Fields
Industrial Engineering
Also Known As Industrial and Systems Engineering
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Industrial engineering designs and improves the systems that turn materials, information, people and equipment into finished goods and services, rather than any single physical product. Its core methods, including time and motion study, process flow analysis, quality control and operations research, grew out of Frederick Winslow Taylor's scientific management movement of the early twentieth century and Henry Ford's moving assembly line. The discipline now covers manufacturing, logistics, healthcare delivery and other large scale operations wherever the design of the whole system matters as much as any individual machine in it.
Facts
Core ConcernOptimizing complex processes, systems and organizations that involve people, materials, information and equipment. 1 Core PrincipleIndustrial engineering optimizes complex processes, systems and organizations, improving the efficiency, productivity and quality of integrated systems of people, materials, information, equipment and energy rather than any single machine. 2 Disputed
Origin Year1911
1911 marks the publication of Taylor's The Principles of Scientific Management, the work most often credited with founding the discipline; its first dedicated professional society, the American Institute of Industrial Engineers, was not founded until 1948. Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Both coordinate complex processes and organizations rather than a single physical artifact.
Includes
Sources
1. Technology: A World History
Daniel R. Headrick, Oxford University Press, 2009
2. Industrial Engineering (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationIntroduction sectionQuote, Introduction section
Industrial engineering is a branch of engineering that focuses on optimizing complex processes, systems, and organizations by improving efficiency, productivity, and quality.
2. Industrial Engineering (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationLead section, opening definition of industrial engineeringQuote, Lead section, opening definition of industrial engineering
Industrial engineering (IE) revolves around the design, improvement and installation of integrated systems of people, materials, information, equipment and energy.
A History of Technology
Charles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors, Oxford University Press, 1954Includes: Frederick Winslow Taylor
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