INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING

MEANING: The term industrial engineering comprises of two words

1) “Industrial” meaning related to or characterized by industry. This includes the
economic activity concerned with the processing of raw material and
manufacturing in general
2) “ Engineering” meaning the use of scientific principles to design and build
machines, structures and other things

The term can also interchangeably be used with “industrial management” or

“scientific management ”.

DEFINITION: It is an attempt to determine and apply the facts and laws that are
essential for efficient running of an enterprise. It is concerned with the
optimization of complex processes, systems or organization by developing,
improving and implanting integrated systems of people, money and knowledge.
Briefly, it can be defined as the “Art of Knowing” exactly what is to be
done and the best way of doing it. The theory of scientific management is heavily
applied in companies who recruiting new members.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of scientific management is given below

• To find out waste and its cost

• To eliminate waste

• To pay uniform wages with reduced labour cost

• To increase purchasing power of customer by lower unit cost

• To increase efficiency within employees, apprentices and in terms.

 The advantages of scientific management are:

1) To customer:

• Increased productivity of the people offering service to them

• Higher quality with low prices

• Prompt deliveries

2) To Employees

• Higher wages

• Uninterrupted employment

• Job security

• Increased job satisfaction

3) To Empolyer

• Security of business

• Higher profits

• Ease and a tension relieved mind

It is quite necessary to understand that for a person who studies “scientific

management ” and for who there of wishes to be in a position of power or
to run a company via the job interview process, training interns to boost
their caliber and to increase efficiency of their already existing employees.
Any person undergoing any of the there situations stated above are judged
 by considering the following facts:

• The ability to recognize the problems, analyse and define objectives

• Collect and analyse the required data

• Select alternatives if possible

• Test conclusions and if required correct actions

The underlying principle of industrial engineering is to realize that

“management is an art and a science”. Those who apply the laws of this
science into their art form are found to bear the fruit of their hardwork. Tis
not only improves the skills of the person who applies the science, but to
the person who it is also being applied on, who is, thus the canvas of this
artwork. The functions of management thus become clear to both the
personal. These includes

• Forecasting
• Planning
• Organizing
• Directing
• Co-ordinating
• Decision making
• Leadership

That the satisfaction of the employees is more important that the

satisfaction of customer. As each employees is different from one another,
an employees must be able to maintain an equilibrium by approaching each
employees differently but ensuring that he/she is fit to work at maximum
efficiency. This requires patience hardwork and a detailed study of how
such management takes place. Even though the “customer is king”, the
throne he/she sits on is easily shaken up by lethargic, inefficient,
disgruntled, unprofessional employees.
NEED: The need of scientific management are as simple and can be
explained in one sentence
“To increase efficiency of personnel to increase productivity of the
company; This, on the other end, increase customers who are satisfied with
the company’s service. ”
This underlying principle not only helps in the growth of the company and
increase the amount of people heading to the company’s provided services
but also benefits the working employees by the increments of their wages
and salaries.
Industrial engineers typically do the following:

• Review production schedules, engineering specifications, process

flows, and other information to understand methods that are
applied and activities that take place in manufacturing and services

