What is MEM?

TARGET AUDIENCE: Friends and family that always ask this about me; Students curious about the course; Employers and industry professionals asking how this course is different with other engineering pursuits;

Note 1: My personal opinions about the matter and does not reflect the opinions of others and the MEM department :>.

Note 2: Unfiltered taglish writing na may pagkamuni-muni sa end ko

OVERVIEW: The motivation of this blog post is upon hearing the same questions during my internship interviews that is remarkably similar to the questions that I often hear by my friends and relatives when this is brought up during gatherings/meetups. I’m sure this is also asked by other students why there is another engineering course aside from the standard nomenclatures of mechanical, electrical and chemical.

As I wait for the LRT in Vito Cruz in the evening (last train), I thought to clear this up via this post and hopefully redirect future questions about the nature of MEM into this post and answer it in an unfiltered manner.

Frequent QnAs:

Q: "Whats Manufacturing Engineering and Management (MEM)?"

• A: MEM is an interdisciplinary degree. It covers many traditional ascpets of engineering with the specific intention to apply it within a manufacturing setting. Ika-nga sabi nila samin “jack of all trades” kami since we try to learn mechanical-electrical systems, operational research, management skills and programming skills for our career. Personally, broad and vague parin ang role ng isang MEM outside the field. The department cast a big net for us to choice what career path we can take and venture out once we graduate. It is up to MEM graduate to determine which path they want to take whether it is a more people-oriented role (management) or technical-oriented role (mechatronics, robotics). This aligns rin sa sinasabi nila on their mission-vision that you may check below!

Naalala ko talaga yung time na nag-consult ako ng idea sa isang Chem Eng prof bago ako mag-pitch sa isang competition. Ang tanong ko lang naman noon: feasible ba yung technology that I will pitch given the constraints? Pero iba yung naging sagot/advice niya. Sabi niya (non-verbatim): “Wala ka pang skills para mag-decide niyan kasi sa MEM department, hindi naman tinuturo yung fundamentals tulad ng ginagawa sa Chem Eng. Sila nagaral ng organic chemistry na mismo mga taga-Chemistry dept. nagturo, kaya mas solid yung foundation.”

Dagdag pa niya, bakit daw kami gumagawa ng agri-tech projects kung wala kaming similar foundation — kaya hindi raw siya bilib sa amin. Looking back, may point naman talaga sa sinabi niya. Kaya nga lumapit din ako sa isang Chem Eng friend for support haha. Moral of the story: MEM touches many engineering fields, pero hindi siya nag-s-specialize sa isa. Kaya nasa MEM graduate mismo yung responsibility to carve their own path and build their own expertise!

MEM Mission as seen in Velasco 2nd Floor bulletin board

MEM Vision as seen in Velasco 2nd Floor bulletin board

Q: "How does MEM differ from Mechanical, Electrical, or Industrial Engineering?"

• A: We have a very wide scope of learning applications. There is no easy way to say that we cover the necessary knowledge and competencies to apply topics in relation to mechanical, electrical and industrial fields. Ang kahinaan lang namin is that we cant specialize and earn professional licensing since our line of work does not deal with specific critical works that needs licensing like HVAC systems or full-circuit panelling for buildings. Tinuro samin mga concepts na to so that handa kami as fundamentals for our intended application in the field at kung sino ung lalapitan to handle that kind of work.
• Follow Q: "Ah so parang industrial lang kayo?"
  • A: Ehh, hindi po. Never is. While we cover some of their topics like production and operations management as well as ergonomics, we never really specialize the field of management and operations. IE career paths will cover improving processes, ERP, logistics, or service management to name a few, kami on the other hand will also focus on other aspects of the manufacturing plant like that of the machines and its maintenance, the interconnectivity of wireless sensors network (IoT), and quality control. Pero still, many MEM opt to get also six-sigma certifications for lean manufacturing.
• Follow Q: "Ah so parang more on mechanical eng kayo mas focused lang on manufacturing?"
  • A: Masasabi na natin oo. Kasi we deal with mechatronics and robotics (dream to apply it in practice) within the plant and deal with the automation of production. Again, very wide ung use-case namin on the field and it is no wonder that some aspects of product development and other electro-mechanical systems, there are already MEM graduates excelling on that field!

