Industrial engineering focuses on the design and implementation of integrated systems
of people, materials, machines, energy and information. After first specifying system
objectives, industrial engineers combine technical knowledge and skill from the physical,
engineering and social sciences to design, implement, and operate the system. The
industrial engineer is charged with the responsibility of ensuring high quality while
simultaneously meeting cost and output goals. This is accomplished through the optimal
allocation of resources throughout the system.
Industrial engineers practice in both administrative and production segments of
manufacturing and service organizations. Industrial engineers are commonly employed in
heavy industry (such as steel), medium industry (such as plastics and computers), and
light industry (such as electronics assembly), health-care delivery, telecommunications,
transportation and government. In each of these environments, industrial engineers are
involved with a variety of systems such as production planning, quality assurance,
inventory control, management information, facility layout, job/workplace design, material
flow, and distribution. The importance of manufacturing is reflected by the presence of a
manufacturing system engineering option.
The modern manufacturing systems engineer designs, installs, implements, improves and
manages information-driven integrated manufacturing systems. This option prepares students
to organize, schedule, and manage the total manufacturing system, from product design
through fabrication, distribution and consumer services.
Systems engineers design and build systems to meet the needs of people. As computing
speed and analytic sophistication have increased, society's needs have become more varied
and complex. Graduates of the systems engineering program are prepared to face these
needs.
The goal of a systems engineer is to make the best use of resources. Stated formally,
systems engineering is concerned with the processes and methodology of modeling, analyzing
and designing technologically advanced systems that function safely, effectively, and
economically. It requires appreciation and understanding of machines, people, software,
hardware, materials, and energy. Systems engineers work on a wide range of activities and
applications, including communication systems, computer networking, manufacturing systems,
robotics, transportation systems, health-care systems, societal problems and all phases of
both industrial and military research and design.To prepare students for careers of such
exceptional diversity, the systems engineering curriculum includes operations research,
probability and statistics, numerical computing methods, artificial intelligence courses,
robotics, and human factors. This is clearly a broader program than most traditional
engineering disciplines.
Since computing and related methodology are invariably an integral part of modern systems engineering, the department offers a software option within the systems engineering curriculum.
Page last updated: May 20, 2013
Arizona Board of Regents � All rights reserved.
General
Catalog http://catalog.arizona.edu/
The University of Arizona