechanical engineer that could analyze a concept and develop a procedurals framework in less than half the time it took an ordinary mechanical engineer.”
Based on this, hundreds of engineering firms hired the free rangers starting in 2020. Last year, however, an analysis showed that it actually takes the free-rangers an average of 76.5 hours longer to complete most tasks – and that over half of them have never developed a single framework, or anything at all.
“Apparently, by not confining them to their drawing boards and letting them just wander, we’ve played havoc with their powers of concentration,” says Sandler. Meanwhile, companies across the USA have been left holding the bag.
“We assumed the more we hired the more successful we’d be,” says Melissa Harsig, CEO of Plagens Development in Minneapollis. In 2022 Plagens hired 14 free-rangers to work on projects – including the $1.5 billion Fumington Bridge.
“We spent so much time rounding them up that nothing got done” says Harsig. Plagens lost not only the bridge project, but 22 others representing $70 million in revenue. The company replaced the 14 with stationary engineers and is still trying to recover. “We have a steep hill to climb,” says Harsig.
Other companies have followed suit. In 2022, there were 4,500 free range mechanical engineers employed at US firms. Today there are just two – neither of whom can currently be located.
