Industrial and Management Engineering is an interdisciplinary engineering field profiled on this page. If you're curious about whether you want to become an industrial and management engineer (IME), you will find information here to assist your decision. We'll talk about whether your interests match those of a typical industrial and management engineer, describe the occupation itself, and corresponding job opportunities. References to some additional sources of information are given at the end.

Are you a candidate for IME?
IME's are curious about how and why things work the way they do. They typically have an interest in planning, organizing and implementing worthwhile projects. Additionally, they have a strong desire to serve human needs by finding practical solutions to problems; they especially enjoy working with other people. Numerous professional industrial engineers have underscored the notion that IME's often help coordinate the actions of various types of engineers and managers in order to make a project successful.

What do IME's do?
IME's design the optimal combination of human and economic resources to make systems perform at their best. The integration of people, materials, capital, equipment and energy into production systems is the IME's main concern. An IME may be involved in scheduling crews and flights at an airline, planning production at a manufacturing plant, designing automation solutions in a distribution warehouse or building information systems to support organizational decision making.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS] has described a typical IME's function as follows:
Industrial engineers determine the most effective ways for an organization to use the basic factors of production-people, machines, materials, information, and energy-to make or process a product. They are the bridge between management and operations. They are more concerned with increasing productivity through the management of people, methods of business organization, and technology than are engineers in other specialties, who generally work more with products or processes.

A multidisciplinary approach to problem solving is common among IME's. Some skills and techniques are drawn from mathematics, science, communication and business. Our curricula have been designed to provide you with these vital skills.

Training
The typical IME's training reflects the profession's interdisciplinary approach. In a recent forum on IME, Walt Disney World's Director of Industrial Engineering, noted that "Two important skills that IME's should develop are creative thinking and strategic thinking. In our roles, we encounter new problems all the time, and in 99 percent of the cases you won't find the answer in a book". Students in the undergraduate IME program work as consultants on an industry project; graduate students have similar opportunities.

An essential part of an IME's training is the development of modeling skills. A model is an abstraction of a real-world process such as package delivery, customer service or behavior of currency markets. Sound analysis of a model's output can help improve a company's performance. In order for such models to be of benefit, their results need to be clearly communicated to the company.

The BLS has noted:
To solve organizational, production, and related problems most efficiently, industrial engineers carefully study the product and its requirements, design manufacturing and information systems, and use mathematical analysis methods such as operations research to meet those requirements. They develop management control systems to aid in financial planning and cost analysis, design production planning and control systems to coordinate activities and control product quality, and design or improve systems for the physical distribution of goods and services. Industrial engineers conduct surveys to find plant locations with the best combination of raw materials, transportation, and costs. They also develop wage and salary administration systems and job evaluation programs. Many industrial engineers move into management positions because the work is closely related.

Employment
IME's are employed by a wide variety of settings in the public and private sectors. Some IME's work for insurance companies, banks, hospitals, and retail organizations; others work for government agencies or as business consultants. In the past five years, our graduates have accepted positions in a wide variety of firms. These include Citicorp, Accenture, the U.S. Postal Service, Proctor & Gamble, IBM, General Electric, General Motors, Intel and many others.

For more information...
This web site contains considerable information on our programs and faculty. If you'd like to know more about programs, please contact us. You may also want to visit our local RPI chapter of the Institute of Industrial Engineering (IIE) or the Institute for Operations Research and Management Science (INFORMS).

If you're a high school student with questions about IME, you may contact the Junior Engineering Technical Society. Send a self-addressed, business-size envelope with 6 first-class stamps affixed to the society at the following address: JETS-Guidance, 1420 King St., Suite 405, Alexandria, VA 22314.

Two professional organizations for industrial engineers are INFORMS, the Institute for Operations Research and Management Science; and the Institute of Industrial Engineers, Inc., located at 25 Technology Park/Atlanta, Norcross, GA 30092. There is also a listing of IME-related sites at Yahoo!