• Figure out how to manufacture parts or products, or deliver services,

with maximum efficiency

• Develop management control systems to make financial planning

and cost analysis more efficient

• Enact quality control procedures to resolve production problems or

minimize costs

• Design control systems to coordinate activities and production

planning in order to ensure that products meet quality standards

• Confer with clients about product specifications, vendors about

purchases, management personnel about manufacturing
capabilities, and staff about the status of projects
SCOPE: The industrial engineer in the future
In the current society the future of the industrial engineers is knowing and
applying the acquired knowledge and adapt it to a society that is in
continuous process of change, where the vision to advance to these
challenges is the priority, recovering the professional ethics that gives the
freedom to fight against corruption processes that do not allow a society
progress.
The apparition of new technologies due to the competition continues the
development of new processes and products. New practices must be
presented like management and work, new organizational structures new
complementary form and new methods of decision.
According to Biles, industrial engineering can group its roots in three big
interacting groups: the engineering of production, the administrative
engineering and the engineering of human and ergonomic factors.
The business functions as we know them today: research and
development, engineering of design, manufacture, marketing, and
customer service, will be so highly integrated that combine integral and
virtual way to respond into the market. If the students do not learn to
appreciate elements about the science such as its history, its relations
with the culture, with the religion, with different visions of the world, the
trade, its philosophical suppositions (epistemological, ontological and
methodological ideas) then, the opportunity for the science and the
engineering to enrich the culture and the human lives is wasted.
It is important that the engineers have an integral education that allow
them involve the solutions impact of engineering in a social and global
context. The engineers require knowing the nature of the engineering,
optimizing a big variety of requests and technical, practical and political
restrictions in the design of solutions (ABET, 1988). In this same road, a
new definition of engineering that includes a new concept has opened a
big step: the sustainability. The Engineering Council, of the United
Kingdom, has identified six principles of sustainability: 1) contribute to
build a sustainable society in the present and the future; 2) apply
professional and responsibly to perform a leadership role ; 3) do much
more that fulfill with codes and the valid legislation; 4) use resources in a
efficient and effective way; 5) look for multiple visions to resolve
challenges of sustainability; and 6) handle the risk, so it minimizes adverse
impacts in the population and in the environment.
Industrial Engineering must be more participative regarding the
institutions represented by universities, the companies with their
determining factor in society and the welfare of the population, in order
to achieve a common goal; quality and social responsibility within the
productive framework.
 Historical development of Industrial Engineering
Industrial Engineering had its roots in the industrial Revolution. Modern Era of
industrial engineering is assumed to have started from industrial revolution. The
first impact of Industrial revolution was on British Cotton textile industry.
Engineering history lies back to the beginning of civilization. Until the end of
1700s, production meant crafts (A craftsman used to treat material and assemble
the pieces), then a single person used to

• Plan
• Select and supply material
• Produce and control

In 1776, James Watt invented the steam engine (Turning steam power into
mechanical power). This was the beginning of industrial revolution.

Since then, factories started to be established in USA and UK (United Kingdom),

earlier factories were just textile and metal working plants.

Some Inventions of Second Phase which brought this IR

Quick weaving (key’s Flying,1753)
Spinning process (Hargreaves,1767)
In the second phase of industrial revolution, conventional machinery changed into
automatic machinery like:
Complex automatic machine tools that perform one operation for producing a
product, which could earlier be produced by a long series.
For Example: Steam power changed to hydraulic and nuclear power.
Pioneers of Industrial Engineering

1. Eli Whitney
In 1798, received government contract to make 10,000 muskets.
Showed that machine tools could make standardized parts to exact specifications.

2. Frederick W. Taylor
Among the pioneers, F.W. Taylor is hailed as the father of scientific management,
as he was the first person to perceive the interconnection between these
initiatives and integrated them into a philosophy of management “Scientific
Management.”
In 1881, Taylor, as chief engineer for Midvale Steel, studied how tasks were done.
He began. First motion & time studies, created efficiency principles, matching
employees to right job, providing the proper training etc.

3. Henry Ford
In 1903, created Ford Motor Company
In 1913, first used moving assembly line to make Model T
Unfinished product moved by conveyor past work station

4. W.A Schewhort
He developed fundamental principles of statistical quality control.
He had also encouraged the use of statistical techniques for solving industrial
problems.
5. L.H.C Tippet
He developed work sampling to study work pattern.

Significant Events in IE

• Division of labor (Smith, 1776)

• Standardized parts (Whitney, 1800)
• Scientific management (Taylor, 1881)
• Coordinated assembly line (Ford 1913)
• Gantt charts (Gantt, 1916)
• Motion study (the Gilbreths, 1922)
• Quality control (Shewhart, 1924)
• CPM/PERT (Dupont, 1957)
• MRP (Orlicky, 1960)
• CAD
• Flexible manufacturing systems (FMS)
• Computer integrated manufacturing (CIM)
•

Typical business organization (industry) departments

A typical business organization may consist of the following main departments or

functions:

