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Feature Story
Industrial Engineering
Does "Cheaper by the Dozen" ring a bell? You may have read the book in grade school or perhaps seen one of the movie versions of the story about the family whose 12 children provided their father, Frank Gilbreth, ample opportunities to practice his time motion study and efficiency expertise at home as well as with his consulting clients. The story is not only an amusing read, but it also provides insight into this engineering specialty.
Doing things better, faster, cheaper, and conserving resources is the world of the industrial engineer. And they do it in every industry from manufacturing to medicine and entertainment. Industrial engineers work to implement, evaluate, and improve systems and processes, and make the best use of resources—people, money, knowledge, information, equipment, material, and processes—to produce a better product or service.
Industrial engineers work to shorten lines at theme parks, help to get passengers on and off airplanes quicker, reduce the cost of producing cars and computers, reduce worker fatigue and increase productivity in assembly lines, reduce distribution time and expense, and much more.
They manage projects by providing schedules and resource allocations for complex plans, perform risk analysis, plan facilities, develop, and revise production plans. They determine production methods, manage resources, and lead process improvement teams. Industrial Engineers manage and report on supplier cost performance, define proper work methods for tasks, define key production measures, develop appropriate incentives for work tasks, resolve quality-related issues, and manage programs and project teams. They also manage supplier relationships and ensure human factors engineering guidelines are met to reduce fatigue and injury.
Exciting new approaches such as LEAN manufacturing, Six Sigma, and simulation have added to the selection of tools and techniques-benchmarking, organizational analysis, time studies, the theory of constraints, and work sampling, to name a few—that industrial engineers bring to bear to solve problems and streamlines processes.
Typical undergraduate programs in industrial engineering includes coursework in chemistry, physics, economics, mathematics, probability and statistics, computer science, mechanical engineering, and sometimes electrical engineering, plus specialized courses, such as:
- Operations research or optimization
- Production planning
- Human factors/ergonomics
- Time and motion study
- Manufacturing engineering
- Production planning and control
- Logistics/supply chain management
- Quality control
- Organizational behavior
- Facilities and/or workspace design
- Stochastic systems
- Computer aided manufacturing
Useful Links
Institute of Industrial Engineers
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