What are the core and essential problems of industrial engineering?

What is industrial engineering? This is a comic book,

There are two puppies tied together back to back in the picture. There is a bone in front of them. Both dogs really want to chew the bone, but because of the tension on the other side, it is difficult to move, and no one can eat the bone. After several struggles, the two dogs finally came up with a wonderful method; At first, the two dogs turned to one side and bit the bone on one side, then turned to the other side and bit the bone on the other side. In this way, two dogs have their own bones to chew on. At the bottom of the cartoon, it says, "There is always a better way".

Although this cartoon can't fully represent industrial engineering, that sentence is the motto of industrial engineers-meaning "there is always a better way!" " In the process of work, it is the spirit of industrial engineering to constantly seek a more relaxed, efficient, economical and happy way of working.

Of course, industrial engineering is by no means clear in a few words. Now listen to me, "What is industrial engineering? 」

The origin of any kind of knowledge must have its driving force, and industrial engineering is no exception. Its driving force is the will of human beings not to succumb to the status quo and the desire for perfection.

Man's will to be uneasy with the status quo makes him want to do things better. In the process of continuous improvement of work, mankind finally understands that things can be done better by scientific methods. It turns out that the process of improvement does not necessarily require any special training, and everyone can naturally use their own experience and instinct to achieve the goal of improvement. After Taylor introduced the scientific method into the field of management, this kind of management science, together with scientific and technological knowledge, gradually evolved into future industrial engineering.

(A) the basic concept of industrial engineering

Industrial engineering is a new engineering science. As early as 188 1 years ago, Frederick W taylor had the concept of industrial engineering, but in fact, the science of industrial engineering only began in the1920s, and only began to take shape after World War II. In foreign countries, Taylor first advocated "the study of time", while Mr. and Mrs. Gilbress (F.B. &; Gilbreths) is the founder of "engineering research". (Editor's Note: For the origin of Chronology Engineering, see the article "Two Short Stories of Industrial Engineering" on another page. ) It was not until the 1930 s that their research was paid attention to by the public and officially became the study of movement and time. Now, time research can be said to be the most basic part in the field of industrial engineering and the basic concept of traditional industrial engineering.

At first, the definition of man-hour science refers to the study of operation methods, materials, tools and equipment and time needed to complete a job. And its purpose is to find the most economical and effective working method in 1; 2. Further confirm and stipulate the selected working methods, material standards, tool specifications and ideal standards for equipment requirements; 3. Study and formulate the standard time required for workers to complete their work; 4. Training and practical implementation of new methods.

(B) the definition of industrial engineering

The American Institute of Industrial Engineers (AIIE) defines industrial engineering as: "Industrial engineering is a science engaged in the design, improvement and application of the whole system of people, materials and equipment. It uses the professional knowledge and skills of mathematics, natural science and social science, and uses the principles and methods of engineering analysis and design to plan, predict and evaluate the effects obtained from this and related systems. 」

From the above definition, readers may have a general understanding. To sum up, all human and non-human activities, as long as they have actions, can apply the principles of industrial engineering and a set of systematic technologies of industrial engineering to achieve their goals in the best way. For example, in the operation sequence analysis of industrial engineering, because any human action is coherent, all actions are carefully analyzed, divided into fine units, unnecessary actions are deleted, and related actions are merged to simplify the work and save time and effort.

(c) The bridge between engineering and management science

In other words, industrial engineering is a new science linking engineering and management. Some people call industrial engineering = (mechanical engineering+electrical engineering+chemical engineering+civil engineering+...) × management.

In fact, the simplest explanation is that industrial engineering is to solve problems related to engineering and management by engineers. In the factory, a person who is purely learning manufacturing and a person who is good at management often can't communicate. At this time, industrial engineers will act as bridges.

(4) How is it different from other projects?

So, what is the difference between industrial engineering and mechanical, electrical, chemical and civil engineering? Traditional engineering aims at "designing more economical systems". For example, mechanical engineering designs efficient "economical machine system" and electrical engineering designs "economical circuit system", and their design objects are only concentrated on machines and equipment. Industrial engineering not only considers the design of mechanical equipment, but also includes human factors, and takes "the integrated system of people, materials and equipment" as the object.

