Industrial Engineering
What is Industrial Engineering?
Efficiency, productivity, competitive, and cutting edge.these are some of the words that best describe industrial engineering. It is the improvement of manufacturing and other processes to maximize productivity and profit.
What do Industrial Engineers do?
Industrial engineers can be found in a wide variety of fields, often playing unique yet crucial roles. They can be found not only in manufacturing and industrial settings but also in hospitals, government agencies, and financial institutions.
Industrial Engineering at UIUC
For industrial engineering (IE) students, the first couple of years of school will be spent mastering fundamental math, chemistry, and physics requirements, just like other engineering students. The IE course work sets in around the third year, when students take the following topics:
- Operations Research: This field involves everything from plant or factory layout using computer simulation to production planning and control. Some topics that fall under this heading are managing inventory or material flow and project or production scheduling.
- Quality Control: This field involves improving processes and quality through statistics and probability. In any competitive market, improving quality and efficiency is vital to survival.
- Human Factors: This field involves designing workplaces that maximize safety and health issues, which is sometimes called ergonomics. This area can also deal with workplace psychology and cognitive processes.
The Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at UIUC is committed to providing its students with the best education money can buy. Undergraduates can often get involved in the department.s research programs. Included in these programs are the Manufacturing Research Center, the Machine Tool Agile Manufacturing Research Institute, and the Center for Machine-Tool Systems Research.
Career Opportunities
Most UIUC industrial engineering seniors are employed before graduation. Industrial engineers have taken jobs with such companies as General Motors, Accenture, and Caterpillar, to name a few. Graduates with an industrial engineering degree often find they can work in several departments of a company, including quality engineering, manufacturing, production, and management.
Why Industrial Engineering?
The opportunities awaiting a UIUC industrial engineering graduate are virtually limitless. However, one should not count on strolling leisurely through this program. There are reasons for UIUC.s fantastic reputation in industrial engineering. Its students must prove themselves through hundreds of hours of studying and problem solving. The payoff comes with the challenging and high-paying careers that wait on the other end.
Department Contact Information:
Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
140 Mechanical Engineering Bldg., MC-244
1206 W. Green St.
Urbana, IL 61801
Telephone: 217-333-1176
Fax: 217-244-6534
Web page: http://www.mie.uiuc.edu
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