certain schools whose charter is very specific. In addition to helping the student, he says, it provides an important service to a potential employer. “Don t put students out in the work environment and, at that point, let them start defining their career,” says Cherubin.
Vieth has similar views. “Maybe the IEs that our universities train today should be trained to be part of a specific department,” he says.
Ray thinks that the problem might not be what is taught, but the way it is taught. IE classes and departments at universities are structured in a way that teaches students to work alone, she says. Students model themselves after the people they admire, Ray states. “While student are in college, they are looking at their professors. If they see their professors operating autonomously--- on their own island --- and not interrelating across other disciplines, the IE is going to come out of that program thinking they don t need anybody s help to solve a problem, “ she says.
She says it takes her up to 18 months to put a newly hired graduate through “boot camp” to make them realize that they have to work as a member of a team to facilitate the flow of information within her organization.
Future directions
With all of these challenges facing the IE profession, there may be some who doubt the IEs future. But if the individual IE will assume the role as a change implementer --- not a change follower --- broad opportunities are on the horizon.
Some see a renewed interest in traditional IE functions, specifically, cost estimation and analysis. E. Rranklin Livingston, senior industrial engineer at Weber USA Inc. , a manufacturer of carburetors and fuel injectors cites a recent request from General Motor s vice president of world-wide purchasing, J. Ignacio Lopez de Amortua, as proof. “he is expecting drastic cost reductions from suppliers over the next five years, “ says Livingston.
Livingston points out that Chrysler and Ford will probably follow suit and make similar demands on their suppliers. If that is true, Livingston foresees in the next 10 years that probably more emphasis will be placed on conventional industrial engineering. “but I don t think it will ever go back to the way it was 25 years ago, “ Livingston says.
Others see the IE heading in the direction of large processes and systems. Process thinking has become widespread in recent years, due largely to the quality movement. Industrial engineers seeking to expand their opportunities and improve the quality of operations are now looking at the entire process, rather than just a particular task or business function.]
Two areas that may be of special importance to IEs in the coming years include information technology (IT) and business process redesign. As IT continues to evolve, technological advancements will have a big impact on how companies look at business processes of the next decade. Working together, IT and BPR has the potential to create a new type of industrial engineering, changing the way the discipline is practiced and the skills necessary to practice it.
This whole area of business process re-engineering offers a great opportunity that many IEs have been unwilling to explore. As a result, managers have been reluctant to look to the IE to carry the banner, powers says. “ if we ve got a problem, it s of our own doing and our own unwillingness to take the lead in a lot of these major improvement activities,” he states.
On area where IEs have not been so reluctant to get involved is the systems integration arena. If the systems integration function continues to develop at its current rate, this particular role --- that of systems integrator --- will most likely get so sophisticated that it will requite someone with technical knowledge who can look at the bigger picture. “ this is a function for which industrial
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