• Production
• Research and Development (often abbreviated to R&D)
• Purchasing
• Marketing (including the selling function)
• Human Resource Management
• Accounting and Finance
 CONCEPT OF INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING
▪ The American Institute of Industrial Engineers (AIIE) has defined the special
field of industrial engineering as
o "Concerned with the design, improvement and installation of
integrated systems of people, materials, 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 to be
obtained from such systems".
▪ Industrial Engineering is engineering approach to the detailed analysis of
the use and cost of the resources of an organisation. The main resources
are men, money, materials, equipment and machinery. The Industrial
Engineer carries out such analysis in order to achieve the objectives (to
increase productivity, or profits, etc.) and policies of the organisation. An
Industrial Engineer's techniques go beyond the mechanical cost factor. He
is associated with organization structure, administrative techniques, human
(labour) problems and at the same time he understands the relationship
between efficiency and consent (of the working group).
▪ Essentially, the industrial engineer is engaged in the design of a system and
his function is primarily that of management.
▪ If industrial engineer had to focus on only one concept to describe his field
of interest and objective, it would have to be productivity improvement.
▪ Productivity improvement implies: (i) a more efficient use of resources, (ii)
less waste per unit of input supplied, (iii) higher levels of output for fixed
levels of input supplied and so on.
▪ The inputs may be (i) human efforts (ii) energy in any of its myriad forms,
(iii) materials, (iv) invested capital etc.
▪ Succinctly stated, the mission would be to try to produce more or to serve
better without increasing the resources being consumed.
EVOLUTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING
▪ What industrial engineering is today and aspires to be in future is
determined by what has gone before.
▪ Industrial engineering had its roots in the Industrial Revolution (around
1750); it was nourished by individuals who sought to advance organisation
and management principles at an early date.
▪ The Industrial Revolution resulted from the advent of new inventions,
especially in the textile industry, then steam engine, advances in metal
cutting and the production of machine tools. These led to factories with
large number of workers.
▪ With the growth in the size of industries, came the beginning of
management and management thinking.
▪ Historians of science and technology might argue as to the beginning of
industrial engineering. The generally accepted beginnings relate to the
work done by F.W. Taylor, who was concerned primarily with concepts of
productivity.
▪ Prior to Taylor's work, however, there were others, whose writings referred
to concepts that ultimately became associated with industrial engineering.
One of the earliest of these is Adam Smith's treatise The Wealth of Nations,
published in 1776.
▪ The concepts Adam Smith expressed concerning the proper division of
labor, became an important factor in the unfolding of the impending
Industrial Revolution. The writings of Adam Smith and those of both his
students and contemporaries were important milestones in the
development of the factory system and of the Industrial Revolution which it
created. Adam Smith was an economist not an engineer, and as a result, his
writings came from this perspective.
▪ A more direct line to the pioneering in industrial engineering might be
provided by Charles W. Babbage who wrote On the Economy of Machinery
and Manufactures in 1832.
▪ Perhaps one of the most important contributions to industrial engineering
that Babbage made, although it was not so recognized at the time, was his
 attempt to build a computer--or as he referred to it, an Analytical
Calculating Machine.
▪ Another active worker and writer was Frederick A. Halsey, the father of the
Halsey premium plan of wage payment.
▪ The other giant of the early dates was Frank Bunker Gilbreth. He, 190, was
an engineer and obviously had been impressed by the work and writings of
Taylor.
Taylor focused on planning and organization of work whereas Gilbreth
(husband and wife) was interested in improving the efficiency through
improvement of methods of doing a work i.e. method study.
▪ Many modern industrial engineering techniques had their genesis during
the period 1940-1946. Predetermined time standards (such as MTM and
Work-Factor), value engineering and systems analysis are a few of these.

▪ A highly significant era in the development of industrial engineering began

after World War II. A great many new activities developed and the
application of principles and techniques was vastly broadened. The
activities were: (i) Industrial engineering and computer; (ii) Development of
system analysis and design; (iii) Application of mathematical and statistical
tools; (iv) Network planning techniques and their application; (v) value
engineering; (vi) Behavioural science and human factors.
▪ It was primarily these two developments-the mathematical advances and
their applications in the field of operations research and the development
of high speed, stored programmed digital computer - that literally changed
industrial engineering from a non-quantitative empirical science to one of
considerable mathematical sophistication and caused it to be considered a
hard science.
▪ As a result of these developments, the industrial engineer of today has
many more sophisticated tools with which to analyse his problems and to
design new and improved systems.