Effective Industrial Engineering - Some Thoughts

 

Effective industrial engineering has to satisfy management about the contribution it made to the organization.

The prime contribution of IE has to be cost reduction through productivity improvement.

Productivity improvement is achieved through time reduction of capital assets and human resources and usage reduction of consumable items.

Reduction of machine time and man time have to be made through time studies. The purpose of time study is to measure the time taken being taken currently elements and study each element to find opportunities for time reduction. The time study includes time measurement (or work measurement) and analysis for drivers of time at element level.

If the Time study is taken as  the highest level task, it will have many lower level studies.

Machine Capabilities

Manpower capabilities

Method study

Motion study

Machine Appropriateness Study

Industrial Engineering Activities in Shipyards of USA.

Survey done during 1988-89.

Engineering - Related  -  Machine Effort Industrial Engineering

Product Work Breakdown Structure

Value Engineering - Analysis

Manufacturing Engineering (Process Planning)

Flexible Manufacturing/Automation

Computer Integrated Manufacturing

Tools

Plant Engineering

Energy Management Conservation

Accuracy Control

Methods Improvement

Plant Layout

Plant Layout

Group Technology - Flow Lines or Assembly Lines

Measurement

Work Measurement

Engineering Economy

Human Resources Accounting

Techno-Economic Analysis

Capital Investment Analysis

Economics of Production

Use of Computing Facilities

Material Requirement Planning

Computer Simulation

Production Quantities - Batch Quantity Planning

Production Planning

Production Scheduling

Productivity Management

Preparation - Delivery   Oral - Written Reports

Project Management of Productivity Projects (Providing IE services to Projects)

Learning Curve Concepts

Developing and Communicating Standards

Miscellaneous

Psychology of Sales

Mathematical Analysis of Engineering Systems - Business Systems - Managerial Systems

Operations Reserach

Statistical Analysis

Human Effort Industrial Engineering

Human Factors/Ergonomics

Behavioral Science Application

What is your IE Methods/Techniques Portfolio?

Are You Using the Following Concepts and Related Methods/Techniques

Industrial Engineering - Some Important Concepts - A Presentation

https://nraoiekc.blogspot.com/2025/07/industrial-engineering-some-important.html

The  Career of the Industrial Engineer - Key Success Factors

https://nraoiekc.blogspot.com/2012/02/role-and-career-of-industrial-engineer.html

Key Success Factors

Be Flexible, but Focused. In whatever role industrial engineers play, they should strive to maintain a focus on value-added work.

Apply Industrial Engineering Concepts to Real-World Problems.

Understand the “Big Picture”—How Change Initiatives Impact the Overall Organization. System thinking is a skill that every industrial engineer should possess. Understanding how a change can impact an organization is essential in truly having a positive impact on the bottom line. It is easy to perform a process improvement on a subsystem, but understanding and conveying how it benefits the whole organization is what’s really important.

Understand and Analyze the Current Processes Accurately. To understand current processes an industrial engineer must live the day-to-day reality of the shop floor. (*To analyze accurately, first monitor new knowledge continuously. Collect catalogues and brochures related to all elements of all resources being used in your organization.)   

Process Industrial Engineering Module of Industrial Engineering Online Course Notes

Manage Change. People manage all processes. If the people affected by the changes are not convinced of the solution, there are many ways in which they can contribute to its failure (IEs are the change agents. They evaluate the usefulness of all new commercial offerings related to various elements of resources being used in their organization).  

Productivity Management Module of Industrial Engineering Online Course Notes

Follow Through on Implementation.  The goal of an industrial engineer is to create value. It is up to the industrial engineer to ensure that a measurement or tracking system is put into place, following a project implementation. Benefits as well as project costs should be tracked to the bottom line.

Be Creative. The ability to see current reality and generate new ideas is what brings the most value to any changing organization. (Creativity is combining the problem with an idea around in a novel way to solve the problem. Creativity comes out of knowledge of many possible solution ideas, the awareness of the problem to be solved and a thinking that tries to integrate the problem with the possible ideas. Creative people go on discussing the issue with many persons individually or in groups, read a lot, search a lot and think a lot.)

Communicate Clearly. To put ideas into practice, an industrial engineer must also possess excellent verbal and written communication skills. Most of the process improvements recommended by industrial engineers involve techniques or technologies that can be complex. These solutions could have a sizable impact on the business but may require significant investments. The ability to present recommendations to decision makers in a way that they can readily comprehend requires that industrial engineers work on creating clarity.

Lack of Appreciation for the Discipline. Industrial engineering is a discipline that needs to be continually sold. Industrial engineers have been grappling with the profession’s image for the last 50 years as evidenced by letters to the editor in the first issue of the Journal of Industrial Engineering in June 1949 about the necessity of selling industrial engineering.

