"Industrial Engineering is concerned with the analysis, design, improvement,
installation and management of integrated systems of people, finances,
materials, equipment, energy and information. It draws upon specialized
knowledge and skill in the mathematical, physical, physiological, social sciences and now electronic
communications together with the principles and methods of engineering analysis and design to specify, predict and
evaluate the results to be obtained from such systems and measure achievement.
In short, Industrial Engineering is an aspect of engineering science
devoted to getting the best results from available resources, provided always safety, quality, timeliness, costs and human satisfaction
are met.
IE is geared to promoting Continuous Improvement and Best Operating
Practices within organizations." (IIE-Australia).
Focusing on decreasing costs and improving efficiency, specific job
descriptions and working areas of industrial engineers may vary considerably.
As a matter of fact, this reality turns IE unique among all engineering
disciplines.
If you want some more information, Learn
About IE may help. Also, Occupational Handbook describes
what industrial engineers do.
Selections from IE History
In late 1800's, Frederick W. Taylor, also known as the father of IE,
started his research on increasing worker's efficiency. In 1911, his work,
The
Principles of Scientific Management was published. Here is an essay
that nicely abstracts main themes of Taylor's Scientific Management. If
you are interested in his biography, follow this link.
Scientific Management is also described in History
of Business.
In parallel to Taylor's research (early 1900's), Frank and Lillian Gilberth
studied human factors, and developed Work
& Time Study. Here is a link
for their bibliography and research.
Walter
A. Shewhart (as early as 1930's), father of statistical quality control,
and
W. Edwards Deming (after WW2),
a quality expert, are also among the pioneers of modern industrial engineering.
Here is more information about Deming
and his Systems
of Profound Knowledge.
Also, for those interested:
- The MACROSCOPE:
A New World Scientific by Joël de Rosnay.
- Toyota's "Ultimate
Production System" .
- A web site where
you can read some flavored 'facts' about IE history. Societies and Associations
IIE - The Institute of Industrial
Engineers
MMO - Chamber of Mechanical Engineers (Makina Mühendisleri
Odası)
OPERATIONS RESEARCH
Here is what EURO say about Operations
Research
"Though there is no "official definition" of Operational Research ("Operations
Research" in the US), it can be described as a scientific approach to the
solution of problems in the management of complex systems. In a rapidly
changing environment an understanding is sought which will facilitate the
choice and the implementation of more effective solutions which, typically,
may involve complex interactions among people, materials and money."
Software
CPLEX: Used more
for integer programming.
Lindo:
Small scale linear programming. Lindo Cor. provides a free
trial version .
Lingo:
Another optimization software from Lindo Cor. (there is a free
trial version for this one, too).
Excel Solver: A product
of Microsoft. To pop up the solver, open MS Excel, from the 'tools' menu,
click 'add ins', and then choose 'Solver'.
GAMS: This is not an optimization
software, but a platform used to edit your model first, and then call a
licensed software such as OSL, MINOS, CPLEX...
MATLAB:
Provides an Optimization Module. Useful especially if you are dealing with
decomposition of linear/nonlinear models. What lacks in MATLAB is an integer
programming function.
It is quite up to you to decide on 'which optimization software is the
most suitable one'.
In addition to the above mentioned, you may end up using some others
such as AMPL, and What's Best! ....
Societies and Associations
EURO
- The Association of European Operational Research Societies
INFORMS - Institute for Operations
Research and the Management Sciences
CORS - Canadian Operational Research
Society
OR Society - Operational Research
Society (UK)
YAD - Yöneylem Araştırması Derneği
(Operations Research Society of Turkey)
Moreover
Michael Trick's Operations Research
Page One of the most popular OR web page. You can find information
related with OR companies, computer programs, conferences, etc. See its
list of
online
journals and societies.
Also computer programs
(a search engine at the bottom of the page)
Forthcoming
papers of Operations Research from INFROMS, which also provides a searchable
database.
