Industrial Engineering Knowledge Center: Good and Best Practices in Industrial Engineering

Tuesday, July 26, 2022

Good and Best Practices in Industrial Engineering

Industrial engineers redesign and improve facilities, products and processes.

Facilities Industrial Engineering, Process Industrial Engineering and Product Industrial Engineering are three important focus areas of Industrial Engineering

Good and Best Practices in Industrial Engineering

1. Understand your organization's Industrial Engineering (IE) strategy, five year plan and annual plan.

2. Know in detail about every facility (resource) for which you are responsible and which are used in the processes for which you are responsible.

3. a. Understand the products being made in the organization. Understand in details about the products under your direction.

b. Know in detail about every process for which you are responsible. Create process charts and supporting data.

Processes are composed of operations. Operations use resources and do activities. The fundamental or basic units of operations are called elements. Industrial engineers have to identify all elements and know in detail about them.

4. Continuously monitor engineering developments in facilities and resources under your care.

5. Continuously monitor engineering developments in elements of products and processes under your care.

As part of monitoring engineering developments in facilities, resources, products and processes, make arrangements to get all catalogues of related suppliers. Inform all associates of your organization to send you information regarding them. Tell your purchase department to send sales representatives to meet you and forward any brochures etc. to you. Request all your engineering friends to share relevant information with you.

I made this suggestion to a new industrial engineer.

"I suggest you try to find out 5 new engineering developments every day in elements related to facilities, products and processes in your organization and assess their use."

Such a daily routine will help you to keep track of new items of use, recollect some of the items which were considered in the past and also reassess the use of current elements in your operations and processes. This will help you to come out with creative solutions with using current engineering items or new engineering items. Industrial engineering has to promote creative use of engineering items on a continuous basis. Every day is an opportunity to do engineering changes to increase productivity and reduce cost.

6.a. Do periodic cost reduction (cost value improvement) studies for products under you watch.

b. Do periodic process improvement studies for each process under your care.

Processes include assembly process and part production process. Now the supply chain process is also the responsibility of IEs under supply chain industrial engineering.

Involve and support operations personnel in process improvement.

Involve and support product designers and process planners in product and process improvement.

Commit yourself for weekly, monthly and yearly productivity improvement targets.

Utilize IEOR in process improvement. Utilize IE Statistics and Six Sigma. Utilize Ergonomics knowledge.

7. Formulate projects for productivity improvement based on process improvement studies and facility improvement opportunities.

Each project must be accompanied by IE economic analysis.

Maintain record of cumulative projects proposed, approved and implemented for each year. Clearly identify the value added by you and the IE department to the organization. Report the performance to the top management for inclusion in the annual report.

8. Complete the approved projects (install) and audit them for achievement of expected productivity improvement and cost reduction benefits.

9. Monitor developments in productivity science.

10. Monitor developments in productivity engineering. Keep reading about the achievements of other industrial engineers and their solutions to productivity improvements.

11. Monitor developments in productivity management.

As part of productivity management, keep monitoring developments in behavioral management.

12. Share your achievements inside the organization and within professional meetings and IE classes.

Look forward to your suggestions in expanding the list.

Free IE Online Course Notes with 365 lessons

Principles of Industrial Engineering - IISE 2017 Pittsburgh Conference Presentation

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