Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Identified Challenges in Industrial Engineering - Proposed Solutions and Evolution of the Discipline and Profession



Industrial Engineering was started as an academic discipline in Penn State University's mechanical engineering department in 1908. It progressed over the last 100 years with many additions and may be some deletions in its area of work. At periodic intervals, scholars have pointed out challenges to the discipline and solutions were proposed to deal with those situations. In this articles, some of those articles will be indicated and important points made by them are also collected. Papers that came out with some solutions are also mentioned.


1982


The Challenge of a Changing Society to Industrial Engineering, F.G. Willemze, IJPR 1982



Industrial engineering is not a relic; it is a fundamental function.

The aim of industrial engineering is also therefore 'efficient use of all production means-including labor and management within the policy and strategyof the company.'

I.E. developed into a specialty aimed at productivity, using fairly complicated aids and techniques, which in turn demanded considerable knowledge and experience.

Within the production process, productivity could not in the long run be sufficiently measured in the unit of  time. Explaining it in terms of money seemed more adequate. Standard cost calculation is therefore a technique which has been incorporated with considerable success by industrial engineers.

Are there other points of contact in the national cultures which will lead to completely different solutions?

In the course of years, there have been considerable shift in cost elements: from direct manual labor to indirect (particularly to preparatory work) and machine costs. Development and design costs, depreciation, maintenance, and expenditure for administrative services form the major part of added value.

A proposed solution to maintenance productivity: Tom Westerkamp, "Plan for Maintenance Productivity", IIE Solutions, August 2001, pp. 36-41.


2013

MULTIDISCIPLINARY DESIGN AND MODERN MANUFACTURING AS DRIVING FORCES FOR INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERS OF A FUTURE by JOVANOVIC, V.
DAAAM INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC BOOK 2013 pp. 969-984 CHAPTER 60


Moreover, an industrial engineer of the future will have to be a lifelong learner with ongoing will to
adapt and to learn new approaches and new technologies since they are changing constantly with every new invention. Another very important challenge will be how to learn how to bridge the gap between invention and innovation. Adapting new ideas to feasible products and develop appropriate and cost effective manufacturing systems and processes will always be one of the main concerns of an industrial engineers.

Industrial engineering discipline and professionals have to focus on productivity of each new technology (product/process) as it comes into existence?  Are IE and IEs doing it effectively and with good visibility?


BIG M MANUFACTURING: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING

Presenter: Ben Wang, Ph.D., executive director, Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute

Join us for this preview of a unique forum for IE practitioners, administrators and researchers that will take place at the 2014 IIE Annual Conference and Expo




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