Book Suggestion
"Operations Research Applications and Algorithms" by W.L. Winston
Duxbury Press; ISBN: 0534520200; Third edition; 1997
SIMULATION
The term simulation is used for imitating the operations of several
real-world processes (e.g. transportation systems, material flow
and facility layout) using computers. In some cases, mathematical
models that represent these processes may not be so trivial to solve. This
is why simulation is used: to derive some reasonable conclusions from our
imitations before we implement them.
Software
ARENA: The Arena graphics
simulation system is a complete and flexible modeling environment combined
with an easy-to-use graphical user interface. It is designed for building
computer models that accurately represent an existing or proposed application.
Arena integrates all simulation-related functions--animation, input data
analysis, model verification, and output analysis--into a single simulation
modeling environment.
Simul8: Business simulation software
for enterprise-wide use in business, government, education, and any organization
that handles flows of orders, people, transactions or products.
AweSim: A general
purpose simulation system, yet used more for production systems.
Simsci/Sim4me:
I've heard of this one recently. It is realistic to assume that every consulting/software
company dealing with math and programming can come up with a simulation
software. The first three above are widely used. In the mean time, it is
worth to note that MATLAB is useful for certain type of simulation models.
Here is a survey
made on simulation software..
Societies and Associations
SCM: The Society for Computer Simulation
TOMACS: Transactions on Modeling
and Computer Simulation
Book Suggestion
"Simulation Modeling and Analysis" by A.M Law and W.D. Kelton
McGraw-Hill; ISBN: 0070592926; Third edition; 2000
PRODUCTION and INVENTORY MANAGEMENT
Professionals in this field try to answer:
-What products to manufacture and when?
-What type of inventory to keep and how much? etc.
-What type of production system/philosophy to use? (e.g. Lean Manufacturing,
Mass Production, Flexible Manufacturing, Just In Time (JIT) Production)
It is worth to mention that in today's supply chain world, where customer
is the center of all planning activities, these concepts became very much
related with SCM and logistics.
If you are interested in the terms used in this field (and their explanations),
here are two sources:
- Operations
Management terms (in pdf form)
- Glossary of
Inventory and Materials Management Definitions
Software
MRP (Materials Requirement Planning) and MPS (Master Production Schedule)
are the two tools widely used. These may be as simple as a set of ordinary
excel sheets, or may be a part of a state-of-art ERP (Enterprise Requirements
Planning) software.
Societies and Associations
APICS - The Educational Society
for Resource Management
POMS - The Production and Operations
Management Society
NAPM - National Association of Purchasing
Management
Moreover
APICS Magazine
Production and Operations Management (POM) links
on the web
Book Suggestion
"Production and Operations Analysis" by S. Nahmias
McGraw-Hill; ISBN: 0772312653; Fourth Edition; 2001
SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT and LOGISTICS
"Logistics is the process of planning, implementing, and controlling
the efficient, cost-effective flow and storage of raw materials, in-process
inventory, finished goods and related information from point of origin
to point of consumption for the purpose of conforming to customer requirements."
(from CLM)
IOLT has some more to add on top of the above definition:
"-Logistics is the time-related positioning of resource, or the strategic
management of the total supply-chain
-The supply-chain is a sequence of events intended to satisfy
a customer
-It can include procurement, manufacture, distribution, and waste
disposal, together with associated transport, storage and information technology
-The application of logistics is essential to the efficient management
of the supply-chain
-Transport is an integral part of the supply-chain, not only
between the sequence of events but during the processes "
Software
ERP software that integrate almost all the processes of a supply chain
are widely used by medium/large scale firms. SAP and ORACLE are among those
companies that produce state-of-art ERP programs. Yet, not all the firms
can afford to hire a consulting company; creating an in-firm ERP software
is managed as well.
