Monday, June 25, 2007

Posts in Handbook

I posted so far 4 articles in the handbook. Many of my colleagues agreed to prepare articles for the handbook in their areas. I collected a variety of answers to the what is industrial engineeriing from various sites and posted them in two parts in the handbook. Many of them have mentioned the special importance of human dimension for industrial engineering. I strongly believe defining the design of effort, working conditions, standard time required and standard pay for each and every person employed in a work system (from the chairman of the organization to the lowest level person) must be the core function of industrial engineering. The extent to which then can do this job (percentage of jobs for which they can prescribe standard operating procedures) reflects the advancement of industrial engineering subject's development. All other functions have to be over and above this basic function of the department. Such a focus will give a strong purpose to the department and a reason to have IE department is each every organization. This can even be made a statutory requirement.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

IE Books - Scientific Management since Taylor

A Mental Revolution - Scientific Management since Taylor - Edited by Daniel Nelson

An interesting book that will shed light on the development of scientific management and industrial engineering in post Taylor period is available as an online version from ohiopress website.

The id for access is http://www.ohiostatepress.org/. Go into the books section, click on open access and from the list of books shown click on this books name to get access to the chapters of the book.

The chapters are

Frontmatter and Introduction

1 Scientific Management in Retrospect
Daniel Nelson
2 Richard A. Feiss, Mary Barnett Gilson, and Scientific Management at Joseph & Feiss, 1909–1925
David J. Goldberg
3 Frank and Lillian Gilbreth and the Motion Study Controversy, 1907–1930
Brian Price
4 Scientific Management and the Transformation of University Business Education
Daniel Nelson
5 Mary Van Kleeck and Scientific Management
Guy Alchon
6 Organized Production and Unorganized Labor: Management Strategy and Labor Activism at the link-Belt Company, 1900–1940
Kathy Burgess
7 The Diffusion of Scientific Management: The Bedaux Company in America and Britain, 1926–1945
Steven Kreis
8 Scientific Management and Industrial Engineering at Du Pont
John C. Rumm
9 Peter Drucker, MBO, and the Corporatist Critique of Scientific Management
Stephen P. Waring

Epilogue and Notes on Contributors
Index

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Industrial Engineering Handbook -Call for Papers and Articles

I started a blog for editing a handbook on Industrial Engineering. http://nrao-ie-handbook.blogspot.com/

I request Industrial Engineering students, research scholars, faculty members and professionals to contribute articles and papers as per the contents proposed. Please visit the IE handbook blog given above.

Friday, June 8, 2007

handbook of Industrial Engineering and Management - Grant and Grant

Second Edition, Prentice Hall, 1971

Contents

Section
1. Industrial systems and Organization
2. Managerial Economics
3. Engineering Economy
4. Capital Budgeting
5. Motion and time study
6. Factory planning and Materials Handling
7. Industrial Climatology
8. Industrial Standardization
9. Tool and Manufactruing Engineering
10.Industrial safety
11.Computers and Data Processing
12.Critical Path Methods
13.Industrial Statistics
14.Inspection and Quality Control
15.Reliability Methods
16.The Attitudes of Organized Labor toward Industrial engineerign Methods
17.Linear Programming and Its Applications

Hand Book of Industrial Engineering by Salvendy - Contents

2nd Edition 1992

I. Industrial Engineering Function

II. Technology
A. Information Technology
B. Computer-integrated Business
C. Manufacturing Engineering
D. Service Technology

III. Human Dimensions
A. Organizational Design
B. Work Design
C. Ergonomics/Human Factors

IV. Planning, Design and Control
A. Product Planning
B. Engineering Economy
C. Methods Engineering
D. Performance Measurment and Control of Operations
E. Facilities Design
F. Planning and Control
G. Quality Assurance

V. Quantitative Methods for Decision Making
A. Probability Theory and Models
B. Statistics for Industrial Engineers
C. Computer Simulation
D. Optimization

Thursday, June 7, 2007

IE curriculum posts page wise ids

First term http://kvssnrao-ind-engg.blogspot.com/2007/06/industrial-engineering-human-effort_4644.html

Second term http://kvssnrao-ind-engg.blogspot.com/2007/06/industrial-engineering-human-effort_3859.html

Third term http://kvssnrao-ind-engg.blogspot.com/2007/06/industrial-engineering-human-effort_9148.html

Fourth term http://kvssnrao-ind-engg.blogspot.com/2007/06/industrial-engineering-human-effort_4142.html

firth Term http://kvssnrao-ind-engg.blogspot.com/2007/06/industrial-engineering-human-effort_06.html

Sixth term http://kvssnrao-ind-engg.blogspot.com/2007/06/industrial-engineering-human-effort.html

Industrial Engineering Handbook Maynard

By
Kjell B. Zandin, Harold B. Maynard



Table of contents

Section I: Industrial Engineering: Past, Present and Future.

