What Do Industrial Engineers Do and What Characteristics Should They Have?
An industrial engineer, like engineers in all other fields, performs analysis, problem-solving, and system design. However, the systems that industrial engineering focuses on are very different from those in other engineering disciplines. While a mechanical engineer focuses on machine systems, a computer engineer focuses on computer systems, and an electrical-electronics engineer focuses on electrical-electronics systems, industrial engineering focuses on complex systems and processes that use resources such as people, machines, materials, information, money, and energy. In this context, both strategic-level systems like healthcare and transportation systems, and operational-level systems like patient admission systems and vehicle planning systems fall under the industrial engineer's domain. This requires industrial engineers to possess different academic and personal skills and to approach problems from a different perspective.
An industrial engineer, while performing the functions expected of an engineer (such as analysis, problem-solving, and design), must consider all elements of the system and take a holistic or systems-oriented approach. An industrial engineer cannot afford to solve problems, perform analysis, or design by only considering certain elements of the system. Industrial engineers must think in a multidimensional and multifunctional way to develop solutions. To manage complex systems and problems and produce solutions, they must use their analytical thinking skills to analyze systems/problems, identify key elements, develop solutions, and design systems. While doing this, they must creatively apply various techniques such as computer and information technologies, optimization, simulation, and statistics. Industrial engineers should have a solution-oriented approach to problems and a research-driven mindset. They must develop creative solutions to make the systems they work on "more efficient, more effective, lower-cost, more profitable, higher-quality, faster, more coordinated," and so on. An industrial engineer cannot afford to ignore the human factor. On the contrary, they must produce human-centered solutions. In this regard, industrial engineers should have strong social and communication skills. Furthermore, an industrial engineer cannot perform their work by just sitting at a desk or being locked in a room. Therefore, they should enjoy an active lifestyle. To perform all of these tasks, an industrial engineer must have excellent planning and organizational skills.