Industrial engineers work to improve the efficiency of processes and eliminate wasteful components of the production environment. The use their understanding of technology and engineering to help employers improve safety, save energy, reduce costs, and utilize efficient materials and techniques.
Salary and Job outlook
The median pay for engineers was over $87,000 per year, as of May 2018. In terms of the difference between the highest paid and lowest paid professionals, the highest 10% earn over $132,000 and the lowest 10% make over $56,000. The typical entry level education to get an industrial engineering job is a bachelor’s degree. The job outlook for the period 2018-2028 shows an 8% increase.
Industrial engineers work in a variety of industries, and their pay varies according to the industry. In the technical, professional, and scientific services, they earned over $94,000. The salary of computer and electronic product manufacturing sectors was also comparable to the professional services with over $93,000. For the transportation equipment , mission remanufacturing, and fabricated metal fabricate, the pay was over $89,000 , over $80,000 and $75,000 respectively.
Job Responsibilities
An industrial engineering job usually includes the following:
Communicate and implement process technology upgrades
Develop instruction manuals and train production staff
Learn about methodologies by reviewing process flows, production schedules, and other information
Design and develop parts of equipment or entire products
Improve planning and analysis by creating management control systems
Resolve production-related issues and find methods of minimizing costs
Work with customers and management to develop standards for design and production
Design control systems to coordinate activities and production planning to ensure that products meet quality standards
Communicate with clients, management, and vendors and staff as part of the project
Industrial engineers are required for a variety of tasks, from designing systems for transporting heavy parts to evaluating the performance of others. In their job, they have to be mindful of many factors, including available technologies, required work force, manufacturing product according to specifications, staying within budget, and safety of the workers. The design of products is based on mathematical methods and models.
In terms of the qualities, the engineers need to have creativity for designing new production processes. They should also be good at problem solving, as the job may require solving issues related to inefficiency and cost. Communication skills in an office job environment are also essential. Besides managers and colleagues, they must also be skilled at marketing products and explaining designs and developments plans to customers. The job may also require you to write reports and create documentation for technicians.
Education and Training
The education requirements for an environmental engineering job includes a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering or a related field, such as industrial engineering technology, mechanical engineering or a general engineering degree. Besides the degree programs, some colleges also offer a 5-year program leading to a bachelor’s and master’s degree. The engineering programs are accredited by ABET.
Licensed engineers have the designation of professional engineer, or PE. To obtain a license you will need to complete your bachelors from and ABET-credited program, pass the FE exam, and, of course, the PE exam. Besides these designations, there are other designations as well, such as search engineers in training, or EIT. You get this designation after passing the FE exam. Once you have some experience under your belt, you can go for the Principles of Engineering exam as well. Besides all these exams, in some States you will also need to participate in continuing education programs to keep your license.
Specializations
A number of specializations are available for industrial engineers, including financial engineering, healthcare technology and management, production and logistics, manufacturing, operations research, and production and management systems. Each specialization will have its own roles and responsibilities.
Production and Logistics
Production and logistics management are involved in the designing and controlling of operations related to production, supply chains and logistics. Industrial engineers also learn the use of enterprise resource planning software and distribution planning.
Financial Engineer
Financial engineers plan and coordinate data processing and system analysis procedures of a company. They are involved in the development of financial tools and products. They may also be involved in the demonstration of models in front of clients.
Industrial engineers at the start of their career normally have a supervisor. According to BLS, industrial engineering jobs don't need you to undergo training to get the job, but in some companies, you are required to get formal training before working in your position. The difficulty of the project work assigned to you increases as you gain experience. The more complex projects involve creating designs and solving problems. Majority of engineeris work full time. The work depends on the project you are involved in and also the industry. As you become more experienced, the nature of the job may also change.
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