Chapter 1.1: The Purpose and Evolution of Industrial Engineering.
Chapter 1.2: The Role and Career of the Industrial Engineer in the Modern Organization.
Chapter 1.3 Educational Programs for the Industrial Engineer. Chapter 1.4: The Industrial Engineer as a Manager.
Chapter 1.5: Fundamentals of Industrial Engineering.
Chapter 1.6: The Future of Industrial Engineering: One Perspective.
Chapter 1.7: Future Technologies for the Industrial Engineer.
Chapter 1.8: The Future Directions of Industrial Enterprises.
Chapter 1.9: The Roles of Industrial and Systems Engineering in Large-Scale Organizational Transformations.

Section II: Productivity, Performance, and Ethics.

Chapter 2.1: The Concept and Importance of Productivity.
Chapter 2.2: Productivity Improvement Through Business Process Reengineering.
Chapter 2.3: Total Productivity Management.
Chapter 2.4: Performance Management: A Key Role for Supervisors and Team Leaders.
Chapter 2.5: Managing Change Through Teams.
Chapter 2.6: Involvement, Empowerment, and Motivation.
Chapter 2.7: Engineering Ethics: Applications to Industrial Engineering.
Chapter 2.8: Case Study: Productivity Improvement Through Employee Participation.
Chapter 2.9: Case Study: Reducing Labor Costs Using Industrial Engineering Techniques.
Chapter 2.10: Case Study: Teamworking as a Contributor to Global Success.
Chapter 2.11: Case Study: Company Turnaround Using Industrial Engineering Techniques.
Chapter 2.12: Case Study: Improving Response to Customer Demand.
Chapter 2.13: Case Study: Transforming a Company In Central Europe Using Industrial Engineering Methods.

Section III: Engineering Economics.
Chapter 3.1: Principles of Engineering Economy and the Capital Allocation Process.
Chapter 3.2: Budgeting and Planning for Profits.
Chapter 3.3: Cost Accounting and Activity-Based Costing.
Chapter 3.4: Product Cost Estimating.
Chapter 3.5: Life Cycle Cost Analysis.
Chapter 3.6: Case Study: Implementing an Activity-Based Costing Program at Auto Parts International.

Section IV: Work Analysis and Design.

Chapter 4.1: Methods Engineering and Workplace Design.
Chapter 4.2: Continuous Improvement.
Chapter 4.3: Work Design and Flow Processes for Support Staff.
Chapter 4.4: Setup Time Reduction.
Chapter 4.5: Case Study: Achieving Quick Machine Setups.

Section V: Work Measurement and Time Standards.
Chapter 5.1: Measurement of Work.
Chapter 5.2: Purpose and Justification of Engineered Labor Standards.
Chapter 5.3: Standard Data Concepts and Development.
Chapter 5.4: Developing Engineered Labor Standards.
Chapter 5.5: Allowances.
Chapter 5.6: Computerized Labor Standards.
Chapter 5.7: Implementation and Maintenance of Engineered Labor Standards.
Chapter 5.8: Work Measurement in Automated Processes.
Chapter 5.9: Case Study: Automated Standard Setting for Casting and Cast Finishing Operations.
Chapter 5.10: Case Study: Labor Standards for Long-Cycle Jobs in the Aerospace Industry.
Chapter 5.11: Case Study: Staffing a Newspaper Pressroom Operation.

Section VI: Ergonomics and Safety.

Chapter 6.1: Ergonomic Information Resources.
Chapter 6.2: Designing, Implementing, and Justifying an Ergonomics Program.
Chapter 6.3: Ergonomic Consumer Product Design.
Chapter 6.4: Manufacturing Ergonomics.
Chapter 6.5: Ergonomics in the Office Environment.
Chapter 6.6: The Interface Between Production System Design and Individual Mechanical Exposure.
Chapter 6.7: Human-Machine System Design and Information Processing.
Chapter 6.8: The Biomechanical Profile of Repetitive Manual Work Routines.
Chapter 6.9: International Environmental Standards Based on ISO 14000.
Chapter 6.10: Occupational Safety Management and Engineering.
Chapter 6.11: Ergonomic Evaluation Tools for Analyzing Work.
Chapter 6.12: Case Studies: Prevention of Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders in Manufacturing and Service Environments.