(5) What is the difference with other management sciences?

Readers may ask again: industrial engineering is related to enterprise management and administrative management. What is the difference between them? The difference between industrial engineering and enterprise management is that industrial engineering uses scientific and engineering methods and technologies to solve management problems, taking into account factors such as personnel, machines, equipment, processes, methods and time, while enterprise management and administrative management cannot use engineering methods to solve management problems.

Second, the introduction of industrial engineering in China

Military and industry

The introduction of industrial engineering technology in China can be traced back to 35 years of the Republic of China. At that time, Guizhou Dading Aero-Engine Factory began to establish a standard working hour system for parts manufacturing and assembly, which was of great benefit to production planning and control. In 39 years of the Republic of China, the Ordnance Department implemented the working hour system in its own arsenal, which was quite effective. 1942, the military introduced the work research theory. Later, due to the establishment of China Productivity Center and Metal Industry Development Center, industrial engineering was gradually applied to domestic factories. Arsenal, Yulong Automobile, Datong Company, Taiwan Aluminum Company, Songshan Tobacco Factory, etc. It has been implemented one after another, but it is limited to narrow work simplification and traditional working time range. After the establishment of foreign-funded factories, with the vigorous promotion of American-funded foreign businessmen, the domestic industrial engineering field has gradually expanded. At present, some domestic enterprises have established industrial engineering departments (classes or groups) and other units. It has made great contributions to promoting economic prosperity and improving national productivity.

(2) School education

As for school education, it was not until there was an urgent need for industry that the Department of Industrial Engineering was established in the school. 1952, Donghai university and Taipei institute of technology established the department of industrial engineering at the same time, Zhongyuan institute of technology established the department of industrial engineering in 1953, and then Zhongzheng, Feng Jia, Qingda and Xinpu schools were established one after another. There are also some schools that don't use the department name of industrial engineering, but the teaching content is essentially similar to industrial engineering, such as the Department of Industrial Management Technology of Technical College and the Department of Production Engineering of * * University. The first batch of industrial engineers who formally received professional education entered the industrial service in 1956.

The training scope of industrial engineers is very wide, which can be roughly divided into four parts:

(1) Fundamentals of science and technology mathematics: including physics, chemistry, mathematics, statistics, computer programming, etc.

(2) General engineering training: including engineering mechanics, graphics, manufacturing engineering, engineering materials, electrical principles, introduction to chemical industry, etc.

(3) Professional training of industrial engineering: including action and time research, factory layout, engineering economy, operational research, production control, quality control, etc.

(4) Management science training: including industrial organization and management, accounting and cost analysis, industrial psychology, behavioral science, etc.

Third, the role of industrial engineers.

Since the students trained by the Department of Industrial Engineering have the above knowledge, what role does an industrial engineer play in the factory? In order to understand this problem, let's first look at several common problems in factories:

(1) In the factory, every professional engineer has his own duties. Who will communicate with engineers of different majors?

(2) In the factory, the boss cares about one thing (making money and output) and the employees care about another thing (paying wages and labor), so who will be the bridge between the boss and the employees?

(3) In the factory, everyone cares about delivery and quality. Does anyone care about doing better today than yesterday and doing better tomorrow? If so, who will do the improvement work?

(4) Everyone cares about machines, materials, ... Who cares about the most important "people"? How to make these people live more comfortably, do more, earn more and be respected?

(5) Everyone cares about the output, but who cares about the total cost?

(6) Every small unit often has selfish departmentalism. Who will consider plant-wide optimization?

The most suitable person to solve these problems is an industrial engineer.

More specifically, the work done by industrial engineers in factories includes: design and improvement of working methods, setting of standard working hours and standard material consumption, design of manufacturing processes, fixtures and tools, calculation and analysis of costs, production planning and control, capacity planning and analysis, material management, quality analysis and control, factory layout, industrial safety operation, establishment of job evaluation and reward system, improvement of business processes, and design of systems and so on.

(1) industrial doctors?

