Industrial engineering is also known as operations management, systems engineering, production engineering, manufacturing engineering or manufacturing systems engineering; a distinction that seems to depend on the viewpoint or motives of the user. Recruiters or educational establishments use the names to differentiate themselves from others. In healthcare, industrial engineers are more commonly known as management engineers or health systems engineers.

Where as most engineering disciplines apply skills to very specific areas, industrial engineering is applied in virtually every industry. Examples of where industrial engineering might be used include shortening lines (or queues) at a theme park, streamlining an operating room, distributing products worldwide (also referred to as Supply Chain Management), and manufacturing cheaper and more reliable automobiles. Industrial engineers typically use computer simulation, especially discrete event simulation, for system analysis and evaluation.

The name "industrial engineer" can be misleading. While the term originally applied to manufacturing, it has grown to encompass services and other industries as well. Similar fields include Operations Research, Management Science, Financial Engineering, Supply Chain, Manufacturing Engineering, Engineering Management, Overall Equipment Effectiveness, Systems Engineering, Ergonomics, Process Engineering, Value Engineering and Quality Engineering.

There are a number of things industrial engineers do in their work to make processes more efficient, to make products more manufacturable and consistent in their quality, and to increase productivity.

Universities

US News and World Report's article on "America's Best Colleges 2009" listing schools offering Undergraduate engineering specialties: Industrial / Manufacturing whose highest degree is a doctorate are Georgia Institute of Technology, University of California at Berkeley, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Purdue University at West Lafayette, Penn State, Virginia Tech and Stanford University.

History

Industrial engineering courses had been taught by multiple universities in the late 1800s along Europe, especially in very developed countries such as Germany, France and United Kingdom, but also in Spain in the Technical University of Madrid. In the United States,the first department of industrial engineering was established in 1908 at the Pennsylvania State University by Alex Kaserman.

The first doctoral degree in industrial engineering was awarded in the 1930s by Cornell University.

Postgraduate curriculum

The postgraduate programmes in industrial engineering have long been held as probably the most diversified programme across industries. The usual postgraduate degree earned is the Master of Science in Industrial Engineering/Industrial Engineering & Management/Industrial Engineering & Operations Research. The typical MS in IE/IE&M/IE & OR curriculum includes :