Failure to Align with Key Business Challenges. Whether the business strategy involves growth or cost containment, industrial engineers need to position themselves to contribute the greatest value.

Failure to Evolve. industrial engineers have the responsibility of marketing themselves. Those who do a good job of this are likely to reap the benefits of new opportunities that appear on the landscape before other so-called experts are called in.

Important Key Success Factors can be arranged in a sequence.

Understand and Analyze  the Current Processes Accurately.

(Understand [Observe, Document and Study] and Analyze [Up-to-date Engineering Knowledge])

Be Creative.

Communicate Clearly.

Manage Change. 

Follow Through on Implementation.

This can also be expressed as:

Productivity Science - Productivity Engineering - Productivity Management

Productivity Science - Indicates the direction in which productivity will increase. It also indicates variables which are to be modified appropriately to get increase in productivity.

Productivity Engineering - Industrial engineers have to do primarily modifications in engineering elements of operations and processes. Then they have to redesign the work place layout and motion patterns of the operators to operate the machines and tools and to provide material inputs. As part of productivity engineering, industrial engineers have to develop engineering concepts and detailed engineering. Detailed engineering can be done by IE department personnel, or other engineering departments within the company or external engineering consultants.

The following activities are part of productivity engineering.

Understand and Analyze  the Current Processes Accurately.

(Understand [Observe, Document and Study] and Analyze [Up-to-date Engineering Knowledge])

Be Creative (in developing solutions). 

Productivity Management: Industrial engineering work needs to be managed like any other industrial or business activity.

Communicate Clearly.

Manage Change. 

Follow Through on Implementation.

The above three activities are part of productivity management task of industrial engineers.

Revolution Needed in Industrial Engineering to Make It More Effective

Prabhakar Deshpande

Published in Industrial Engineering (Volume 6, Issue 2)

2022

https://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/article/10.11648/10073883

One AI Summary on Effective Industrial Engineering

Effective Industrial Engineering focuses on configuring and optimizing complex processes, systems, and organizations by integrating principles from various disciplines to improve efficiency, productivity, and quality. This involves analyzing and designing systems, streamlining workflows, reducing costs, and enhancing service quality within various industries.  Configuring a systems involves specifying and integrating many components. Configuring is an engineering task. Optimization determines the values of the operating variables of each of these components. Normally each component has a range of operating values.

Key aspects of effective industrial engineering include:

Science based selection of system/process resources

Systems Thinking:

Viewing processes as interconnected systems of components to identify bottlenecks and areas for improvement. 

Data-Driven Decision Making:

Developing shop floor operating data and studying and analyzing the data utilizing various techniques including charts, graphs, advanced statistical analysis, operations research, and simulation modeling to make informed decisions about process optimization. 

Integration of People, Materials, Information, Equipment, and Energy:

Ensuring that all elements of a system are appropriately selected based on system requirement and integrating their work to make them work  efficiently to achieve optimal performance. 

Continuous Improvement:

Implementing strategies to constantly streamline workflows, reduce costs, and improve overall performance. 

Adaptability and Innovation:

Keeping up with the latest technologies and methodologies to address evolving challenges and opportunities. 

In essence, effective industrial engineering is about:

Making things work better: Improving the efficiency and effectiveness of processes and systems.

Making things work smarter: Utilizing data and analytical tools to make informed decisions and optimize performance.

Making things work together: Ensuring that all components of a system are appropriate and integrated and working towards a common goal.

Making things work sustainably: Optimizing resource utilization and minimizing environmental impact ( a new focus of businesses that IE has to satisfy.) 

Comprehensive plan to make an industrial engineering department more effective

Here's an outline of a comprehensive plan to make an industrial engineering department more effective:

Plan to Enhance Industrial Engineering Department Effectiveness

This plan focuses on key pillars to ensure the Industrial Engineering (IE) department operates at its peak, delivering maximum value to the organization.

I. Define Vision, Mission, and Scope

Department Vision:

Establish a clear, concise vision statement that articulates the desired future state of the IE department (e.g., "To be the strategic partner in optimizing organizational processes, driving efficiency, and fostering innovation across all operations.").

Mission Statement:

Develop a mission statement detailing the department's core purpose and how it contributes to the overall organizational goals (e.g., "The IE department's mission is to apply scientific principles and analytical methods to design, improve, and integrate systems of people, materials, information, equipment, and energy, thereby enhancing productivity, quality, and cost-effectiveness.").

Clearly Defined Scope and Responsibilities:

Outline the specific areas of focus (e.g., process improvement, layout optimization, capacity planning, work measurement, supply chain analysis, quality control, ergonomics, data analytics).

Clarify roles and responsibilities within the department and its interfaces with other departments.

