Industrial Engineering Defined

In general, industrial engineering is concerned with the design of production and service systems. The
industrial engineer analyzes and specifies integrated components of people, machines, materials, and
facilities to create efficient and effective systems that produce goods and services beneficial to mankind.
Industrial engineers are the bridge between management goals and operational performance. They are
expected to exert leadership in workplace education as well as analysis, design and implementation of
systems and plans for operating those systems that bring value to the organization. Industrial engineers
identify opportunities for improvement with equipment, materials, methods, layouts, and they develop plans.
Below are examples of fields or careers in industrial engineering.

Manufacturing, Automation & Quality Control

A nation’s standard of living depends on the level of manufactured goods and services available to people.
Therefore, manufacturing plays a very important role in human life. The objective of manufacturing is to
organize people and equipment so that production can be performed more economically and
efficiently. Also, manufacturing continuously seeks ways to automate and/or computerize how products are
manufactured or how various functions interact. Once a product is designed, its transformation from raw
materials to finished product and all the related activities are the responsibility of manufacturing. This
encompasses activities fundamental to Industrial Engineering like material selection, process planning,
selection of machinery, design of fixtures and tooling, design of production lines and arrangement of
machines, assembly, inspections and quality control, and automation. Modern manufacturing automates
many of these functions, and parts can now be produced in totally computer integrated manufacturing
systems.

Some example careers in this area include working as a manufacturing engineer, designing, planning,
controlling, and justifying capital investments. You may also work in technical sales or supervising the
manufacturing of goods. Manufacturing engineers are involved in careers that require designing the
production processes for a product. Manufacturing engineers select the processes, design the tooling, and
decide on the various parameters involved in making products. Other jobs include automation of existing
equipment to automatically manufacture parts or programming machines for the automated
operations. Some manufacturing engineers are responsible for cost estimation in manufacturing
products. Quality engineering careers are primarily focused on making certain that products meet the
functional specifications and devising appropriate techniques for inspection.

Since manufacturing is related to designing processes to produce products, it is closely related to all the
other areas in industrial engineering. Students with interests in manufacturing need to be familiar with the
design safety of products and processes, various production constraints and their optimization, economic
justifications, and modeling and analysis of manufacturing systems.

Courses in the manufacturing area include the manufacturing engineering practicum (IE216), manufacturing
processes (IE316), automation and control of manufacturing (IE416), computer integrated manufacturing
(IE417), and quality design and control (IE443.)

The premier technical societies in this area include the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE) and the Society
of Manufacturing Engineers (SME). IIE has several special interest groups related to manufacturing. IIE and
SME host annual meetings and have student-oriented programs for both undergraduates and graduate
students.

Work Design, Human Factors & Ergonomics

Industrial engineers design complex work systems by considering the capabilities and limitations of human
operators. They seek to optimize work performance, safety and comfort by “fitting” the task, machine and
environment to the human—often referred to as ergonomics. There are two general divisions of ergonomics:
industrial (or occupational) ergonomics and cognitive ergonomics. The former area focuses on the
dimensions and strength capabilities of the human body in relation to performance of manual work tasks,
such as material handling. This subdivision also concentrates on potential affects of the work environment
on the human, including thermal conditions, vibration, etc. Work in this area is aimed at reducing
occupational injuries and promoting work environment safety. In the area of cognitive ergonomics, engineers
attempt to quantify human behavior in interacting with complex systems as a basis for designing display
interfaces and controls to support decision-making. Task analysis is a primary tool used to ensure systems
are developed to support operator goals, limit workload and promote situation awareness.

Examples of some careers in this area include working as a plant engineer in implementing interventions
such as standardized work practices, redesigning manual work (lifting and upper-extremity tasks) and
applying personal protective equipment (PPE). Other jobs include working as an ergonomics consultant to
educate companies on workplace safety in order to ensure conformance of work systems designs with
Federal regulations. Careers in cognitive ergonomics are primarily research- oriented and include working
as a systems design engineer for aviation equipment manufacturers developing aircraft cockpit displays and
controls, or working for the Federal Aviation Administration to design a new air traffic control workstation.
Careers in human factors consulting are also available in cognitive ergonomics, including those that support
the government in new military systems designs, etc.

The ergonomics area is closely related to the manufacturing area in terms of educating students about the
need for workplace safety and how to design safe production systems.

Courses in the ergonomics area include work measurement (IE 352), ergonomics (IE 452), occupational
safety (IE 541), human factors (IE 540) and several others.

The premiere technical society in the ergonomics area is the Human Factors & Ergonomics Society (HFES).
It hosts annual meetings for engineers and psychologists, as well as professionals from other disciplines,
and allows them to network and share information about recent research in human-machine system design.

Simulation Analysis & Optimization

Systems analysis and optimization involves the formulation, analysis, and optimization of mathematical
models of complex organizations involving flows and interactions of financial and physical resources,
information and people. The objective is to understand the operation of such an organization and ultimately
to improve that operation with respect to its effectiveness, efficiency or profitability. This area is closely allied
to the fields of operations research and the management sciences. The methodological tools of this area
include: (i) mathematical programming, (ii) probabilistic modeling, (iii) simulation modeling, and (iv) decision
analysis. Applications of mathematical programming involve linear, nonlinear, integer, and network-flow
models of such diverse problems as airline crew scheduling; design and operation of large-scale logistics
networks; and planning the overseas deployment of military units. Applications of probabilistic and
simulation models typically involve modeling and analysis of complex queuing (traffic-flow) phenomena that
arise in the design and staffing of call centers, manufacturing cells, hospitals, etc. Other applications of
simulation and decision analysis include financial engineering (that is, the design and evaluation of financial
instruments such as derivatives) and medical decision making (for example, improved protocols for organ
transplantation or screening for certain types of cancer).

Students majoring in systems analysis and optimization find equally strong demand for their skills in the
government, industrial, and the military sectors. As suggested by the application areas mentioned above,
many students work as corporate-level consultants, or logistics or supply-chain engineers. Recently,
increasing numbers of students have taken jobs in the fields of telecommunications, health systems
engineering and financial risk analysis. Others work in areas related to national security, including
cryptography.

The methods and problems of this area are closely related to those of the production area, and students with
interests in systems analysis and optimization typically take much of their allied coursework in the production
area.

Popular courses taught in the area of systems analysis and optimization include linear and dynamic
programming (IE 361); stochastic models in industrial engineering (IE 401); production systems design (IE
453); and system simulation (IE 441).

The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) is the premier technical
society in this area. INFORMS hosts meetings twice a year, with special student-oriented programs for
undergraduates and graduate students who are seeking careers in the area. The Institute of Industrial
Engineers (IIE) also offers a special interest group devoted to this area.