About Industrial Engineering

The world economy is becoming globalized as time goes by. The need to make things easily accessible and cheaper is going to differentiate the winner from the loser.  When I say I am studying Industrial Engineering many people just link it to manufacturing and working in industries in general, which can be monotonous if you are not interested in how things are made. But little do they know that it is wider than that. When they ask me “what do industrial engineers do?” I simply answer we make things faster, cheaper and more efficient from the beginning to the end of a product. It is a very vague statement, but that triggers curiosity into them.

Now that I have the person`s attention I can develop more on the hands on part of Industrial Engineering. Industrial Engineers can work in a variety of sectors since their expertise can be applied in different ways. It goes from making aluminum can manufacturer save more money per can or design ways to get a patient from the ambulance to the ER faster.   It is also a lot related to management but with a more technical and scientific knowledge of the process. That makes industrial engineers very attractive in an economy like this. Who wouldn't like to save money and time?

To have a better understanding of the profession, watch the video bellow to show how wide this career really is.

To become an Industrial Engineer it is also very important to know how to work in groups. The collaboration for this profession is essential since it involves the client, management and employees. Knowing how to communicate with different people`s backgrounds is also crucial. Not to mention the critical and problem-solving skills, those are probably the two most important ones. Solving problems is what industrial engineers do. It may sound distinct but sometimes it is necessary to find flaws where it doesn't seem there is. So to maintain their job they also have to contest the way the process is done. The more experience, the easier it is to find the flaws in the system.

Now that we understand what IE`s do, I will talk about the job perspective and salaries in general. According to the occupational outlook handbook website the top industries sectors that IEs are employed are:  aerospace, parts manufacturing, architectural, navigational, motor vehicle parts manufacturing and others. The median annual wage of industrial engineers in 2010 was $76,100. As the economy is not doing very well in the United States the outlook for the next years is not very good since companies are not hiring that much. However companies that invest in hiring IEs would be doing a good investment since they can help the company save a lot of money and time.

I am looking forward on graduating and becoming a professional in the industrial engineering field. I hope that with this brief overview you learned more and maybe became interested in the profession.

--Pedro dos Santos--

Links:

http://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/industrial-engineers.htm#tab-1

http://www.iienet2.org/