The Vanishing Knowledge

Recently visiting an institution which had once made a name for itself in the field of research into generation, transmission and distribution has brought to mind what I would call the vanishing knowledge syndrome. Over several decades, that institution had succeeded in assembling various teams of experts. Then, ten to fifteen years ago, the technical and economic situation changed and construction of electrical systems began to slow down. At the same time, the modern business efficient asset management disease struck.

Apparently, the simple way to deal with the changed situation was to get rid of the higher paid, older employees and to restrict hiring of new technical staff to a minimum. Now, after two to three waves of early retirements, most of the older and experienced scientific staff have left this institution. And, a lot of knowledge has departed with them.

In any research establishment, as in manufacturing and at electric utilities, technical or scientific know-how is acquired slowly and often over a period of many years. It cannot be obtained off-the-shelf because it is usually highly specialized. When required, staff reduction is certainly possible, but it has to be done slowly and should be carefully planned. For example, before experienced personnel depart, younger engineers and scientists should be hired and trained by those who are leaving.

In many cases, the technical knowledge is not only gone but those who stay behind are not aware that it ever existed.

For the institute I visited, the result of this down-sizing process is quite clear to me: fifteen to twenty-five years ago the work done there was among the best in the world; but now, there seem to be only a few pockets of excellent work left.

What is probably most serious for the developed countries is that this example is not an isolated case. The same situation is afflicting many research organizations, manufacturers and utilities in these countries, especially in our field of interest. This syndrome is felt everywhere. In many cases the technical knowledge is not only gone but those who stay behind are not even aware that it ever existed.

The other day I was discussing some technical problem related to solid dielectric cable insulation with a very keen and capable young engineer. He had done an experiment and was surprised by the results. Not being an expert in the field, I asked an old friend who is an expert (but now also on his way out) what he thought about it. His answer was simply: “we analyzed that problem 25 years ago but did not publish the results”. This is quite sad because when he leaves his institution, nobody there or elsewhere will know about that work.

If there is any positive aspect to this rather disturbing situation, it is that this young engineer, like many I have seen in technologically-ascending countries, works in an environment which has not yet fallen prey to the tactics of today’s asset managers. By contrast, these engineers and scientists work with an enthusiasm now gone in much of western society. In our part of the world, if we do not hire young engineers and scientists and put them in a motivating environment, there may soon no longer be any assets left to manage!

Utilities, now mostly being run by teams of experts in efficient asset management, perhaps have an additional problem. When it comes to purchasing components for a new transmission line, they can no longer rely on the advice of technical experts many of whom have already taken early retirement. Therefore, they have to call on purchasing specialists who are typically experts only in price optimization and this is not always compatible with the procurement of high quality products. Fortunately, transmission line insulators still have to meet technical standards such as those issued by the IEC. It is therefore most important that those standards be kept up-to-date and new ones issued when required.

Dr. Claude de Tourreil
cdetourr@nat.fr