Section VII: Compensation Management and Labor Relations.

Chapter 7.1: Performance-Based Compensation: Designing Total Rewards to Drive Performance.
Chapter 7.2: Job Evaluation.
Chapter 7.3: Lean Organization Pay Design.
Chapter 7.4: Reengineering Production Incentive Plans.
Chapter 7.5: Presenting a Case at Arbitration.
Chapter 7.6: Compensation Administration.
Chapter 7.7: Case Study: Modern Labor Relations: The Roles of Industrial Engineers and Unions.

Section VIII: Facilities Planning.

Chapter 8.1: A Quantitative Approach to the Site Selection Process.
Chapter 8.2: Facilities Layout and Design.
Chapter 8.3: A Participatory Approach to Computer-Aided Workplace Design.
Chapter 8.4: Planning a Manufacturing Cell.
Chapter 8.5: Case Study: Relocating and Consolidating Plant Operations.
Chapter 8.6: Case Study: Changing from a Line to a Cellular Production System.

Section IX: Forecasting, Planning, and Scheduling.

Chapter 9.1: Agile Production: Design Principles for Highly Adaptable Systems.
Chapter 9.2: Scheduling and Inventory Control of Manufacturing Systems.
Chapter 9.3: Supporting Lean Flow Production Strategies.
Chapter 9.4: Just-in-Time and Kanban Scheduling.
Chapter 9.5: Planning and Control of Service Operations.
Chapter 9.6: Demand Flow Technology (DFT).
Chapter 9.7: An Introduction to Supply Chain Management.
Chapter 9.8: Production Scheduling.
Chapter 9.9: Case Study: An Effective Production System for the Automotive Industry.
Part II: WINS.An Effective Production System for the Automotive Industry.

Section X: Logistics and Distribution.

Chapter 10.1: Industrial Engineering Support for Materials Management.
Chapter 10.2: Materials Handling.
Chapter 10.3: Warehouse Management.
Chapter 10.4: Distribution Systems.
Chapter 10.5: Inventory Mangement and Control.
Chapter 10.6: Case Study: Lessons Learned from Implementing a Paperless Warehouse Management System.
Chapter 10.7: Case Study: Developing Engineered Labor Standards in a Distribution Center.

Section XI: Statistics and Operations Research, and Optimization.

Chapter 11.1: Applied Statistics for the Industrial Engineer.
Chapter 11.2: Principles and Applications of Operations Research.
Chapter 11.3: Guide to Optimization Models.
Chapter 11.4: Applications of Queuing Theory.
Chapter 11.5: Simulation Methodology, Tools, and Applications.
Chapter 11.6: Case Study: Neural Network pPplicatios.

Section XII: Information and Communication Management.

Chapter 12.1: Bar Codes and Other Automated Data Collection Methods.
Chapter 12.2: Management of Data.
Chapter 12.3: Information Network Applications.
Chapter 12.4: Interfacing Technical IE Systems with Business Systems.
Chapter 12.5: Artificial Intelligence and Knowledge Management Systems.

Section XIII: Product Design and Quality Management.

Chapter 13.1: Product Development.
Chapter 13.2: Design for Manufacture and Assembly.
Chapter 13.3: Value Management.
Chapter 13.4: Quality Management.
Chapter 13.5: Complying with ISO 9000.
Chapter 13.6: The Role of Statistical Process Control in Improving Quality.
Chapter 13.7: World-Class Manufacturing--An Industrial Engineering View.

Section XIV: Manufacturing Technologies.

Chapter 14.1: Manufacturing Processes.
Chapter 14.2: Process Design and Planning.
Chapter 14.3: Manufacturing Process Design Using Statistical Process Analysis.
Chapter 14.4: Manual and Automated Assembly.
Chapter 14.5: Flexible Automation.
Chapter 14.6: Industrial Process Control.
Chapter 14.7: Packaging Equipment and Methods.
Chapter 14.8: Automation with Robots.
Chapter 14.9: Production Flow Strategies.

Section XV: Government and Service Industry Applications.

Chapter 15.1: Industrial Engineering in Government.
Chapter 15.2: Facilities Planning and Labor Management in the Food Service Industry.
Chapter 15.3: Health Service.
Chapter 15.4: Case Study: Automated Staffing Determination for a Grocery Chain.
Chapter 15.5: Case Study: Development of Job Plans in an Electric Utility.
Chapter 15.6: Case Study: Labor Controls for a Bank.

