Knol Day of Industrial Engineering

Birth Day of Frank Gilbreth 7th July is celebrated as the Knol Day of Industrial Engineering for the year 2010. Many articles on Industrial Engineering are being written for the occasion.

Students of NITIE are posting number of articles which are summaries of various articles published in Industrial Engineer magazine

Index of articles written by IE students of NITIE, Mumbai, India on the occasion of Knol Day of Industrial Engineering

Industrial Engineer Magazine Article Summaries by 2010 IE Students NITIE, Mumbai, India

All visitors are requested to write comments on various issues related to industrial engineering in comments blocks.

Knol Day of Industrial Engineering

By Narayana Rao K.V.S.S.

Industrial Engineering Definition

INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING. Concerned with the design, improvement, and installation of integrated systems of people, materials, information, equipment, and energy. It draws upon specialized knowledge and skill in the mathematical, physical, and social sciences together with the principles and methods of engineering analysis and design, to specify, predict, and evaluate the results to be obtained from such systems. (Official definition of the Institute of Industrial Engineers.)

http://www.iienet2.org/Details.aspx?id=2584

I recently came across the book - Hospital Industrial Engineerig by Harold Smalley and John Freeman. In this books there is a reference to a book by R.N. Lehrer, The Management of Improvement: Concepts, Organization, and Strategy.

Do we have books dedicated to the design aspect of industrial engineering and installation aspect of industrial engineering?

Nadler's Steps Method Study

The chapter sequence in Motion and Time Study of Nadler (McGraw Hill, New York,1955) is very logical and appealing

1. Goal determination - Defining the problem
2. Analysis of work
3. Application of principles of methods design
4. Selection of feasible solution
5. Formulation of methods design
6. Review of methods design
7. Test of methods design
8. Installation of the method

I would like to change the step 2 to documentation of the existing method and add analysis of work to step 3 as Application of principles of methods design and analysis of work.

Management and Productivity Enhancement: New Approaches

Productity Management has to be a compulsory subject for IE program. IEs have to learn management through this subject as well as subjects like managing IE department, studies, IE projects.

A symposium with the above title was held APO in 1997.

Symposium came out the conclusion that productivity had acuired a new and broad meaning.In a paper titled "The Contemporary Meaning of Productivity', R.C. Monga mentioned that Productivity had evolved into a multidimensional and integrative concept.

I used the term productivity in my definition of IE as a multidimensional concept.

The definition for productivity suggested the symposium

Productivity can defined as the creation and delivery of products and services with minimum utilization of all resources - both human and material - aimed at achieving higher customer satisfaction, improving the quality of human life, and avoiding environmental damage. It is realized primarily through the human effort within a given socio-cultural setting.


Notice ther words "human effort." In my definition of IE, IE is human effort engineering.


Source: Management and Productivity Enhancement: New Approaches, APO, Tokyo, 1997

Work system design and Work study

Many authors and professors are treating the subjects work system design and work study as synonymous.

It will be more appropriate to think of them two separate subjects and develop them. Work systems design may start from identifying the sites for various facilities, and involve determining the locations of various buildings and structures at various sites, designing the buildings and structures, developing layout of equipments and departments in various buildings, designing work stations, storage facilities for WIP, and finally end with specifying standard operating procedures for each employee involved in the work sytem. All this design work requires design data and unfortunately industrial engineering profession has not so far developed as design data handbook.

Work study in contrast concentrates on methods performed by operators and it can result in redesign of the method. But work studies can also assist in developing standard methods which can be included in the design data book as the best practices for that specific job/operation/process.