<p>@toesockshoe I would just ditto what bschoolwiz said, but it’s easier to just say I agree. </p>
<p>@maximilion37 I am not so sure because a lot of Industrial Engineers jobs ask for experience or familiarity with Time Studies, Continuous Improvement, Kaizen events, etc. </p>
<p>Today, I saw an IE job that asked for experience with line balancing which is something I learned just a couple months ago.</p>
<p>Most of the ME’s that I know have no idea what these terms even mean 
</p>
<p>@toesockshoe Yep, same as @bschoolwiz, IE + a few SCM classes. Definitely NOT a double major.</p>
<p>@Chucktown @bschoolwiz @Vladenschlutte
if i major in IE and take a few classes in SCM, then the schools I would have to go to would be like ASU or Ohio State (because those 2 have good SCM schools); however they arent well known for industrial engineering (especially ASU). With my stats, I think I can get into Virginia Tech, and maybe even Georgia Tech (which both have really high reputations for engineering), so do u recommend me going to ASU or OSU and taking IE with a few classes in SCM, or just go to more prestigious engineering schools like VT or GT and ONLY take IE courses?</p>
<p>Depends on the school. I don’t think Industrial Engineering has a big prestige premium. Some fields benefit from coming from a prestigious school, but I don’t think Industrial Engineering is among them. I’d say go to your cheapest option that’s still a decent school (all the schools you listed fit the bill). </p>
<p>I agree. As long as you go to a decent school you should be fine. I know more than a few IE’s who got into GA Tech but decided to go here because it is a smaller town and they did not like Atlanta too much.</p>
<p>Iowa State often ranks #22 and we have a pretty decent IE program. Cost should definitely be a consideration though. It does not make sense to go into deep debt to get a degree from a “top school”</p>
<p>If GTech is not crazy expensive for you I am going to go against the flow on this one (but only if it is economically sane). For IE GaTech is #1 and I personally think it is worth it if you can keep the cost down. I am not saying the academics of the program is going to be all that better than any good program out there, I don’t think it will, but they have a good pull with companies. Lots of opportunities. I lived there during my internship last Jan-May, ATL is an acquired taste. BUT, ASU’s SCM program is also very highly regarded and I would rather be in Phoenix any day than ATL, and what you ultimately want to do is SCM, right?</p>
<p>@Chucktown yes, i want to do scm, but my dad works at flextronics (one of the largest SCM/manufacturing companies) and his boss said going into SCM now isnt the smartest decision because the job prospects arent too good; so I was considering getting a BS in Industrial Engineering and just getting an MBA later.</p>
<p>But for a SCM job you dont even need to major is SCM. Look at job listings. Most SCM postings are for finance/accounting/business/engineering majors. You could major is almost anything and get a job as a SCM.</p>
<p>Weird. Everything I have seen from the massive amount of company events and promotions lately is that SCM is on a real high. Most companies are realizing the value and heavily investing in it. My school just created a new MS in supply chain engineering this year because of the need. I would just check into it a bit more. Regardless, yes, IE + SCM electives will give you a lot more options if you ultimately want to go a different direction or find the market to be less than stellar in 4 years.</p>
<p>I agree with Chucktown. I have no idea where his boss is getting his information from but it does not seem to make a lot sense. </p>
<p>To give you an idea, every semester, we have a SCM Job Fair here at ISU and it is one of the few majors that have its own job fair.</p>
<p>Last semester, they had about 40 employers and about 200 people showed up according to our newspaper. </p>
<p>The odds of getting a job at the SCM job fair is much higher than our Engineering Job Fair where they usually have over 300 employers but thousands of people show up.</p>
<p>What exactly kinds of jobs do CS majors look at? What really is entailed in programming jobs that seem to be where most of these majors go?</p>
<p>^ What? This post is about IE. You may want to start a new thread for CS bud.</p>
<p>At my school it has a 96% placement rate with a starting salary over 65k at the undergrad level. Considering my sis just got a job for 75k after graduate school, I would say its quite a good field to get into and I just switched into it.</p>
<p>^^ do you mind telling me what school that is?</p>
<p>SDSMT</p>
<p>That’s “South Dakota School of Mines & Technology.” Don’t let the name fool you. They do a lot more than teach miners, these days</p>
My undergrad was in Mechanical engg and masters in Industrial Engineering (IE) from Lehigh. I graduated in 1997. Let me give you my viewpoints on IE. Unlike other branches of engineering, IE is multi disciplinary and does not offer a unique track for career but definitely offers a wide range of opportunities.
The main aim of IE is to solve problems or improve productivity or quality using math and analytics as tools. It can focus on
a.) Manufacturing - to improve productivity, usage of robots, effective shop floor management. The starting jobs here could be titled as ‘Industrial Engineer’ or ‘Process Engineer’.
b.) Operations Research (OR) - for those who are good in programming and mathematics, this area of specialization in IE would suit. A person with a good resume and with OR expertise can join companies like USPS, Fedex or fleeting companies to schedule their transportation and logistics. Your title would be ‘Logistics Engineer’ and so on.
For those who don’t necessarily want to use OR in their jobs but leverage on their programming expertise, they can find jobs as an ‘IT Engineer’ in pretty much any organization writing programs on databases, developing web sites etc.
c.) Supply Chain - for those who specialize in supply chain which deals with interaction between customer, supplier and the company, the opportunities are endless. Either you can start off as a Supply Chain Manager with a big retailer like Walmart, or you can start deploying Supply Chain software at these companies. JDA is a good example of a company which has supply chain software products. Your competition here however would be MBAs with supply chain experience as well.
d.) Information Systems - all IE engineers also study Information systems - databases, overview of networking, etc. The folks with this specialization can become ‘IT Engineers’ like explained above.
IE is definitely not like a CS or EE with a clear path to career, but its an applied engineering subject with great prospects. I have been working for 20 years now and can proudly say that IE helped me be where I am today.