Q: "Ah wala kayong professional license?"

• A: Oo wala. Walang PRC board ang manufacturing engineers and it is not really an established norm for us MEM grads since we are under the assumption that the specific job and careers we will do does not require one. Kung need ng certifications, go, kuha namin yan. SME provides manufacturing engineer certs, may LSS if we will be going other QC and CI/CD in production. Yung mahalaga samin (and I find this now in a more appreciative light), is we need to gain experience, thats why our course covers a 6-month internship too.

Q: "What industries commonly hire MEM graduates?"

• A: Misconception that MEM graduates only path is that of manufacturing industries like that of semicon, or FMCG popular in the country. I know graduates who are dealing with product development, some in freelancing on programming while others are deep into doing tech work. One thing na lagi sinasabi samin is that we get to decide still what kind of work we do once we are outside college but the department will provide the necessary tools and knowledge to springboard that progress. Like any other technical profession talino ung puhunan kahit may license or certifcations. Basta kung san ka magaling, kampante at masaya (doesn’t have to be all three!), kung may opening for that job and fit ka sa JD, apply lang haha

Q: "Bago ba yang kurso mo? Unang beses ko lang kasi yan narinig"

• A: Well established na ang MEM bago pa ako pinanganak. Around 1990’s ung start of the program here in DLSU, as a call for Industry 4.0 to have graduates with specific sets of skills to push forth advancement of intelligent manufacturing systems here in the country since uso ung robotics and information technology at the time (even now!) Since then, I think 3 other universities within the country are offering this degree with at least a society of manufacturing engineers (SME) chapter present in major engineering-heavy universities you can think of.

Q: "Marunong ba kayo mag-coding? Name your known languages" OR "Bat ka nag-apply in a code-heavy job? Parang hindi naman kayo dapat nagcocode"

• A: Yes, we do in fact code. In fact lahat ng engineering students marunong na magcode. In our case, we cover C/C++ programming for embedded systems, robotics, and mechatronic systems; Python/MATLAB for computational intelligence and intelligent manufacturing systems; and familiarity with G-code for machine programming often done in 3D printing and CNC machining. Yung essential lang naman is that alam natin ung pinagawa and how we can deliver value to our stakeholders.

Q: "May job security ba sa pagkuha ng MEM?"

• A: Dipa ako sure eh, internship palang nakamit ko (as of writing) so update ko nalang to pagmay starting job na ako. My experience so far naman is that depende parin sa tao yan and on the JD. My current internship did not require me to present a portfolio and list of works. More like my resume checks all their boxes. I still provided naman them a portfolio in my resume, to let them see my works and mas need to for sure for those who will apply for technical work like software internship and dev work.

• To answer this in a different perspective, you might say rin that taking MEM is a risk since very specific industry you tinatarget mo for a job and if dika seryoso, you wont be able to get your desired job position. Its worth noting that like any other eng-course, its not really a trade-school na ituturo lang sayo ung need mo skills para job-ready ka, may halong theoretical rin. Pero minsan nagtataka din ako eh. May mga kasabayan ako di marunong gumamit ng multimeter. Iba struggling mag-soldering. Kaya depende parin sa tao yan paano nila magagamit ung turo. You will never really know if you are job-ready until matanggap ka sa trabaho. Gisa lang sa apoy hanggang masanay.

• Follow Q: "Ok ba turo diyan sa DLSU MEM?"

  • A: IMHO, like any other university, it’s a spectrum. In terms of teaching, you will meet industry-renowned professors who are diligent and very passionate. I got to be under their wings and see my career goals being reflected in their experience and work they are doing. Kaya I respect them at the bottom of my heart since sila ung naging role models ko in college (di lang sa MEM pero other profs rin I have work with!). Its not just the work but also more about their life view and the little soft skills na napupulot ko sa kanila every now and then. Tulad ng paano ung pakikitungo sa tao na despite the very technical work still navigate to be down to earth to us students. I strive to be like that type of person in life.