Here is a link provided by Dr. Sayın: The
ABC's of ERP
Societies and Associations
CLM - Council of Logistics
Management ( search
for abstracts of logistics related articles)
IOLT - The Institute of Logistics
and Transport
IWAL - International
Warehouse Logistics Association- (industry definition
of Logistics; glossary
of terms, issues
& trends)
SAPICS - The Educational Society
for Supply Chain, Manufacture and Logistics in South Africa
LSCMS -Logistics & Supply Chain
Management Society-Singapore (you can also subscribe to LSCMS's weekly
newsletter)
Moreover
SCMR - Supply Chain
Management Review (White
papers/Case studies)
About Logistics & Supply
Chain - provides various links, supply chain articles and other resources
for logistics and supply chain professionals
For a similar, but less effective link, click
here.
Book Suggestion
"Business Logistics Management" by R.H. Ballou
Perentice-Hall; ISBN: 0137956592; Fouth Edition; 1999
"Quantitative Models for Supply Chain Management" by S. Tayur, R. Ganeshan,
and M.J. Magazine
Kuluvert; ISBN: 0792383443; First edition, 1998
QUALITY
The following phrases are taken from ASQ:
"Quality is not a program; it is an approach to business.
Quality is a collection of powerful tools and concepts that is
proven to work.
Quality is defined by the customer through his/her satisfaction.
Quality includes continuous improvement and breakthrough events.
Quality tools and techniques are applicable in every aspect of
the business.
Quality is aimed at performance excellence; anything less is
an improvement opportunity.
Quality increases customer satisfaction, reduces cycle time and
costs, and eliminates errors and rework.
Quality isn't just for businesses. It works in non-profit organizations
like schools, healthcare and social services, and
government agencies. Results (performance and financial) are the natural
consequence of effective quality management"
Societies and Associations
ASQ - American Society for Quality
APQC - American Productivity &
Quality Center
QFDI - Quality Function Deployment
Institute
KalDer - Kalite Derneği (Turkish
Society for Quality)
ERGONOMICS
The following paragraph is from the Ergonomics Society: What is Ergonomics?
"Ergonomics is about 'fit': the fit between people, the things they
do, the objects they use and the environments they work, travel and play
in. If good fit is achieved, the stresses on people are reduced. They are
more comfortable, they can do things more quickly and easily, and they
make fewer mistakes."
Societies and Associations:
Here is a list
of ergonomics societies.
WAREHOUSING AND MATERIALS HANDLING
Societies and Associations
WERC - Warehousing Education and
Research Council
WERCSheet - Free Newsletter
Issues from 2000 and 2001 at the bottom of the page (also, free
publications ).
WM - Warehousing Management
Moreover
Warehousing Questions
& Answers
MMH - Modern Materials
Handling
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Project Management is not a main field of Industrial Engineering. However,
the 'tools' (Operations Research-Scheduling) used should be familiar to
IE's; indeed, there are IE's working as project managers. If you are interested
to take up some undergrad/grad level Management courses, Project Management
should be there, too. Here is a link
that provides what the topics look like (and some more).
Software
MS Project:
A Microsoft product
Primavera:
Widely used.
It is not so difficult to learn how to use these project management
software. On the other hand, they are not the only two, there are others,
and moreover, if you are good at MS Excel and macros(Visual Basic), you
can build up one for yourself, too. From this
web site, you can get some sample programming.
For free web-based project management software, here are two links:
- Project-management-software.org
- Directory of Project
Management Software
Societies and Associations
PMI- Project Management Institute
ASAPM - American Society for the
Advancement of Project Management
AACE - Association for the Advancement
of Computing in Education
Moreover
- A web
site about CRM, PERT and GANTT methods
- A course web
sites providing Elements of Project Management, The Gantt Chart, CPM/PERT
and POM in pdf format
- Project
management with examples
- A presentation
that covers CRM and PERT
Book Suggestion
Here is a link
for CPM and PERT books by year
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