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YOUNG PROFESSIONALS EXCHANGE PROGRAM (YPEP) In 2002 Penny Vella, an environmental engineer in SMEC’s Sydney office, spent three weeks representing SMEC Australia on the Young Professional Exchange Program (YPEP) in Japan. The YPEP is an ongoing initiative organised by the Australian Consulting Engineers Association (ACEA), the Association for Consulting Engineers New Zealand (ACENZ), and the Japanese Association for Consulting Engineers (JACE). The program commenced in 1996 to foster relations in the field of engineering between Japan and Australia (and New Zealand since 1999) through an annual exchange of young engineers between the countries. The 2002 exchange consisted of seven young engineers aged between 22 and 32, from SMEC and other Australian and New Zealand companies. Penny’s account of her stay follows. Penny Vella I was assigned to the Japanese engineering consultancy Nihon Suido Consultants Co (NSC), based in their Tokyo office. NSC, or Nissuicon as it is known locally, is an engineering consultancy specialising in water supply and wastewater control. It was established in 1959 and at that time, was the first consultancy of its type in Japan. Since then, it has grown to be a major, highly respected firm, both in Japan and internationally. There are almost 800 staff members located in offices throughout Japan (there are 7 main offices and 29 branch offices), Asia, Africa and Latin America. I also spent some time with CTI Engineering Co. LTD. This is a multidisciplinary engineering firm similar to SMEC. The YPEP is organised as a home stay. This way the young engineers are immersed in the local culture and develop strong and lasting friendships with their counterparts. I lived with Takemasa Mamiya (the manager of the NSC overseas department) and his family in a suburb of Tokyo. They showed me great kindness and generosity. My professional interests are related to water and environmental issues, and international development projects. NSC organised a schedule of site visits, lectures and discussions for me in these fields. Some of the most innovative projects that I saw included use of photovoltaic cells at a water treatment plant, advanced wastewater treatment for water recycling purposes and sludge reuse, and management of algal blooms using aeration and shading. I noted that work practices vary significantly between Australia and Japan. The Japanese lifestyle centers around the company for which they work. Japanese employees spend more hours in the office every day than Australians, often working through weekends. In the evenings Japanese socialise with work colleagues. Japanese workers tend to remain with the one company throughout their working life. In Japan, progression is structured and based on age. Women in the Japanese workplace do not have as many opportunities as Australian women, and it is common for women to lose their job when they have children. Physical factors, such as earthquakes, typhoons, and limited space affect the design of Japanese engineering works. Funding for Japanese international projects is generally from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Engineering Consulting Firms Association (ECFA), and Japan International Cooperation for Welfare Services (JICWELS). Penny hopes that the contacts she has made whilst in Japan will enable SMEC to form alliances with Japanese companies (e.g. NSC or CTI) in the future to make use of these funding sources, increasing the potential for new projects. I greatly enjoyed my time in Japan, learnt many things and met some wonderful people. I am grateful to SMEC for the opportunity and look forward to meeting the Japanese participants when they come to Australia next year. |
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