  • On the other side, may iba naman na instructors/professors that will just teach the bare minimum and it shows. Often magugulat ka nalang rin that the syllabus states that 50% of the grade is based on a single final assessment while a lab work worth of 1 unit will require you to do reports with expected revisions. Nakakatawa ung F2F class pero ipapalabas sa klase video recording. Send niyo nalang online diba haha. Meron rin akong experience na pinareport kami, binigay na perfect ung presentation (majority of the grade) at sinabi pa na naiiba kami kasi may calculations kami and whatnot. Ending di kami kwats dahil na-miss lang namin ung pagsubmit ng PPT on time!!

  • Learnings come in many different ways talaga and I wont sugarcoat that sometimes different talaga ung expectations mo of the coursework to reality. Depende rin sa stilo ng prof kaya alam mo na talaga kung sino ung mga profs that will give you a hard time or not. Kaya turo sa MEM? varied parin and if you consider this in your career and if you want to specialize on something that gives value to others, expect mo talaga that self-studying is a necessity. Pero like any other career naman rin yan. Araw-araw dapat trinatrabaho para maging magaling ka on that domain subject. That just how the world works. Effort will really pays off!

Q: "Bat parang matagal ung kurso mo?"

• A: Ganito eh, 13 terms instead of the usual 12 term load. sa DLSU, isang term covers 3 months since tri-sem, do the math, bale 4-years ang standard. Nadagdagan lang ng isang term for another round of internship. If you consider prep for graduation to be another term, expect niyo a total of 6-months before masasabi mo na graduate ka sa program na ‘to.

QnA done. Magdadagdag ako ng mga karagdagan na mga QnAs from time to time kapag may interesting na tanong napadpad sakin o share nalang below sa comments your own take and opinions :))

Below are some misc videos and photos that I have throughout my stay in DLSU.

My Experience so far as a MEM student and personal reflection:

I was never really that active in college internally in terms of orgs and in my batch. I was looking for opportunities outside college kasi sabi ko sa sarili ko ung real learnings are out there for me to get. Layo tingin ko eh, I was always busy for the next thing and lagi ako naghahabol ng tren o jeep bago magrush-hour lalo na sa EDSA station kaya less time to mingle and more time to worry the 2 1/2-hours commute back (see the videos below!). I never regret prioritizing myself for my own convenience pero I know I do everything with 100% effort on my end!! (I hope my fellow batchmates will agree kahit may pagkukulangan rin ako minsan :”>)

A lesson lang rin for me is that may politics pa rin pala kahit eng and I think di yan mawawala hanggang sa workplace. Magugulat nalang ako na may tsimis napala sakin haha. Skl here na ako raw ung dahilan bakit naging mandatory ung acad advising even for honor-standing in the dept. since the last eval made 🥹🥹 (2025). Wala naman ako tinatapakan na tao, laging best of my abilities sa mga projects, at ok naman budhi ko kaya masasabi ko I lived a good college life so far, no regrets!

College just gives me the avenue and skills to deliver at since bata pa ako, hungry ako to prove myself I can be better and do tech work within this chosen field of mine. Basta marangal, willing ako gawin yan. Ending is that I did finish something naman in my stay but lately realizing na dipa enough.

Looking back, parang may kulang eh, that is when I realized, I never solidified a niche for myself throughout my stay that I can confidently do even part-time. I got to try many things with this degree and on classes but ayon nga, pickings lang at hindi core. Kaya even right now, upskilling parin to fit my desired role and the JD para confidently makasecure ito since its never really defined what we want to do but rather what we can do for others (I hope i’m making sense here haha).

Service for others talaga in the end and that’s why it really gives me some sort of relief rin knowing that there are better and successful MEM alumni out there in the field since that means there is still room for improvement (always is). Parang sila ung standard na ginawa ko na goal rin. If they can do it, kaya ko rin na mentality.

I believe that once I graduate, baka magstart ako from square one ulit but the experinece and memories that I have within MEM, baon ko na in life, both the happy and sad times. Kaya to never forget it, I made this portion of the blog. Isang malaking SKL diba haha anyways, I hope this post was insightful, AMA if I missed something or ika nga sabi ng isang mem prof nung pandemic, “are there any comments, questions or violent reactions? do share it in the zoom chat.”

Below is videos of my daily commute going back home and random college stuff that I share as of writing