About Industrial and Systems Engineering

What is ISE?

Industrial engineering is involved with the design and operation of efficient and effective systems that provide products and sevices.

Why is IE different?

What sets industrial engineering apart from other engineering disciplines is its broader scope. An IE deals with people as well as things. An IE relates to the total picture of productivity improvement. (And productivity in simplest terms means getting the most out for the least put in.)

An IE may be employed in almost any type of industry, business or institution, from real establishment to manufacturing plants to government offices to hospitals.

High demand for IEs

The demand for IEs has grown dramatically over the past two decades for one chief reason: the need for organizations to raise their levels of productivity through thoughtful, systematic applications.

The profit-making organization must have high productivity in order to compete in the domestic and world marketplace. The non-profit organization must have productivity in order to sustain its position as a useful service unit.

Need for industrial engineers makes this profession particularly attractive in the financial standpoint; IE beginning salaries rank in the top group of the high-paying engineering disciplines and fast advancement of IE's up the job ladder is not unusual.

In fact, because so many IEs are moving into top management positions due to their unique training, the outlook for continued rapid growth in industrial engineering is excellent.

IE's are really 'Engineers Plus'

Like other engineering fields, including aeronautical, chemical, civil, electrical, mechanical, nuclear or petroleum, industrial engineering is concerned with solving problems through application of scientific and practical knowledge. But the IE differs from other engineers because he or she uses knowledge in a wider variety of applications.

The industrial engineer also applies problem-solving techniques in almost every kind of organization. There are IEs in banks, hospitals, government at all levels, transportation, construction, processing, social service, electronics, facilities design, manufacturing and warehousing. Hundreds of thousands of IEs are engaged in these and other activities worldwide.