Section XVI: Maintenance Management.

Chapter 16.1: Computer-Aided Maintenance Planning, Scheduling and Control.
Chapter 16.2: Benefits of Auditing the Maintenance Department.
Chapter 16.3: Total Productive Maintenance (TPM).

Chapter 16.4: Case Study: Automated Job Standards for Aircraft Maintenance.

Section XVII: Tools, Techniques, and Systems.

Chapter 17.1: Charting Techniques.
Chapter 17.2: Stopwatch Time Study.
Chapter 17.3: Work Sampling and Group Timing Technique.
Chapter 17.4: MOST Work Measurement Systems.
Chapter 17.5: Learning Curves.
Chapter 17.6: Group Technology (GT).
Chapter 17.7: CAD/CAM.
Chapter 17.8: Assembly Line Balancing.
Chapter 17.9: Project Management.
Chapter 17.10: Case Study: Applying Learning Curves in Aircraft Production--Procedures and Experiences.
Glossary.

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Industrial Engineering (Human Effort Engineering) – Proposed Curriculum

“Industrial Engineering is Human Effort Engineering. It is an engineering discipline that deals with the design of human effort in all occupations: agricultural, manufacturing and service. The objectives of Industrial Engineering are optimization of productivity of work-systems and occupational comfort, health, safety and income of persons involved.” (Narayana Rao, “Definition of Industrial Engineering: suggested Modification,” Udyog Pragati, Oct-Dec 2006, pp. 1-4.)


This proposal is an initial or draft effort by me. Designing the curriculum for industrial engineering is a system design effort. It may take some iterations of creative effort and evaluation to come out with a design that is acceptable to many people as a near optimal design. I request all visitors to the blog to post their comments or send them by email to me (if they cannot post the comments). I shall post them on the blog.

The comments will be useful to me as well as other faculty to synthesize all the views and incorporate them in their ideal design of the curriculum as well as to incorporate at least some of the ideas in their institute curriculum. Every personal idea of every faculty member need not become a part of the institute curriculum as the institute curriculum is a consensus of the all the faculty members of the institute as well as the other members of the curriculum approval bodies.

The curriculum is based on my view that industrial engineers specialize in understanding the human resource at work. Their understanding of the machines and technology is not unique but common with engineers of that discipline. For example, in case of an industrial engineer working in a chemical engineering factory, knowledge regarding chemical equipment, material handing, and the processes involved is common between the chemical engineer and industrial engineer. The unique knowledge of the industrial engineer is his understanding of the principles of work of men and women in the chemical industry. The main of focus of the industrial engineers is in designing or specifying the work to be done by the operators.

The curriculum design incorporates the following division of time or effort. 25% for human sciences and their model applications in work system design. 50% focus in on subjects with full focus on work systems design, subjects of work systems design, subjects that focus on objectives of work system design and subjects that help in managing industrial engineering activity and industrial engineering department. 25% for subjects related to appreciating the business system, managing the various functions of the business system, technology subjects, decision sciences and others.

I came up with some names for subjects which, I feel would be useful to provide focus, depth and practice to industrial engineering graduates. Lack of depth and practice in core industrial engineering is the main reason for many industrial engineers shift to areas like material management, production planning and control and software. I shall provide my view of the subject; try to point the books which may be useful in developing the subject. I feel industrial engineering discipline has not adequate interest in coming out with books that have a special focus on the discipline. We are using books published for with a different focus.

The curriculum specified is tailored in terms of the current term pattern followed at NITIE. There are 5 terms of institute study, and one term of 8 weeks industry project and a second term of 16 week industry project. I have included six theory subjects in each term and some laboratory work, which could a part of the theory subject or could be extra hours. The decision can be situation specific. I am presenting the curriculum term by term.

Industrial Engineering (Human Effort Engineering) – Proposed Curriculum


First Term

Evolution of Scientific Management and Industrial Engineering
Documentation of Operating Procedures and Working Conditions
Physiology
Anatomy
Psychology
Sociology

Laboratory/Project Work

Physiology
Anatomy
Computer
Documentation Project Work


Evolution of Scientific Management and Industrial Engineering

This subject shall provide the opportunity to learn the origin and evolution of various industrial engineering techniques apart from providing the history of the discipline and the contribution of various individuals who were pioneers and made significant contributions. Through this subject, students have to learn industrial engineering techniques through case history (brief historical account of the origin and application) method. It is important to specially to discuss the significant achievements of top industrial engineers of the current day as well as the achievements of the excellent industrial engineering departments in the current and recent past.

