INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING:

WHAT AND WHY?

A.B.M. Zohrul Kabir
Ph.D. (Aston), M.Sc. (BHam), M.Tech (IIT/Kanpur), B.Sc. Engg (BUET)

Professor, Mechanical Engineering Dept

&
Head, REASP
Islamic University of Technology
Board Bazar, Gazipur

 Birth of IE dates back to early 1950s

Since then, IE has emerged as an important engg. discipline.
In early stage of development, primary focus was in manufacturing
Main objective was: achieving maximum productivity,
through the design, improvement and installation of integrated
systems of human, machine and equipment.
Later Stage :
With the development of OR, cybernetics, modern control theory
and computing power, field of IE expanded dramatically.
To-day, IE knowledge is being applied not only to manufacturing
facilities, but also to hospital, consulting firms, sales, government,
transportation, i.e virtually all types of industries - manufacturing as
well as service).

 IE is among the top ranking engineering professions in the

developed and fast developing countries (West, Japan, Singapore
and even in the Middle East).
In B/Desh, IE appeared with the introduction of IPE Dept in BUET in
1981. Now, IPE exists in 5 universities - SUST, KUET, RUET,
AUST (Mech & Prod. Engg)
The demand for IE graduates is steadily increasing albeit at a much
slower rate than expected. Many employers are still unaware of the
contributions that IE graduates can make to their
industries/organizations.

 What is IE discipline?
What contribution does it make?
How various industry or organizations in
Bangladesh can benefit from employing IE
graduates?

Material

Supplier

Supplier 1

Supplier 1

Production Planning
Production Control
Production
Scheduling
MRP, Aggregate
Planning etc.

Material Flow

Distribution
Network
Distribution
Channel
Geographical
Location of customer
Transportation
Management

Distribution System

STRATEGIC
PLANNING
(Expansion, Contraction,
Status Quo, Budgeting)

ORGANIZING
(Designing of structure)
SYSTEM
PERFORMANCE
(Productivity, Time Study)

Demand
Forecasting

M
M

Product

Wholesaler

M
Manufacturers

STAFFING

Customer

Customer Focus
QFD, Concurrent
Engineering
TQM, ISO 90002000 etc.

Information Flow

Process Design
Process Selection
Capacity Planning
Production System
Design (factory
Layout)
Technology
Management
Maintenance

Financial Management
Capital Investment
Capital Budgeting
Working Capital
Cost Control, Standards
Cash Flow Management
Purchase
Salary

Money

Planning
Hiring/ Firing
Selection Procedure
Performance
Evaluation
Reward System
Motivation

Retailers
(if no wholesaler and
retailer) Product

Machine

Labor

Distribution
System
Management

Production
Management

Quality Management

Supplier 1

Primary Components

Supplier
Selection.
Limitation
Diversification
of Supplier.

INVENTORY
MANAGEMENT
When to order
How much to
order
Is the future
predictable

Material

Supplier

Supplier 1

Supplier 1

Production Planning
Production Control
Production
Scheduling
MRP, Aggregate
Planning etc.

Material Flow

Distribution
Network
Distribution
Channel
Geographical
Location of customer
Transportation
Management

Distribution System

STRATEGIC
PLANNING
(Expansion, Contraction,
Status Quo, Budgeting)

ORGANIZING
(Designing of structure)
SYSTEM
PERFORMANCE
(Productivity, Time Study)

Demand
Forecasting

M
M

Product

Wholesaler

M
Manufacturers

STAFFING

Customer

Customer Focus
QFD, Concurrent
Engineering
TQM, ISO 90002000 etc.

Information Flow

Process Design
Process Selection
Capacity Planning
Production System
Design (factory
Layout)
Technology
Management
Maintenance

Financial Management
Capital Investment
Capital Budgeting
Working Capital
Cost Control, Standards
Cash Flow Management
Purchase
Salary

Money

Planning
Hiring/ Firing
Selection Procedure
Performance
Evaluation
Reward System
Motivation

Retailers
(if no wholesaler and
retailer) Product

Machine

Labor

Distribution
System
Management

Production
Management

Quality Management

Supplier 1

Primary Components

Supplier
Selection.
Limitation
Diversification
of Supplier.

