Introduction to IE

CHAPTER 1:

HISTORY AND PERSPECTIVE
OF INDUSTRIAL
ENGINEERING

RAJEEV SHARAN- INTRODUCTION TO INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING 1

 How did the two words “industrial” and
“engineering” become combined to form
the label “industrial engineering”?

 What is the relationship of industrial
engineering to other engineering
disciplines, to business administration, to
the social sciences?
RAJEEV SHARAN- INTRODUCTION TO INDUSTRIAL 2
ENGINEERING

 To understand the role of industrial
engineering (IE) it is helpful to learn the
historical developments that were involved
in the development of IE.

 Principles of early engineering were first
taught in military academies and were
concerned primarily with road and bridge
construction and with defenses.

Some facts…
 Interrelated advancements in the fields of
physics and mathematics laid the groundwork
for practical applications of mechanical
principles.

 The first significant application of electrical
science was the development of the telegraph
by Samuel Morse (approximately 1840).

 Thomas Edison’s invention of the carbon lamp
(approximately 1880) led to widespread use of
electricity for lighting purposes.
4
RAJEEV SHARAN- INTRODUCTION TO INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING

 The science of chemistry is concerned with
understanding the nature of matter and learning
how to produce desirable changes in materials.

 Fuels were needed for the new internal
combustion engines. Lubricants were needed for
the rapidly growing collection of mechanical
devices. Protective coatings were needed for
houses, metal products, ships, and so forth.


 Five major engineering disciplines (civil,
chemical, electrical, industrial, and mechanical)
were the branches of engineering that came out
prior to the 1st World War.

 Developments following 2nd World War led to
other engineering disciplines, such as nuclear
engineering, electronic engineering, aeronautical
engineering, and even computer engineering.


Chronology of Industrial Engineering
 Charles Babbage visited factories in England and the United
States in the early 1800’s and began a systematic recording
of the details involved in many factory operations.
 He carefully measured the cost of performing each operation
as well as the time per operation required to manufacture a
pound of pins.
 Babbage presented this information in a table, and thus
demonstrated that money could be saved by using women
and children to perform the lower-skilled operations.
 The higher-skilled, higher-paid men need only perform those
operations requiring the higher skill levels.

 Frederick W. Taylor is credited with recognizing the potential
improvements to be gained through analyzing the work
content of a job and designing the job for maximum efficiency.


 Frank B. Gilbreth extended Taylor’s work considerably.
Gilbreth’s primary contribution was the identification,
analysis and measurement of fundamental motions
involved in performing work.

 Another early pioneer in industrial engineering was
Henry L. Gantt, who developed the so-called Gantt chart.
The Gantt chart was a significant contribution in that it
provided a systematic graphical procedure for pre-
planning and scheduling work activities, reviewing
progress, and updating the schedule. Gantt charts are
still in widespread use today.

 During the 1920s and 1930s much fundamental work
was done on economic aspects of managerial decisions,
inventory problems, incentive plans, factory layout
problems, material handling problems, and principles of
organization.

Definition of Industrial Engineering
The following formal definition of industrial engineering has been
adopted by the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE):

“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 to be
obtained from such system”.


Scope
 The extent of industrial engineering is
evidenced by the wide range of such
activities as research in biotechnology,
development of new concepts of
information processing, design of
automated factories, and operation of
incentive wage plans.


Diversity
 Industrial engineering is a diverse discipline concerned with
the design, improvement, installation, and management of
integrated systems of people, materials, and equipment for
all kinds of manufacturing and service operations.

 IE is concerned with performance measures and standards,
research of new products and product applications, ways to
improve use of scarce resources and many other problem
solving adventures.

 IE draws upon specialized knowledge and skill in the
mathematical, physical, and social sciences, together with
a strong background in engineering analysis and design
and the management sciences to specify, predict, and
evaluate the performance from such systems.


Employment
 An Industrial Engineer may be employed in almost any
type of industry, business or institution, from retail
establishments to manufacturing plants to government
offices to hospitals.

 Because their skills can be used in almost any type of
organization, and also industrial engineers are more
widely distributed among industries than other
engineers.

 For example, industrial engineers work in insurance
companies, banks, hospitals, retail organizations,
airlines, government agencies, consulting firms,
transportation, construction, public utilities, social
service, electronics, personnel, sales, facilities design,
manufacturing, processing, and warehousing.
12

What activities…
 Develop applications of new processing, automation, and control
technology.
 Install data processing, management information, wage incentive
systems.
 Develop performance standards, job evaluation, and wage and
salary programs.
 Research new products and product applications.
 Improve productivity through application of technology and human
factors.
 Select operating processes and methods to do a task with proper
tools and equipment
 Design facilities, management systems, operating procedures
 Improve planning and allocation of scarce resources

 Enhance plant environment and quality of people's
working life
 Evaluate reliability and quality performance
 Develop management control systems to aid in financial
planning and cost analysis
 Implement office systems, procedures, and policies
 Analyze complex business problems by operations
research
 Conduct organization studies, plant location surveys,
and system effectiveness studies
 Study potential markets for goods and services, raw
material sources, labor supply, energy resources,
financing, and taxes.


The evolution of the industrial and systems engineering
profession has been affected significantly by a number of
related developments

1. Impact of Operations Research
 The development of industrial engineering has
been greatly influenced by the impact of an
analysis approach called operations research.

 This approach originated in England and the
United States during 2nd World War and was
aimed at solving difficult war-related problems
through the use of science, mathematics,
behavioral science, probability theory, and
statistics.

2. Impact of Digital Computers
Digital computers permit the rapid and accurate handling
of vast quantities of data, thereby permitting the IE to
design systems for effectively managing and controlling
large, complex operations.

The digital computer also permits the IE to construct
computer simulation models of manufacturing facilities
and the like in order to evaluate the effectiveness of
alternative facility configurations, different management
policies, and other management considerations.

Computer simulation is emerging as the most widely
used IE technique.The development and widespread
utilization of personal computers is having an exciting
impact on the practice of industrial engineering.
16

3. Emergence of Service Industries
In the early days of the industrial engineering profession,
IE practice was applied almost fully in manufacturing
organizations. After the 2nd World War there was a
growing awareness that the principles and techniques of
IE were also applicable in non-manufacturing
environments.

Thousands of Industrial Engineers are employed by
government organizations to increase efficiency, reduce
paperwork, design computerized management control
systems, implement project management techniques,
monitor the quality and reliability of vendor-supplied
purchases, and for many other functions

Introduction to IE

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