Industrial engineering

Industrial engineering is a branch of engineering concerned with the development, improvement, implementation and evaluation of integrated systems of people, money, knowledge, information, equipment, energy, material and process. It also deals with designing new prototypes to help save money and make the prototype better. Industrial engineering draws upon the principles and methods of engineering analysis and synthesis, as well as mathematical, physical and social sciences together with the principles and methods of engineering analysis and design to specify, predict, and evaluate the results to be obtained from such systems. In lean manufacturing systems, industrial engineers work to eliminate wastes of time, money, materials, energy, and other resources.
Industrial engineering is also known as operations management, management science, systems engineering, or manufacturing engineering, usually depending 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.
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.
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), 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.
Examples of famous Industrial Engineers include Susan Story, CEO of Gulf Power [1], American businessman Lee Iacocca and Mohammad Barghash,Asem Thayabt ,and Nasir Kawalet a Jordanian Industrial Engineers well known in the U.A.E and Jordan for their revolutionary business ideas and skills in Activity Based Costing and Supply chain management .


Universities

US News and World Report's article on "America's Best Colleges 2010" 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, Virginia Tech, Texas A&M University, Stanford University, Northwestern University, Cornell University, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Arizona State University, Texas Tech University,Southern Polytechnic State University and the University of Wisconsin–Madison.[2]
Industrial Engineering faculties are well established at South African Universities and include the University of Pretoria, the University of Witwatersrand and Stellenbosch University. The largest Industrial Engineering faculty in South Africa is the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering based at the University of Pretoria.


History

Industrial engineering courses had been taught by multiple universities in the late 1800s along Europe, especially in developed countries such as Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Spain[3]. In the United States, the first department of industrial engineering was established in 1908 as the Harold and Inge Marcus Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at Penn State.
The first doctoral degree in industrial engineering was awarded in the 1930s by Cornell University.


Postgraduate curriculum

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/Management Sciences curriculum includes:

* Operations research & Optimization techniques
* Engineering economics
* Supply chain management & Logistics
* Systems Simulation & Stochastic systems
* System Dynamics & Policy Planning
* System Analysis & Techniques
* Manufacturing systems/Manufacturing engineering
* Human factors engineering & Ergonomics
* Production planning and control
* Management Sciences
* Computer aided manufacturing
* Facilities design & Work space design
* Statistical process control or Quality control
* Time and motion study
* Operations management
* Corporate planning
* Productivity improvement
* Materials management