What do industrial engineers do? Industrial engineers devise methods to eliminate wasted time, energy, money, materials, and other commodities during production processes. They also take full advantage of technology that is available, reduce environmental concerns, and focus on promoting workers’ safety. Yet, there are many other specs in the industrial engineering job description.
These engineering professionals are trained to be productivity and quality improvement specialists in a wide variety of industries. Industrial engineers may be involved in designing systems for delivering goods to customers, moving heavy parts, evaluating worker performance, and paying employees.
Not only do they save their employers valuable amounts of money, they make the workplace better for their colleagues and streamline the business’ production for efficient growth. From manufacturing to business administration and health care, industrial engineers provide a systematic approach for advancement.
Industrial Engineer Duties
- Develop further understanding of manufacturing methods by reviewing process flows, production schedules, and engineering specifications;
- Determine how to manufacture products or deliver services with greatest efficiency;
- Establish management control systems for cost analysis and optimal budget planning;
- Execute quality control processes to resolve problems in production cost-effectively;
- Work with management, engineers, and customers to later develop new standards for production;
- Ensure that products meet high quality standards by designing control systems for production planning;
- Communicate with vendors about purchases, managers about manufacturing capabilities, clients on product specifications, and team members on project statuses.
Many manufacturing firms and service industries employ a significant percentage of industrial engineers. More companies are also hiring industrial engineers for sales, marketing, information systems, finance, and personnel. Employment can also be found in banks, railways, hospitals, and even airlines.
Depending on their employment setting, they work in offices and the areas they are seeking to improve. For instance, they may observe production on a factory floor and then study collected data on computer programming software in an office. Generally, industrial engineers work with teams of other engineering professionals, specialists, and production staff.
Skills from the Industrial Engineering Job Description
In order to find ways to minimize waste and improve performance, industrial engineers begin by studying product requirements and standards. Then, they utilize complex mathematical methods and models to design information systems and manufacturing to meet these standards proficiently. The industrial engineering job description focuses on the design, analysis, and optimization of business production systems.
Industrial engineers need to possess:
- Strong critical thinking;
- Problem solving;
- Examining skills to find the best solutions to various situations.
Industrial engineering is a versatile, diverse, and rewarding sub-field. Moreover, it offers endless possibilities to impact the surrounding world.