Industrial Engineering and Operations Research.

College Majors Engineering Majors
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<p>I've read a couple of posts on this forum in regards to this major and the majority of those posts are somewhat negative. For example, someone here once said that Industrial Engineering was a "dying" field and I've seen a couple of people here calling it "Imaginary" Engineering. But then I find a post here that basically says that Industrial Engineering is pretty much Financial Engineering at the undergraduate level. So I head on over to Berkeley's career website and I find this: <a href="http://career.berkeley.edu/Major/IEOR.stm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://career.berkeley.edu/Major/IEOR.stm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>From the looks of it, on average, Industrial Engineering graduates end up making more than the other engineering graduates excluding Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences graduates. A couple of the jobs that Industrial Engineering graduates end up getting are also business jobs at some financial companies.</p>

<p>So, why is it that Industrial Engineering gets made fun of? Could anyone here evaluate everything I've just said?</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

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<p>I also want to know.</p>

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<p>Disclaimer: I'm a rising sophomore computer science major and mathematics minor at Cal Poly. My post is based on my experience with other engineers, personal experience, and course catalogs.</p>

<p>Most of the insults that I've heard directed to industrial engineering comes from the fact that industrial engineering is more management-oriented compared to the rest of the engineering disciplines. I've heard that some animosity between engineers and managers exist (don't get engineers started on business majors; the insults given to industrial engineers are pretty light compared to the insults to business majors). A lot of the engineers working "in the trenches" feel that industrial engineers don't do any real engineering work. After all, the mechanical engineers and electrical engineers are doing the major design work in the company, while the industrial engineers focus on cleaning up their work and managing their job. However, much of this animosity comes from a lack of understanding what industrial engineers do, as well as a lack of understanding how qualified industrial engineers are.</p>

<p>Now, industrial engineering isn't a joke of a major; far from it. They are required to take the same math and science courses that other engineers take, as well as learn statics and theormodynamics (at Cal Poly SLO). Industrial engineering is a demanding engineering field to study, just like the other engineering fields. Much of industrial engineering is applied mathematics, which makes the field very interesting to mathematicians. I might take an operations research class because of its applicability to computer systems research, for example. A few of my CS professors here have BS or MS degrees in operations research, which also proves my point.</p>

<p>Industrial engineering isn't "imaginary engineering"; it is still engineering. They make sure that the work from the civil/mechanical/electrical engineers is of good quality, and they also do work making certain engineering and factory tasks easier. Industrial engineering isn't mechanical, civil, electrical, or aerospace engineering, and they might not have to work "in the trenches", but it doesn't make it any less worthy of engineering.</p>

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<p>I have an MS in Operations Research, and I'm working on my PhD. Here goes...</p>

<p>You've asked a complex question that can be addressed in many ways. This is my first stab, but I'll be happy to elaborate. </p>

<p>Industrial engineering applies the principles of engineering to industrial processes. It's an ABET-accredited field and offered widely in American engineering schools. It's real engineering: process design is a vital element of any manufacturing industy. IE will include courses on quality control (drawing heavily from statistics), process modeling and simulation (using computer science), forecasting, testing (design of experiments--another branch of statistics and OR), and other rigorous engineering specialties. </p>

<p>Many of the methods used by IE's are developed by the Operations Research community. OR uses a wide array of mathematical techniques to solve complex problems. New methods are being developed all the time, as well as new theories that will clearly become important elements of future systems and processes.</p>

<p>Now, all that I just wrote could have been written in, say, 1986. Fast forward into this century, and we see some important changes. For one thing, manufacturing has undergone a revolution. Automation, numerical control, robotics, advanced materials and sensors, and faster computers make the factory floor of today unrecognizable to the IE graduates of the 1980s. </p>

<p>As this has evolved, a new discipline is being born: systems engineering. SE teaches the design of large, complex systems as an integrated process. Thus, while most large systems are 'systems of systems', the really hard stuff is in making everything work together. Interface design--whether it's in software, hardware, or both--stretches the limits of modern methods. Given the choice, I'd rather be presented with a straightforward EE circuit design problem.</p>

<p>While OR supports IE and they share many commonalities, OR has a much richer market for its ideas and methods. That's been my personal experience, and--as I've preached before on CC--the website 'salary.com' confirms this. I see almost endless demand for modern OR techniqes for today's graduates.</p>

<p>I'll be happy to answer any other questions. Just forgive me if I repeat myself from earlier posts.</p>

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<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=209688%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=209688&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>And that's the thread that made me wonder why Industrial Engineering was disliked. Loot at dr_reynold's response to see what I'm talking about.</p>

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<p>Well, as you can see from my response to Dr. Reynolds, the viability of IE varies from school to school. In his world, IE majors are poorly adapted. Sometimes the engineering school faculty gets 'entrenched'. They end up teaching the same thing for decades while the world changes around them.</p>

<p>I'd be happy to comment on whether the curriculum <em>you</em> are considering would be appropriate for the market <em>I'm</em> talking about. It's always easier to discuss specifics. Give me some of the IE-specific courses your school requires. I'll tell you what I think of the prospects. That's probably more fruitful than talking about broad generalities.</p>

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<p>Some IEOR courses available at Cal:</p>

<p>Course titles:
Probability and Risk Analysis for Engineers
Linear Programming
Service Operations Design and Analysis
Discrete Event Simulation
Industrial and Commercial Data Systems</p>