INVENTORY
MANAGEMENT
When to order
How much to
order
Is the future
predictable

Industrial Engineering Functions by Category

Category

IE Functions

Production
Engineering

Manufacturing processes
Manufacturing systems
Computerized process control
Facilities planning and design
Production planning and control
Quality control
Inventory control
Product improvement

Operational Science

Management information and control systems

Organizational analysis and design
Economic analysis
Operations research
Project management
Cost control and standards
Preventive maintenance

Ergonomics/ Human
Factors Engineering

Work Measurement
Methods engineering
Work system design
Wage administration
Safety programs
Training programs

IE DEFINITION BY IIE (USA)

Industrial Engineering is concerned with the design, improvement,
and installation of integrated systems of people, materials,
information, equipment, and energy. It draws upon specialized
knowledge and skill in the mathematical, physical, and social
sciences together with the principles and methods of engineering
analysis and design to specify, predict, and evaluate the results
obtained from such systems.
Two distinctive features of IE from other engg disciplines.

First: IE focuses on the human being in the design of the integrated systems
and for this, it requires a thorough understanding of such behavioral and
social sciences as psychology and sociology, as well as life sciences as
biology, anatomy and human physiology (Ref. Biles). Thus, the Industrial
Engineer is more broadly educated than other engineers who acquire skills
in very specific areas.

Second: IE is the only engg discipline that focuses on productivity and

quality improvement that is needed so much in this age of globalization and
trade liberalization accelerated by the growing impact of information and
communication technology.

Industrial Engineers by training figure out how to do things better. They

work to eliminate waste of time, money, materials, energy, and other
commodities.

IE CURRICULUM
Objective: To provide sufficient breadth of knowledge
Generally includes courses from:
- General engineering sciences
- Industrial engineering sciences
- Mathematics
- Life sciences
- Physical sciences
- Social sciences

Variations exist from school to school depending upon the emphasis

placed
Program names: Industrial engg, Industrial & Systems engg,
Industrial engg & Operations management, Production engg, Engg
management, Manufacturing systems engg, etc

IE vs MBA
Recent trend in B/Desh and elsewhere
More and more engineers pursuing MBA program after first degree
in engg discipline.
Such combination of education and training definitely prepares an
engineer to perform certain managerial functions with confidence.
But highly debatable whether this can provide sufficient breadth of
knowledge that IE program provides.

Why is IE Necessary?
IIE (USA) contends that the following benefits can be directly linked
to the work of Industrial Engineers
- Leaner, more efficient, and more profitable business practices while increasing
customer service and quality,
- Improved efficiency and as a result improved competitiveness and profitability,
- Setting of labor and time standards,
- Good organization and improving productivity essential for long term health of
business,
- Increased ability to do more with less focusing on optimization,
- Making work safer, faster, easier, and more rewarding,
- Providing a method for business to analyze their processes and try to make
improvements,
- Reducing costs associated with new technologies,
- Designing safer and easier to use products, etc

Putting simply
Industrial Engineering is a philosophy that there is
always a better way to do things.
Industrial engineer takes what exists today and
conceptualizes what should exist in the future.

IEs Role in Bangladeshi Industry and

Organizations
In almost every discussion forum on the state of industry in B/Desh, people
talk about:
Low productivity, inefficient operation, inefficient management, low product
product / service quality, higher price of local products, inability to compete
in the global market, wastage, and so on.
What people often fail to realize, there is a built-in inefficiency in the local
industry.
Reason: Right persons are not put in the right job.
Many jobs related to IE are being done by engineers /managers who are not
trained in IE and the consequence we all witness.

Some important roles IE graduates can play

As a production planner: finding optimal production policy using tools like aggregate
planning, MRP, MRPII, ERP, supply chain management, etc
As a production cost controller: setting cost standards
As a quality engineer: developing and implementing quality assurance programs
As a works manager: developing labor and time standards using Time and Motion
Study
As a logistic support manager: developing inventory policy, supply chain
management
As a maintenance manager: developing and implementing maintenance management
programs (TPM, RCM, TRM, etc)
As a safety manager: making workplace safer and hazard free for employees,
protecting physical assets
As a manufacturing system engineer: determining suitable materials, manufacturing
processes, planning capacity
As a facility layout designer: determining appropriate factory layout
As a technology assessor: identifying suitable new technology considering technical,
economic, environmental and other relevant factors.
Particularly important in setting up a new industry or for balancing, modernization,
replacement and expansion (BMRE) of an existing industry.

IE Research
Tremendous research works are being done and published every
year.
Some of the popular areas: Operations Research, Scheduling (Flow
shop and job shop using techniques like genetic algorithm,
simulated annealing, fuzzy algorithm, heuristic search, etc),
Inventory policy (stationary, non-stationary processes), Supply chain
management, Human factors, MCDM, Cybernetics, etc
Top grade journals: Management Science, Operations Research,
European J. of Operational research, Naval Research & Logistics
Quarterly, J. of Decision Sciences, IIE Transaction, etc.