Unit 3 Competency 2 - Recognize career opportunities within the field of industrial engineering
Suggested Objective a: Discover the different career pathways within industrial engineering
This table shows a list of occupations with job duties that are similar to those of industrial engineers.
| Occupation | Job Duties | ENTRY-LEVEL EDUCATION 
|
2012 MEDIAN PAY
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Architectural and Engineering Managers Links to an external site. |
Architectural and engineering managers plan, coordinate, and direct activities in architectural and engineering companies. |
Bachelor’s degree | $124,870 |
 |
Cost Estimators Links to an external site. |
Cost estimators collect and analyze data in order to estimate the time, money, materials, and labor required to manufacture a product, construct a building, or provide a service. They generally specialize in a particular industry or type of product. |
Bachelor’s degree | $58,860 |
 |
Health and Safety Engineers Links to an external site. |
Health and safety engineers develop procedures and design systems to prevent people from getting sick or injured and to keep property from being damaged. They combine knowledge of systems engineering and of health and safety to make sure that chemicals, machinery, software, furniture, and other consumer products will not cause harm to people or buildings. |
Bachelor’s degree | $76,830 |
 |
Industrial Engineering Technicians Links to an external site. |
Industrial engineering technicians help industrial engineers implement designs to effectively use personnel, materials, and machines in factories, stores, healthcare organizations, repair shops, and offices. They prepare machinery and equipment layouts, plan workflows, conduct statistical production studies, and analyze production costs. |
Associate’s degree | $50,980 |
 |
Industrial Production Managers Links to an external site. |
Industrial production managers oversee the daily operations of manufacturing and related plants. They coordinate, plan, and direct the activities used to create a wide range of goods, such as cars, computer equipment, or paper products. |
Bachelor’s degree | $89,190 |
 |
Logisticians Links to an external site. |
Logisticians analyze and coordinate an organization’s supply chain—the system that moves a product from supplier to consumer. They manage the entire life cycle of a product, which includes how a product is acquired, distributed, allocated, and delivered. |
Bachelor’s degree | $72,780 |
 |
Management Analysts Links to an external site. |
Management analysts, often called management consultants, propose ways to improve an organization's efficiency. They advise managers on how to make organizations more profitable through reduced costs and increased revenues. |
Bachelor’s degree | $78,600 |
 |
Materials Engineers Links to an external site. |
Materials engineers develop, process, and test materials used to create a range of products, from computer chips and aircraft wings to golf clubs and snow skis. They work with metals, ceramics, plastics, composites, and other substances to create new materials that meet certain mechanical, electrical, and chemical requirements. |
Bachelor’s degree | $85,150 |
 |
Occupational Health and Safety Specialists Links to an external site. |
Occupational health and safety specialists analyze many types of work environments and work procedures. Specialists inspect workplaces for adherence to regulations on safety, health, and the environment. They also design programs to prevent disease or injury to workers and damage to the environment. |
Bachelor’s degree | $66,790 |
 |
Quality Control Inspectors Links to an external site. |
Quality control inspectors examine products and materials for defects or deviations from specifications. |
High school diploma or equivalent | $34,460 |
Table retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/industrial-engineers.htm#tab-7 Links to an external site.on November 5, 2014.
Each of the careers listed in the table above provide a quick summary of facts regarding the industrial engineers duties, education, earnings, and more. Click the links by visiting the BLS website above. Take notes as needed.
MyCoolJob: Industrial Engineer
Links to an external site.
Industrial Engineering - Into Everything
Links to an external site.
Suggested Objective b: Discuss the roles that industrial engineers play in society
Industrial and systems engineering (ISE) is concerned with designing and improving systems to make products or provide services. ISE looks at the “big picture” of what makes organizations work best. Students in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering learn and research how to design, improve, and control systems of people, materials, information, equipment, energy, and capital to increase quality, safety, and profitability. Industrial and systems engineers provide innovative solutions to the complex problems faced by virtually all enterprises operating in today’s global economy. It is no surprise, then, that the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that of the more than 18 fields of engineering in the United States, our field is among the top three employed.
Copied from http://www.ise.msstate.edu/about/ Links to an external site.on November 5, 2014.
According to Oklahoma State, industrial engineers help society in the following ways.
Industrial engineering has provided a systematic approach to streamline and improve productivity and efficiency. Benefits that can be linked directly to the work of industrial engineers include:
- Leaner, more efficient, and more profitable business practices while increasing customer service and quality.
- Improved efficiency. This improves competitiveness, profitability, and reduces resource requirements.
- The idea of setting labor or time standards. The original production lines in the 1920s were successful because of IEs. The IE profession is timeless and can be molded to fit the times and the place.
- Good organization and improving productivity - these improvements eliminate or reduce some of the frustrations of life and are essential to the long term health of business.
- Increased ability to do more with less.
- Making work safer, faster, easier, and more rewarding.
- Providing a method by which businesses can analyze their processes and try to make improvements to them. It is focused on optimization - doing more with less - and helps to reduce waste in society.
- Increased cycle time and throughput thus helping more people get their product quicker.
- Assistance in guiding society and business to care more for their workforce while improving the bottom-line.
- Showing ways to improve the working environment, improving efficiencies, and teaching people about ergonomics.
- Making the world safer through better designed and easier to use products.
- Reducing costs associated with new technologies, thus allowing more of the population to better their lives by being able to afford technological advances.
Information retrieved from http://iem.okstate.edu/node/48 Links to an external site. on November 5, 2014.
What Is Industrial Engineering?
Links to an external site.
Industrial and Systems Engineers Make a Difference Everywhere
Links to an external site.
Suggested Objective c: Recognize industrial engineering career activities by participating in a real-world workplace scenario
One of our upcoming assignments will address this objective. You will participate and submit an assignment that will be a real-world scenario. Let's progress with our material to learn more.