A list of books and articles which can be used in this course needs to be prepared. Taylor’s Scientific Management is must. Actually this book should be a compulsory reading for every industrial engineer. Unfortunately, it does not seem to be so.

I have in my possession The Making of Scientific Management, Volume I by Urwick and Brech. In this book, it was mentioned that ‘A Golden Book of Management’, an edited volume by Urwick was published on behalf of The International Committee for Scientific Management.

In this course it is important to distinguish between Scientific Management and Industrial Engineering. Industrial Engineering could be an offspring of Scientific Management. But the entire gamut of scientific management is not covered by industrial engineering. In the field of business management, scientific management is an approach competing with other approaches. Some of the confusion in the industrial engineering profession is created, because, subjects which are a part of scientific management are treated as subjects of industrial engineering. For instance, Statistical Quality Control has been developed by pioneers of scientific management. It need not be a core subject of industrial engineering, when its focus is on man-machine integration. Similarly, Operations Research can be and is a part of Scientific Management. It is not a core subject of Industrial Engineering. It is a useful subject for industrial engineers in their integrated work systems design. Industrial engineers have to use appropriate OR techniques.

Documentation of Operating Procedures and Working Conditions

The subject may also be termed as Documentation of Work Systems. Industrial engineers learn about recording work procedures in the subject work study. The focus in work study is to record the procedure of work for analysis purposes. In this subject, the focus is modified and enlarged to communicating the work procedures. Document template of an operating procedure is the language of industrial engineers. Industrial engineering department has to take ownership and make sure that every operation has a specified operating procedure documented in a standard way so that at any time it can be analyzed for improvement. It is always there for communication between industrial engineer and other executives in company, industrial engineer and operator. The visual techniques pioneered by Japanese industrial engineers have to be incorporated into this subject. The material in work study books is to be complemented by recent developments and this curriculum points out the need for separate text on this topic.

Physiology
Anatomy
Psychology
Sociology


These four subjects are the basic human science subjects. Industrial engineers have to study them to develop the unique expertise of theirs among engineers. They understand the human being at work. The abilities and disabilities of a person at the work situation are to be described in the parameters which are described in these disciplines.




Laboratory/Project Work

Physiology
Anatomy
Computer
Documentation Project Work


The laboratory work in Physiology and Anatomy should make industrial engineers proficient in measuring the important parameters used for evaluating the efficient motions, comfort, safety and health aspects of operators.

Computer laboratory work has to facilitate the documentation work. Documentation Project Work has to provide practice for industrial engineering students to record procedures and communicate them to other executives and operators.

For Second term curriculum please visit http://kvssnrao-ind-engg.blogspot.com/2007/06/industrial-engineering-human-effort_3859.html

Industrial Engineering (Human Effort Engineering) - Second Term

In the second term curriculum, one applied science of human sciences group, ergonomics is included. Three subjects related to work and work systems are included. Two subjects are subjects in the decision analysis group of subjects, but they are titled to point out that they are to be taught with a focus on their application in industrial engineering practice.

Second Term

Principles of Motion Economy and Safety
Methods Improvement
Work Measurement
Ergonomics
Economic Analysis for Industrial Engineering-I
Quantitative Techniques for Industrial Engineering

Laboratory/Project Work

Rating workshop
Methods Improvement Project
Ergonomics

Principles of Motion Economy and Safety

This subject could be a new proposal. I mentioned in the preface, that industrial engineering curriculums lack the depth. The topic “Principles of Motion Economy” is generally discussed as a chapter in work study books. Probably, Barnes gives an extensive treatment of this topic. Here I propose that principles of safety are also discussed along with principles of motion economy. Also the pace at which operators are expected to work using their various body parts, has to be discussed in this subject. A number of case studies related to use various body parts fingers, hand motion (full), hand motion (half), use of feet, use of legs, use of eyes, twist of body, bending and lifting weights are to be discussed as a part of this subject. There may not be any readily available book at this moment for this subject. My quick search resulted in two hits.

1. PRINCIPLES OF MOTION ECONOMY APPLIED TO THE SETTING OUT OF TULIP BULBS IN BOXES ON THE WORK BENCH, http://www.actahort.org/books/3/3_5.htm
2. Analysis of principles of motion economy relating to bodily movements /--by Ram Vaswani. (1954) Thesis (M.S.)--Illinois Institute of Technology, 1954.

