Industrial Engineering

When it comes to choosing a branch of engineering, students usually opt for popular subjects or one that a friend is planning to choose. A knowledge of what the branch is all about will give you a better perspective.
Industrial engineering is a branch dealing with the design, development, and implementation of integrated systems of humans, machines, and information resources to provide products and services.
It encompasses
specialised knowledge and skills in the physical, social, engineering, and management sciences, such as human and cognitive sciences, computer systems and information technologies, manufacturing processes, o p e ra t i o n s research, production, and automation.
The industrial engineer integrates people into the design and development of systems. So he requires an understanding of the physical, physiological, psychological, and other characteristics that govern and affect the performance of individuals and groups in working environments.
Industrial engineering is a broad field compared to other engineering disciplines. Its major activities stem from manufacturing industries and include work methods analysis and improvement; work measurement and the establishment of standards; machine tool analysis and design; job and workplace design; plant layout and facility design; materials handling; cost reduction; production planning and scheduling; inventory control, maintenance, and replacement; statistical quality control; scheduling; assembly-line balancing, systems and overall productivity improvement.
Computers and information systems have necessitated additional activities and functions, including numerically controlled machine installation and programming; manufacturing systems design; computer-aided design/computeraided manufacturing, design of experiments, quality engineering, and statistical process control; computer simulation, operations research, and management science methods; computer applications, software development, and information technology; human-factors engineering and ergonomics; systems design and integration; and robotics and automation.
The philosophy and motivation of the industrial engineering profession is to find the most efficient and effective methods, procedures, and processes for an operating system, and to seek co n t i n u o u s improvement.
So, it helps o rg a n i s a t i o n s grow and expand efficiently during prosperous times, and streamline costs, consolidate and re-allocate resources during austere times. Industrial engineers, particularly those involved in manufacturing and related industries, work closely with management.
So, an understanding of organisational b e h av i o u r, finance, management, and related business principles and practices is needed.
Industrial engineers work in every type of enterprise-manufacturers of every sort of industrial and consumer product; healthcare, financial, transportation, distribution and service industries; governmental units and agencies.
Where most branches of engineering are concerned with designing products, industrial engineering concentrates on designing, installing and improving procedures and systems for effective and efficient operation of enterprises.

The scope:

The primary idea is to apply systematic, disciplined, engineered thinking to all types of human enterprise. Often, advancements in quality, cost effectiveness and timeliness that have been learned in the crucible of global industrial competition can be extended to service providers. Industrial engineers do this. The knowledge and skills learned in an industrial engineering programme equip a person to rise through an organisation to the highest levels. Virtually every activity in an enterprise can be a professional home for industrial engineers: operations management, information systems, accounting, finance, supply chain management, human resources, marketing.
Career opportunities are many and varied and occur in such areas as industrial engineering, plant engineering, information systems, systems analysis and design, control of production and quality, performance standards and measurement systems, management, consulting and many others.

LIST OF INSTITUTES:

(Indicative) Science students with Physics, Chemistry and mathematics(PCM) after +2 or II PUC can opt for Industrial engineering courses. Indian Institute of Technology, IIT Kharagpur-721 302, INDIA Phone:+91-3222-255221 FAX : +91-3222-255303 Website:www.iitkgp.ernet.in/ College of Engineering Trivandrum Thiruvananthapuram - 695 016. Tel: 0471-2515502,Fax: 0471-259837 Website:www.cet.ac.in/ National Institute Of Industrial Engineering(NITIE), Mumbai Website: www.nitie.edu/ Dr B R Ambedkar National Institute of Technology -NIT, Jalandhar, Punjab. Tel: +91-181-2690301, 2690302, 2690453, 2690603, Fax: +91-0181-2690320, 2690932 Website :www.nitj.ac.in/ Anna University, Chennai Website: www.annauniv.edu/ Rajiv Gandhi University Institute Of Technology, Website: www.rit.ac.in/ MBM Engineering College, Jai Narain Vyas University, Bhagat ki Kothi, Pali Road, Jodhpur. Website: www.jnvu.edu.in/ And others.