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Results for industrial engineering
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(engineering) A branch of engineering concerned with the design, improvement, and installation of integrated systems of people, materials, and equipment. Also known as management engineering.
A branch of engineering dealing with the design, development, and implementation of integrated systems of humans, machines, and information resources to provide products and services. Industrial engineering encompasses specialized knowledge and skills in the physical, social, engineering, and management sciences, such as human and cognitive sciences, computer systems and information technologies, manufacturing processes, operations research, production, and automation. The industrial engineer integrates people into the design and development of systems, thus requiring an understanding of the physical, physiological, psychological, and other characteristics that govern and affect the performance of individuals and groups in working environments.
Industrial engineering is a broad field compared to other engineering disciplines. The major activities of industrial engineering stem from manufacturing industries and include work methods analysis and improvement; work measurement and the establishment of standards; machine tool analysis and design; job and workplace design; plant layout and facility design; materials handling; cost reduction; production planning and scheduling; inventory control, maintenance, and replacement; statistical quality control; scheduling; assembly-line balancing, systems, and procedures; and overall productivity improvement. Computers and information systems have necessitated additional activities and functions, including numerically controlled machine installation and programming; manufacturing systems design; computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing, design of experiments, quality engineering, and statistical process control; computer simulation, operations research, and management science methods; computer applications, software development, and information technology; human-factors engineering and ergonomics; systems design and integration; and robotics and automation.
The philosophy and motivation of the industrial engineering profession is to find the most efficient and effective methods, procedures, and processes for an operating system, and to seek continuous improvement. Thus, industrial engineering helps organizations grow and expand efficiently during periods of prosperity, and streamline costs and consolidate and reallocate resources during austere times. Industrial engineers, particularly those involved in manufacturing and related industries, work closely with management. Therefore, some understanding of organizational behavior, finance, management, and related business principles and practices is needed. See also Computer-aided design and manufacturing; Human-factors engineering; Operations research; Production planning.
Industrial engineering is a branch of engineering that concerns the development, improvement, implementation and evaluation of integrated systems of people, money, knowledge, information, equipment, energy, material and process. 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, systems engineering, production engineering, manufacturing engineering or manufacturing systems 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, industrial engineers are more commonly known as management engineers, engineering management, or even health systems engineers.
Where as most engineering disciplines apply skills to very specific areas, industrial engineering is applied in virtually every industry. Examples of where industrial engineering might be used include shortening lines (or queues) at a theme park, streamlining an operating room, distributing products worldwide (also referred to as Supply Chain Management), and manufacturing cheaper and more reliable automobiles. Industrial engineers typically use computer simulation, especially discrete event simulation, for system analysis and evaluation.
The name "industrial engineer" can be misleading. While the term originally applied to manufacturing, it has grown to encompass services and other industries as well. Similar fields include Operations Research, Management Science, Financial Engineering, Supply Chain, Manufacturing Engineering, Engineering Management, Systems Engineering, Ergonomics, Process Engineering, Value Engineering and Quality Engineering.
There are a number of things industrial engineers do in their work to make processes more efficient, to make products more manufacturable and consistent in their quality, and to increase productivity.
US News and World Report's top schools in the United States offering doctoral degrees in industrial or manufacturing engineering specialties are Georgia Institute of Technology, Purdue University at West Lafayette, Indiana and University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Michigan.[1]
Although industrial engineering courses had been taught by multiple universities in the late 1800s, the first department of industrial engineering was established in 1908 at the Pennsylvania State University by Alex Kaserman.
The first doctorate degree was awarded for industrial engineering in the 1930s by Cornell University.
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 :
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 and physics, mathematics through calculus and differential equations and also including probability and statistics, intermediate coursework in mechanical engineering, computer science, and sometimes electrical engineering, and specialized courses such as the following:
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 | Sci-Tech Dictionary. McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms. Copyright © 2003, 1994, 1989, 1984, 1978, 1976, 1974 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Sci-Tech Encyclopedia. McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Industrial engineering". Read more |
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