There can be number of articles on the topic of principles of motion economy and principles of safety are to be covered from safety books and articles and integration between these sets of principles is to be attempted by the faculty.



Methods Improvement

Methods improvement is specified as a full subject to provide depth in the topic. The material in old work study books is to be integrated with the material developed by Japanese practitioners. This subject best suited for case discussion method. Therefore explanation of established and case discussions sessions are to be used in this subject. The case discussion method will help in developing the creative efforts of aspiring industrial engineers and also help in developing their communication skills in selling their solutions to other executives and operators. There is a real need for a number of case books in this subject.

Work Measurement

This subject provides one objective basis for evaluating the improvement of work systems. It also provides a basis to help the operators to improve their productivity by employing the proper pace of working. In my article, I emphasizes that industrial engineering becomes durable and welcome discipline when a self employed person invites industrial engineers to help him to increase his productivity. The origins of industrial engineering were in factories and employees look at his industrial engineers with suspicion even today because of that reason. It is up to industrial engineering as a profession to take up improving the work of self employed persons and earn the reputation as a facilitators and coaches of operators in their quest for productivity.

This subject has to cover traditional methods as well as modern methods like MTM. A rating workshop has to be a compulsory part of this subject and institutes have to set up a common certifying body to test and certify the competency of the learners in these techniques. Presently in India, there is no certifying body.

Ergonomics

This subject deals various aspects related to humans at work and is application of concepts mainly from physiology and anatomy in work situations.

Economic Analysis for Industrial Engineering-I


There are books on Engineering Economy. But their focus on industrial engineering is negligible. There is a need for text book that has exclusive focus in application of engineering economy in industrial engineering practice. The economic analysis to be conducted by industrial engineers in various decisions related to work systems have to given as examples in texts focused on industrial engineering. Such a treatment of these subject will deepen the understanding of learners in the work systems design area also apart from the the topic of economic analysis.

Quantitative Techniques for Industrial Engineering

The comments made for the subject above apply in this case also. Books have to written with a special focus on application of quantitative techniques in industrial engineering decisions. Till that time, faculty in industrial engineering departments have to make special effort to develop examples that have relevance to methods improvement, methods design, selection of productivity devices, design of working conditions etc. Assignment problem is to be discussed with special reference to allotment of work to various operators based on the observed or measured efficiencies on various jobs undertaken in a shop. Transportation problem is to be discussed in relation to the transport of material within a plant.


Laboratory/Project Work

Rating workshop
Methods Improvement Project
Ergonomics



The importance of ‘rating workshop’ and ‘case studies in methods improvement’ was emphasized already. Ergonomics laboratory work has to deepen the skills the acquired by learners in physiology and anatomy laboratory practice and introduce them into measuring parameters of work places that are important in work systems design.

I request visitors to the blog to post their comments on issues they agree with and on issues they do not agree with.

For third term curriculum please see http://kvssnrao-ind-engg.blogspot.com/2007/06/industrial-engineering-human-effort_9148.html

Industrial Engineering (Human Effort Engineering) – Third Term

In the third term, the courses proposed consist of four subjects directly related to work systems design: Work Station Design, Productivity and Safety Device Design, Production and Inventory System Design, and Office and Knowledge Work Study. Economic Analysis for Industrial Engineering – II will contain the discussion of financial accounting, cost accounting and cost estimating. Industrial engineers require good amount of financial accounting and cost accounting knowledge to gather the information they need for determining the present cost of a production process, for estimating the cost of an improved design, and for post-verification of their implemented designs. Information Systems for Industrial Engineering is a subject to discuss the utilization of the power of modern information technology in developing and maintaining the data bases required for work systems design, in doing various calculations that follow time studies etc. The curriculum is proposing a subject with full focus on requirements of the Industrial Engineering function.

Third Term

Work Station Design
Economic Analysis for Industrial Engineering - II
Productivity and Safety Device Design
Production and Inventory System Design
Office and Knowledge Work Study
Information systems for Industrial Engineering


Laboratory/Project Work

Work Station Design
Production and Safety Device Design
Interpersonal Skills – Interacting with Subjects of Studies



Work Station Design

This subject has to focus on micro aspect of work systems design. Design of work station for a single operator is the lowest level. Design of workstations for group working as well as even design of assembly line can be taken up in this course. The emphasis has to be on the actual design of the work station that includes the production equipment, tools positioning, and movements of the operator. The course offers scope for case discussion methodology. Designs of a work station for a machine tool, assembly work station, work station of a software coder, work station of a cashier in a bank, work station of a truck driver, computer engineer, and work station of an air craft pilot etc. are examples for developing case studies and design problems.

