Hi-tech: Industrial engineers integrate information and other resources in order to produce goods optimally

Industrial engineering involves the development, improvement, implementation and evaluation of people, knowledge, equipment, energy, material and processes. It draws upon the principles and methods of engineering analysis and synthesis, as well as mathematical, physical and social sciences.

The name industrial engineer can be misleading. While the term originally applied to manufacturing, it has now come to encompass services and other industries as well.

Whereas most engineering disciplines apply skills to very specific areas, industrial engineering is applied in virtually every industry. Examples of the application of industrial engineering include streamlining an operating room, distributing products worldwide, manufacturing cheaper and more reliable automobiles, etc.

What do I have to do?

Industrial engineers integrate information and material, monetary, and technological resources in order to produce goods and services optimally. Major areas of specialisation are: engineering economics and decision analysis, manufacturing systems, optimisation, production, distribution, and material handling, statistics and stochastic systems.

Industrial engineers apply their skills in a variety of settings. As a management engineer in a hospital, you can help doctors and nurses make the best use of their time in treating patients. You can also design procedures for optimum use of medical facilities to help bring the cost of healthcare down.

As an ergonomist in a television manufacturing plant, you can change the tools workers use to assemble televisions to reduce the risk of repetitive stress injuries. As an operations analyst for an airline, you may design a bar coding system for identifying and transporting passengers’ luggage to ensure that it does not get lost. As a quality engineer for a public gas and electric company, you may improve customer satisfaction by designing a process to schedule service calls around the availability of the customer.

Thus, they engineer processes and systems that improve quality and productivity.

What should I study?

You should have passed your Plus Two examination with physics, chemistry and maths with at least 50 per cent marks.

For a postgraduate course, you should have done your BTech. GATE-qualified first class engineering/technology graduates in any branch are eligible for admission.

Industrial engineers should possess the following skills — strong time management skills, mechanical aptitude, a strong desire for organisation and efficiency, excellent communication skills, creative problem solving, quantitative skills, technical competency, resourcefulness, negotiation skills, ability to adapt to varied environments, an inquisitive mind, leadership skills, ethics as well as a passion for improvement.

What next?

As companies adopt management philosophies of continuous productivity and quality improvement to survive in the increasingly competitive world market, the need for industrial engineers will grow.

Those who have adequate managerial experience can attain top positions in the industrial/management field with attractive remuneration and incentives. Industrial engineers can also work as plant engineers, manufacturing engineers, quality engineers, process engineers and industrial managers in different industries, management and service sector in the middle management cadre. Opportunities exist in industrial, public, private and other sectors as business systems analysts or business process engineers, production, process, assets or manufacture engineers, quality control managers, health and safety managers, human resource managers, logistics managers or facilities engineer, project managers, plant supervisors, scheduling and planning managers, operations managers management consultants, etc. The Union Public Service Commission holds Engineering Services Examinations every year for appointments to various Central services. Those with bachelors degrees in engineering are eligible to appear for this exam.

where to study

• Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (www.iitd.ac.in ).
• The National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Mumbai.
• Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.
• Delhi College of Engineering, Bawana Road, Delhi.
• Faculty of Technology and Engineering, M.S. University of Baroda, Vadodara.