The Engineer’s Compass: Navigating Complexities in Plant Management

Industrial plants are complicated socio-technical systems where managers have to make tradeoffs between efficiency, reliability, safety and innovation in a state of uncertainty. Although the world is becoming more complex due to globalisation and digitalisation, there is no much integrative guidance on how engineers can manoeuvre these requirements. The paper proposes the Engineering Compass Model (ECM) conceptual framework, which places plant management as a multi-directional decision-making process in four orientations, namely, operational reliability, risk and safety governance, human and organisational coordination, and adaptive innovation. Using the knowledge of operations management, industrial engineering, organisational theory, and engineering ethics, the research identifies the significance of engineers as technical-organisational systems integrators. Finally, the paper outlines managerial implications of operational resilience and digital transformation and suggests a roadmap to empirical validation.