Economic Analysis for Industrial Engineering - II

This subject’s content has to focus on financial accounting, cost accounting and cost estimating. These topics are discussed as chapters in some of the engineering economy texts. This course has to integrate these chapters with more details from financial accounting, cost accounting, and cost estimating texts. It is important that these courses are handled by teachers, who have industrial engineering background and advanced qualification in engineering economics and accounting areas.


Productivity and Safety Device Design

Industrial Engineers design systems of man, machine and material. Somehow, industrial engineering curriculums neglected technology side of industrial engineering. There is no significant invention from the industrial engineering profession in the recent days. The reason is that the profession has not made any worthwhile attempt in that direction. While productivity device may be a new idea, safety device is an old idea. This course will provide the design principles that help in designing various items that an operator uses in operating the machines that will improve productivity and safety.

Production and Inventory System Design

To integrate man, machine and material, industrial engineers have to develop the plans for machines (equipment selection - involves technical and economic decisions) and plans for material storage at raw material stage, work in process stage and finished goods stage and plans for material handling facilities. In planning these, they have to work in close cooperation with production/process engineering department. The course has to cover capacity planning, selection of machines, determination of maximum and minimum inventory to be stored at various stages, storage equipment and space and selection of material handling equipment. This course has a significant technology component. This course should help learners to refresh their knowledge of machines and material handling equipment and also to acquire knowledge about fresh offerings of various machine tool and machine manufacturers and material handling equipment firms.

Office and Knowledge Work Study

Industrial engineering profession has done some significant work in this field. Knowledge work is increasing day by day in comparison to physical work in all countries. This subject will discuss the state of industrial engineering practice in this area.

Information systems for Industrial Engineering


Industrial engineering as a design discipline is based on data. A number of studies are done by industrial engineers and these studies can be extrapolated to many other situations with appropriate adjustments. Hence information systems are essential and this subject provides inputs in the area of information systems in general and then about specific applications in industrial engineering function.

Laboratory/Project Work

Work Station Design
Production and Safety Device Design
Interpersonal Skills – Interacting with Subjects of Studies



Work Station Design and Production and Safety Device Design subjects must have projects which result in tangible output. Industrial Engineering departments and institutes should hold an annual exhibition of the projects carried out by their students. Such exhibitions motivate the students to put more effort into the project and also act as knowledge transfer mechanisms between institutes and industry. Even faculty developed designs and devices can be exhibited in such events.

Interpersonal Skills laboratory will help learners to pick skills in dealing with subjects of their industrial engineering studies. This will help them in their studies in summer projects.

All visitors of the blog are requested to post their comments on issues raised in this curriculum proposal. Comments can be sent by mail (id in the profile), if you do not have google account to post comments directly.

For fourth term curriculum please visit http://kvssnrao-ind-engg.blogspot.com/2007/06/industrial-engineering-human-effort_4142.html

Industrial Engineering (Human Effort Engineering) – Fourth Term

The fourth term is a summer internship in companies. It will be good if some of the students opt for doing their studies on self employed persons. This activity can be taken with the sponsorship of CSR departments of large companies.

For fifth term curriculum please visit http://kvssnrao-ind-engg.blogspot.com/2007/06/industrial-engineering-human-effort_06.html

Industrial Engineering (Human Effort Engineering) – Fifth Term

In this term and the next term, focus shifts to management. A provision of three electives in fifth term and three electives in sixth term is proposed. From this three, the learners have to take three electives from Human Sciences group/Industrial Engineering group and three electives from Decision Sciences/Business Management/Technology group. Work Systems Design is the course that integrates all the learning of the program and the learners have to engage in design of departments, single location plants, and multi-location production systems in this course. Business System Organization and Management provides an opportunity for the learners to appreciate how business concerns are organized and learn the principles of management. Managing IE Studies and Department provides inputs in the area managing the studies done by industrial engineers and the IE department. A tentative list of elective subjects is provided after the outline of sixth term subjects.


Fifth Term Subjects

Work System Design
Business System Organization and Management
Managing IE Studies and Department
Elective 1:
Elective 2:
Elective 3:




Work System Design

Work Systems Design is the course that integrates all the learning of the program and the learners have to engage in design of departments, single location plants, and multi-location production systems in this course. The location decision of the plant is discussed in this course. Case studies can be used in this course also to bring out the complexities in making location decisions and in facilities design decisions. Cases of setting up Steel plants, Refineries etc. can be discussed as cases in this course.