II. Strategic Alignment and Prioritization

Link to Organizational Goals:

Ensure all IE initiatives are directly aligned with the company's strategic objectives (e.g., cost reduction, market expansion, new product development, sustainability).

Regularly review and adjust IE priorities based on evolving business needs.

Stakeholder Engagement:

Identify key stakeholders (e.g., operations, finance, R&D, sales).

Establish formal channels for communication and collaboration to understand their needs and secure their buy-in for IE projects.

Project Prioritization Framework:

Implement a robust system for evaluating and prioritizing potential IE projects based on impact, feasibility, resource requirements, and strategic alignment.

Consider using tools like a weighted scoring model or a project portfolio management approach.

III. Product, Process, Facility and System Improvement and Optimization. - IE  Methodologies

Standardized Methodologies:

Adopt and standardize proven IE methodologies 

Time Study - F.W. Taylor

Motion Study - Gilbreth

Process Chart Analysis - Gilbreth - Augmented to Process Study

Method Study - Maynard

Operation Analysis - Maynard

Motion and Time Study (Work Measurement)

Work Study

Predetermined Motion Time Systems (MTM, Most, Modapts)

Process Charts - Man Machine Chart

Toyota Production System

SMED

Jidoka (Autonomated Machines)

Total Productivity Management

Productivity Measurement

Total Quality Management

Benchmarking

Lean Manufacturing

Six Sigma

Simulation

Theory of Constraints

DFMA

Principles of Industrial Engineering

Functions of Industrial Engineering

Focus Areas of Industrial Engineering

Machine Work Study

Provide training and resources to ensure consistent application.

Data-Driven Decision Making:

Emphasize the collection, analysis, and interpretation of operational data to identify bottlenecks, waste, and improvement opportunities.

Utilize statistical process control (SPC) and other analytical tools.

Continuous Process Mapping and Analysis:

Regularly map current-state processes to identify inefficiencies and design future-state processes.

Foster a culture of critical thinking about existing workflows.

IV. Applied Industrial Engineering - New Technology Integration

Software and Tools:

Invest in appropriate software for simulation (e.g., Arena, FlexSim), layout design (e.g., AutoCAD), data analysis (e.g., Minitab, R, Python), project management, and enterprise resource planning (ERP) integration.

Automation and Digitalization:

Explore opportunities to automate data collection, reporting, and routine analytical tasks.

Leverage digital twins or advanced analytics for predictive insights.

Knowledge Management System:

Implement a system to document best practices, project learnings, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and analytical models for easy access and reuse.

V. Talent Development and Culture

Skill Assessment and Development:

Conduct a thorough assessment of current IE staff skills and identify gaps.

Develop a continuous learning plan focusing on technical skills (e.g., advanced analytics, specific software), soft skills (e.g., communication, change management, leadership), and industry-specific knowledge.

Encourage certifications (e.g., Lean Six Sigma Black Belt).

Cross-Functional Training:

Provide opportunities for IE personnel to gain exposure to different departments and operational areas.

Mentorship and Coaching:

Establish mentorship programs within the department to foster knowledge transfer and professional growth.

Culture of Innovation and Continuous Improvement:

Encourage experimentation, problem-solving, and a proactive approach to identifying and addressing inefficiencies.

Recognize and reward contributions to improvement initiatives.

VI. Performance Measurement and Reporting

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

Define clear, measurable KPIs for the IE department that reflect its contribution to organizational goals (e.g., cost savings realized, process cycle time reduction, productivity improvements, project completion rates, ROI of IE projects).

Regular Reporting:

Establish a cadence for reporting on project progress, achieved benefits, and departmental performance to senior management and relevant stakeholders.

Use dashboards and visual aids for effective communication.

Post-Implementation Review:

Conduct post-implementation reviews for major projects to assess actual impact versus planned benefits and identify lessons learned.

VII. Collaboration and Communication

Internal Departmental Collaboration:

Foster strong teamwork and knowledge sharing within the IE department.

Cross-Functional Partnerships:

Actively collaborate with other departments (e.g., Production, Quality, Supply Chain, IT, Finance) to ensure integrated solutions and successful implementation of improvements.

Effective Communication Strategy:

Develop a communication plan to keep all stakeholders informed about IE initiatives, progress, and successes.

Highlight the value and impact of IE work to build credibility and support.

VIII. Continuous Improvement of the IE Department Itself

Regular Departmental Review:

Periodically review the effectiveness of the IE department's own processes, tools, and structure.

Feedback Mechanisms:

Implement mechanisms for internal and external stakeholders to provide feedback on the IE department's performance.

Benchmarking:

Benchmark against leading IE departments in other organizations or industries to identify best practices and areas for improvement.