Sunday, March 22, 2020

How many Industrial Engineers can a Company Employ for Cost Reduction?







The question was answered by Prof. K.V.S.S. Narayana Rao in March 2020. The answer received a popular response. 500 hits happened on the blog post in the first three days.




How many industrial engineers in a company for cost reduction?
For $100 million cost, there can be one MS IE and 6 BSIEs.
#Productivity Science - Productivity Engineering - #Productivity Management
https://nraoiekc.blogspot.com/2020/03/value-creation-model-for-industrial.html


Industrial engineers have to make process analysis and operation analysis as the main focus area and combine it with the product industrial engineering to analyze and improve the design of components that are processed in the operation under study and evaluation. Process improvement techniques like six sigma are implemented as part of process analysis. Material flow parameters like batch quantities are to be evaluated. Optimization at various levels from the entire enterprise to the element of each operation and appropriate economic analysis are to be done. The discoveries and data developed by ergonomists has to be incorporated into human work methods. Similarly, the growing knowledge of social sciences focusing on man and his relations needs to be incorporated into operating procedures.

Industrial engineers may be employed in dedicated product design and process planning teams. But here in answering this question, we are looking at IEs employed in operations to accumulate and understand the data generated in operations to improve the product design and process design on a continuous basis with the involvement of operators, foremen and engineers of the shop. It is a continuous redesign activity to capture developments in technology and creative ideas to implement existing technology that come about as a result of doing things every day and special periodic studies that focus on productivity improvement and cost reduction.

Industrial engineering students during their course have to do projects both on case study basis as well as on real life problems focusing on productivity improvement and cost reduction. Operation analysis that examines each engineering element used in the operation (machine, cutting tool, work holding mechanism, cutting fluid, speed, feed, depth of cut, and other machine related parameters, work piece location as input and output, working conditions and operator movements, motions, safety devices) is the primary technique. Technology improvements in engineering elements and creative application of technology to the operations done in the company by industrial engineers as well as all others in the organization is the fundamental driver for continuous improvement of engineering designs of products and processes. IE students have to given enough practice in successful redesign of products and processes.

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