What is an Industrial Engineer?

An industrial engineer works in a combination engineering and business position. Industrial engineering is a broad category that can lead to many career choices, unlike other, more specialized types of engineers. Industrial engineers work in settings where they can increase efficiency and save businesses money. These engineers are the only ones trained to improve both productivity and quality. Daily tasks of an industrial engineer vary. They analyze the processes and systems of a business and figure out how to do things better. This involves eliminating the waste of time, money, resources and energy. Successful industrial engineers are often promoted into management positions. Industrial engineering applies to service industries as well as the manufacturing business. Industrial engineers can work in entertainment, shipping, health care or logistics. Within these fields, they can provide more efficient and profitable practices, improved customer service, stronger products and the ...  more

". Or they might ask "so what do industrial engineers do?". Or worse yet (engineering majors in other disciplines tend to say this) they say "Industrial engineering isn't a real engineering discipline." I'm hoping that this little page will help to answer some of these questions and put an end to those other engineering majors' comments. Don't get me wrong I don't mind telling people about my major if they don't know. I just wanted to help people get a clearer understanding of what an IE is and what they do. Hey I'm proud to be an IE., I like to think of Industrial Engineering as people engineering because of its focus on how to better integrate the human factor into manufacturing systems. One could also think of it as process engineering because of its focus on the improvement of manufacturing processes. Basically it's an engineering discipline focused on figuring out how to do things better. IE's engineer systems that improve quality and productivity while at the same time making ...  more

Industrial engineers use engineering methods and the principles of scientific management to design, improve, and install of integrated systems of people, materials, information equipment and energy. They analyze and evaluate methods of production and point out ways to improve them, and help decide how a company should use its resources.  more