Business System Organization and Management

The IE student in this curriculum learns certain concepts of management through the history of scientific management. In this he is provided inputs in the topics of starting a business concern, various important functions of large company and principles of management.

Managing IE Studies and Department

This subject covers the managerial skills to be exhibited by the industrial engineer in carrying out IE studies. Understanding the viewpoint of the operator, communicating with him on the importance of the study, and managing the anxieties involved in studies are all explored in this subject. Managing IE department is explored, and place of IE department in different types of companies is also to be examined in this course. This has to be a course that develops managerial knowledge and skills of the industrial engineers.

All visitors of the blog are requested to post their comments on any issue raised in this curriculum proposal. Comments can be sent by mail (id in the profile), if you do not have google account to post comments directly.

For sixth term curriculum please see http://kvssnrao-ind-engg.blogspot.com/2007/06/industrial-engineering-human-effort.html

Industrial Engineering (Human Effort Engineering) – Sixth Term

Industrial Engineering (Human Effort Engineering) – Sixth Term
In sixth term all compulsory courses deal with managerial tasks of industrial engineers.

Sixth Term Subjects

Productivity and Quality Management
Project Management
Occupation Health and Safety Management
Elective 4:
Elective 5:
Elective 6:


Productivity and Quality Management

Productivity is the one of the important objectives of Industrial Engineering. In my paper I argued that productivity is a multi-dimensional concept and quality is included in it. But because quality management is a highly developed subject, in the subject title it was specially included. Management of productivity and quality that results from the man-machine system is the responsibility of IE department. Routine inspection is a responsibility of production system operation and management department. But if quality levels go down, industrial engineers have to take up responsibility. Productivity and incentives have a linkage. Job evaluation and wage incentives are to be discussed in this subject.

Project Management

Industrial engineers have to manage IE studies and work system design projects. Many times, IE department along with production engineering department have to take up the responsibility of installing the production system. Hence project management becomes an important functional management area to be learned by IE students.

Occupation Health and Safety Management

Along with productivity, comfort, safety and health of operators are important objectives of industrial engineering. The managerial dimensions of these objectives are to be explored in this subject.


List of Electives – A Quick Attempt (Visitors Please suggest more)



Elective Groups

Human Sciences Group
Decision Sciences Group
Industrial Engineering Group
Technology Group
Business Management Group





Subjects in Various Groups


Human Sciences Group

Industrial Psychology
Industrial Sociology
Physiology of Work
Occupational Pathology
Human Behaviour at Work


Decision Sciences Group

Industrial Statistics
Advanced Mathematics
Operations Research
Microeconomics
Macroeconomics
Business Economics
Managerial Economics


Industrial Engineering Group

Research Methods in Industrial Engineering
Project Management for Work System Installation
Simulation for Industrial Engineering
Job Evaluation and Wage Incentives
Industrial Engineering in Agriculture
Industrial Engineering in Heavy Engineering Industry
Industrial Engineering in Software Factories
Human-Computer Interface
Knowledge Work Industrial Engineering


Technology Group

Computer Integrated Manufacturing
Air Conditioning and Climate Control
Environmental Engineering


Business Management Group

Production Management
Production Planning and Control
Marketing Management
Marketing Research
Financial Management
Project Finance
Advanced Project Management
Materials Management
Procurement Management
Supply Chain Management
Human Resource Management
Organization Behaviour
Value Engineering
Engineering and Technology Management
Strategic Management
Cost Accounting
Financial Accounting


For some of the elective subjects proposed, the subject content needs to be specified by me. I shall do it in subsequent posts. In due course, I also propose to develop a list of books, research papers, Phd and MS thesis, and magazine articles which can be used in developing the course content for the courses proposed afresh by me. I now proposed a handbook of industrial engineering (www.nrao-ie-handbook.blogspot.com)and I shall post all these bibliographies in the handbook. Please see the post http://nrao-ie-handbook.blogspot.com/2007/06/call-for-articles-and-papers-for.html for proposed section/chapter scheme of the handbook. Articles for various chapters are invited from you.

The last term in the curriculum of NITIE is 16 week duration project.

All visitors of the blog are requested to post their comments on any issue raised in this curriculum proposal. Comments can be sent by mail (kvssnrao@gmail.com), if you do not have google account to post comments directly.