While originally focused on streamlining manufacturing processes, the field of industrial engineering now improves processes and systems in virtually all industries, to make them more efficient, yielding less waste, and costing less. To maximize efficiency, industrial engineers balance many factors such as the number and type of workers involved in a process, available equipment, safety, environmental impact, and cost. They might design faster production methods… choose new materials to make longer-lasting products… or devise ways to move customers through a line faster at an amusement park. Some engineers focus entirely on automated manufacturing and work with robots and computer networks. Industrial engineers often rely on teams to identify problems and solutions in their work. They generally work in offices… or travel to the settings they are analyzing to identify improvements. For example, they may watch workers assemble parts in a factory, then return to an office to analyze the data they have collected. Most industrial engineers work full time, but hours may vary depending on the needs of specific projects. Industrial engineers need a bachelor’s degree, in industrial engineering or a related engineering field. Employers value practical experience in the field, which many programs offer as part of a degree program.
What they do:
Design or plan protocols for equipment or processes to produce products meeting internal and external purity, safety, and quality requirements.
On the job, you would:
Study product characteristics or customer requirements to determine validation objectives and standards.
Analyze validation test data to determine whether systems or processes have met validation criteria or to identify root causes of production problems.
Develop validation master plans, process flow diagrams, test cases, or standard operating procedures.
Engineering and Technology
product and service development
design
Manufactured or Agricultural Goods
manufacture and distribution of products
Arts and Humanities
English language
Business
customer service
Basic Skills
reading work related information
talking to others
Problem Solving
noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it
People and Technology Systems
figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it
measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it
Verbal
communicate by writing
read and understand what is written
Ideas and Logic
use rules to solve problems
make general rules or come up with answers from lots of detailed information
Math
choose the right type of math to solve a problem
add, subtract, multiply, or divide
People interested in this work like activities that include ideas, thinking, and figuring things out.
They do well at jobs that need:
Attention to Detail
Integrity
Dependability
Analytical Thinking
Cooperation
Adaptability/Flexibility
You might use software like this on the job:
Development environment software
Apache Maven
Go
Presentation software
Microsoft PowerPoint
Analytical or scientific software
Minitab
The MathWorks MATLAB
bachelor's degree usually needed
Get started on your career:
New job opportunities are very likely in the future.
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