8.1 Introduction...8-1 8.2 Areas of Industrial and Systems Engineering ...8-7
Human Factors Engineering (Ergonomics) • Operations Research • Artificial Intelligence • Mathematical Modeling
• Manufacturing Systems • Engineering Statistics • Engineering Computing
Summary
There is currently a great need for a published work that presents a holistic overview of industrial and systems engineering. Such a publication should address the role and importance of industrial and systems engineers in today’s society. The usefulness of such a publication would be enhanced if it contained information on the challenges that the industrial and systems engineers face, their ways of solving prob- lems, and the impacts of their proffered solutions on business improvement. Such documentation should be captured in an integrated, concise, and elegantly distilled way. The current chapter aims at bridging these important gaps in current approaches to industrial and systems engineering. The chapter is devel- oped in a creative and innovative way, with pointers on what lies ahead for an industrial and systems engineer. The opportunities that the industrial and systems engineering graduates have on a worldwide scale are also discussed.
8.1 Introduction
Industrial and systems engineers (ISEs) are perhaps the most preferred engineering professionals because of their ability to manage complex organizations. They are trained to design, develop and install optimal methods for coordinating people, materials, equipment, energy, and information. The integration of these resources is needed in order to create products and services in a business world that is becoming increas- ingly complex and globalized (see Figure 8.1). Industrial and systems engineers oversee management goals and operational performance. Their aims are the effective management of people, coordinating techniques in business organization, and adapting technological innovations toward achieving increased perform- ance. They also stimulate awareness of the legal, environmental, and socioeconomic factors that have a 8-1 S. A. Oke
University of Lagos
significant impact on engineering systems. Industrial and systems engineers can apply creative values in solving complex and unstructured problems in order to synthesize and design potential solutions and organize, coordinate, lead, facilitate, and participate in teamwork. They possess good mathematical skills, a strong desire for organizational performance, and a sustained drive for organizational improvement.
In deriving efficient solutions to manufacturing, organizational, and associated problems, ISEs analyze products and their requirements. They utilize mathematical techniques such as operations research (OR) to meet those requirements, and to plan production and information systems. They implement activities to achieve product quality, reliability, and safety by developing effective management control systems to meet financial and production planning needs. Systems design and development for the continual distri- bution of the product or service is also carried out by ISEs to enhance an organization’s ability to satisfy their customers. Industrial and systems engineers focus on optimal integration of raw materials available, transportation options, and costs in deciding plant location. They coordinate various activities and devices on the assembly lines through simulations and other applications.
The organization’s wage and salary administration systems and job evaluation programs can also be developed by them, leading to their eventual absorption into management positions. They share similar goals with health and safety engineers in promoting product safety and health in the whole production process through the application of knowledge of industrial processes and such areas as mechanical, chem- ical, and psychological principles. They are well grounded in the application of health and safety regula- tions while anticipating, recognizing, and evaluating hazardous conditions and developing hazard-control techniques.
Industrial and systems engineers can assist in developing efficient and profitable business practice by improving customer services and the quality of products. This would improve the competitiveness and resource utilization in organizations. From another perspective, ISEs are engaged in setting traditional labor or time standards and in the redesign of organizational structure in order to eliminate or reduce some forms of frustration or wastes in manufacturing. This is essential for the long-term survivability and the health of the business.
Modern industrial organization Ever-increasing competition
(increased number of competitors)
Dwindling foreign exchange reserve thus affecting importation of spares
Political instability of governments in operating environments that discourages
investments
Stiffer requirements for international competitiveness
(i.e., ISO standards)
High sophistication in quality of products demanded by
customers
Unstable and stiffer government policies on importation of spares, labor recruitment (i.e., minimum wage), quality of products (i.e.,
ISO 9000 and 14000)
High capital intensiveness of plant expansion
Uncertain customer demand (Quantity specification)
Unstable skilled workforce (High turnover on search for
"greener pastures")
Unstable and higher costs of power supply for operation
FIGURE 8.1 The complex nature of today’s industrial organizational environment.
Another aspect of the business that the ISEs could be useful in is making work safer, easier, more rewarding, and faster through better designs that reduce production cost and allow the introduction of new technologies. This improves the lifestyle of the populace by making it possible for them to afford and use technological advanced goods and services. In addition, they offer ways of improving the working environment, thereby improving efficiencies and increasing cycle time and throughput, and helping man- ufacturing organizations to obtain their products more quickly. Also, ISEs have provided methods by which businesses can analyze their processes and try to make improvements upon them. They focus on optimization – doing more with less – and help to reduce waste in the society.1 The ISEs give assistance in guiding the society and business to care more for their workforce while improving the bottom line.
Since this handbook deals with two associated fields – industrial and systems engineering – there is a strong need to define these two professions in order to have a clear perspective about them and to appre- ciate their interrelationships. Throughout this chapter, these two fields are used together and the discus- sions that follow are applicable to either. Perhaps the first classic and widely accepted definition of Industrial Engineering (IE) was offered by the then American Institute of Industrial Engineering (AIIE) in 1948.2 Others have extended the definition. “Industrial Engineering is uniquely concerned with the analysis, design, installation, control, evaluation, and improvement of sociotechnical systems in a man- ner that protects the integrity and health of human, social, and natural ecologies. A sociotechnical system can be viewed as any organization in which people, materials, information, equipment, procedures, and energy interact in an integrated fashion throughout the life cycles of its associated products, services, or programs (see foot note 2). Through a global system’s perspective of such organizations, industrial engi- neering draws upon specialized knowledge and skills in the mathematical, physical, and social sciences, together with the principles and methods of engineering analysis and design, to specify the product and evaluate the results obtained from such systems, thereby assuring such objectives as performance, relia- bility, maintainability, schedule adherence, and cost control (Figure 8.2).
As shown in Figure 8.2, there are five general areas of industrial and systems engineering. Each of these areas specifically makes out some positive contributions to the growth of industrial and systems engi- neering. The first area shown in the diagram is twofold, and comprises sociology and economics. The combination of the knowledge from these two areas helps in the area of supply chain. The second area is, mathematics, which is a powerful tool of ISEs. Operations research is an important part of this area. The third area is psychology, which is a strong pillar for ergonomics. Accounting and economics both consti- tute the fourth area. These are useful subjects in the area of engineering economics. The fifth area is com- puter. Computers are helpful in CAD/CAM, which is an important area of industrial and systems engineering.
1http://www.orie.cornell.edu/~IIE
2http://www.iienet.org
Industrial and systems engineering
Sociology Economics
+ Mathematics Psychology
Accounting + Economics
Computer
Supply chain
Operations research
Ergonomics Engineering economics
CAD/CAM
FIGURE 8.2 Some areas of industrial and systems engineering and related disciplines.