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Industrial engineering
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Industrial engineering is also known as operations management, management science, systems engineering, or manufacturing engineering; a distinction that seems to depend on the viewpoint or motives of the user. Recruiters or educational establishments use the names to differentiate themselves from others. In healthcare, for example, industrial engineers are more commonly known as management engineers or health systems engineers.
One of the central principles in industrial engineering is the "system" concept.
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Encyclopedia
Industrial engineering is also known as operations management, management science, systems engineering, or manufacturing engineering; a distinction that seems to depend on the viewpoint or motives of the user. Recruiters or educational establishments use the names to differentiate themselves from others. In healthcare, for example, industrial engineers are more commonly known as management engineers or health systems engineers.
One of the central principles in industrial engineering is the "system" concept. A system is any organization or business process in which people, materials, information, equipment, processes or energy interact in an integrated fashion. This high-level view of business operations enables industrial engineers to manage various industries. Therefore, industrial engineers apply their skills across a diverse set of sectors such as financial, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, logistics, aviation and education.
The term "industrial" in industrial engineering can be misleading. While the term originally applied to manufacturing, it has grown to encompass virtually all other industries and services as well. The various topics of concern to industrial engineers include management science, financial engineering, engineering management, supply chain management, process engineering, operations research, systems engineering, ergonomics, value engineering and quality engineering.
Whereas most engineering disciplines apply skills to very specific areas, industrial engineering is applied in virtually every industry (hence the term "industrial"). Examples of where industrial engineering might be used include designing a new loan system for a bank, streamlining operation and emergency rooms in a hospital, distributing products worldwide (referred to as Supply Chain Management), manufacturing cheaper and more reliable automobiles, and shortening lines (or queues) at a bank, hospital, or a theme park. Industrial engineers typically use computer simulation, especially discrete event simulation, for system analysis and evaluation.
Universities
US News and World Reports article on "America's Best Colleges 2009" lists schools offering Undergraduate engineering specialties in Industrial or Manufacturing whose highest degree is a doctorate as Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Michigan, Purdue University, Pennsylvania State University University Park, University of California at Berkeley, Stanford University, Virginia Tech, Texas A&M University, Northwestern University, and University of Wisconsin-Madison. Apart from that National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Mumbai is also one of the well-known institutes in Industrial Engineering in India and is serving industry for more than 40 years.
History
Industrial engineering courses had been taught by multiple universities in the late 1800s along Europe, especially in very developed countries such as Germany, France and United Kingdom, but also in Spain in the Technical University of Madrid. In the United States, the first department of industrial engineering was established in 1909 at the Pennsylvania State University by Hugo Diemer.
The first doctoral degree in industrial engineering was awarded in the 1930s by Cornell University.
Postgraduate curriculum
The postgraduate programmes in industrial engineering have long been held as probably the most diversified programme across industries. The usual postgraduate degree earned is the Master of Science in Industrial Engineering/Industrial Engineering & Management/Industrial Engineering & Operations Research. The typical MS in IE/IE&M/IE & OR curriculum includes :
Undergraduate curriculum
In the United States, the usual undergraduate degree earned is the Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering (BSIE). The typical BSIE curriculum includes introductory chemistry, physics, economics, mathematics, statistics, properties of materials, intermediate coursework in mechanical engineering, computer science, sometimes electrical engineering, and specialized courses such as the following:
- Operations research & Optimization techniques
- Engineering economics
- Supply chain management & Logistics
- Systems Simulation & Stochastic systems
- Manufacturing systems/Manufacturing engineering
- Human factors engineering & Ergonomics
- Production planning and control
- Computer aided manufacturing
- Facilities design & Work space design
- Statistical process control or Quality control
- Time and motion study
- Discrete event simulation
- Linear programming
- Non-linear programming
- Queuing theory
- Probability
- Organizational behavior
- Statistics
- Combinatorial mathematics
- Engineering management/administration
- Packaging engineering
Salaries and workforce statistics
The total number of engineers employed in the U.S. in 2006 was roughly 1.5 million. Of these, 201,000 were industrial engineers (13.3%), the third most popular engineering specialty. The average starting salaries being $55,067 with a bachelor's degree, $64,759 with a master's degree, and $77,364 with a doctorate degree. This places industrial engineering at 7th of 15 among engineering bachelors degrees, 3rd of 10 among masters degrees, and 2nd of 7 among doctorate degrees in average annual salary. The median annual income of industrial engineers in the U.S. workforce is $68,620.
Typically, within a few years after graduation, industrial engineers move to management positions because their work is closely related to management.
See also
Further reading
- Badiru, A. (Ed.) (2005). Handbook of industrial and systems engineering. CRC Press. ISBN-10: 0849327199
- Blanchard, B. and Fabrycky, W. (2005). Systems Engineering and Analysis (4th Edition). Prentice-Hall. ISBN-10: 0131869779
- Salvendy, G. (Ed.) (2001). Handbook of industrial engineering: Technology and operations management. Wiley-Interscience. ISBN-10: 0471330574
- Turner, W. et al (1992). Introduction to industrial and systems engineering (Third edition). Prentice Hall. ISBN-10: 0134817893.
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