Some people say that a business consultant is a doctor in the business field, so an industrial engineer, like a doctor in the industry, can help the factory to clarify problems and coordinate the operation of the whole factory. Just like a general practitioner, he is responsible for diagnosing and treating patients' diseases, and then an expert in a certain department will check and treat them. The same is true for industrial engineers, who point out the problems in factories and then coordinate experts from various departments to solve them.

In fact, the current industrial structure is teamwork, and it is by no means that one person can solve any problems. The role of industrial engineers is often the leader of a team. They need strong combination, coordination and communication skills, as well as extensive knowledge, that is, they can use the correct language and. Under this tendency, industrial engineers need to have both knowledge and training in engineering and management, so it is easy for others to cooperate and solve problems together in the factory.

(2) Efficiency experts? Management's vision?

Industrial engineers do play a complex role, and some people criticize them as:

"Industrial engineers make people do faster and earn less! 」

"Industrial engineers are efficiency experts and management eyes! 」

"Industrial engineers are looking for the wrong things everywhere and like to have a hard time with others. 」

(3) The role of diversity?

Some people think that industrial engineers are the safety nannies of operators, so as to protect them from tool injuries and excessive workload; Because his training includes management and engineering knowledge, he is the planner and coordinator of the factory; Because he has been trained in statistics, probability and reliability, he can become a quality controller. He often thinks, "Is this the best way?" , so he is a search for a better way; From the above, it can be seen that industrial engineers have strong ability to change careers and strong viability; Moreover, his promotion ability is also high, and it is easier to be promoted to the top.

Look at IE from five angles.

Five statements about IE "industrial engineer";

The first statement: "What kind of person is an industrial engineer" is not a theoretical issue, but a practical issue. The emergence, application and development of industrial engineering have a history of nearly a hundred years. Due to the differences in emphasis and times, there are many opinions about industrial engineers at home and abroad, which can be summarized into five types, namely: "Industrial engineers are such people who are the designers of the best working system; Is an assistant to decision makers and managers at all levels; It is the interface, communicator and coordinator between management and technology, managers and engineers, departments and departments, enterprises and external environment; At the same time, he is also a professional engineer with his own independent and specific business, which is different from technical personnel such as management. Moreover, they are brave and good at putting forward new ideas and concepts, and can accept, advocate and popularize new technologies, new processes, new materials, new methods, new ideas, new strategies, or "regardless of ministers" that are difficult for ordinary people to accept or temporarily unknown to people. The above statement reflects the nature, content and function of industrial engineers from different angles, among which the most core or basic statement is 1, that is, industrial engineers are the designers of the best working system. In other words, industrial engineers are engaged in an optimal design/redesign of a certain system, so that the manpower and other resources put into the system can be fully and effectively utilized, all kinds of waste can be eliminated/reduced, and the maximum/optimal output of the system can be realized.

The second statement: from the position and function of industrial engineers, it shows that they are assistants, staff officers and think tanks of leaders at all levels, helping managers find problems, making correct production and operation decisions and providing scientific basis for management. It can be seen that IE major does not directly train managers such as factory directors and managers, but trains engineers, a special kind of engineers. On the other hand, managers must have IE knowledge, especially IE awareness. Otherwise, it is impossible for them to organize production and business activities reasonably and scientifically and do a good job in enterprises according to the requirements of industrial engineering. On the other hand, as IIE Institute in the United States said, industrial engineers often develop into senior managers because they have more business skills and training than other professional engineers. Therefore, the top managers of many large companies today have industrial engineering backgrounds.

The third statement: Industrial engineers, as "interface engineers", are different from other professional engineers and cannot be replaced by leaders and other departments or professional engineers. They always proceed from the overall situation, provide convenience for managers at all levels, make suggestions for various departments, and coordinate and integrate the business (such as design, manufacturing and supply) between various departments.

The fourth statement: emphasizing the work of industrial engineers cannot be understood as the overall planning and design of the system or just assistants and interfaces. They also have a clear professional division of labor and relatively independent work functions, which are very specific and practical, that is, they can be professionals who specialize in or focus on a certain aspect of work, such as quality control/management engineers, method research engineers, time research engineers, industrial safety engineers and so on.

The fifth statement: further embodies the innovative characteristics of IE. What no one wants to do, or what others can't do, is exactly where industrial engineers come in. AgileMfg, for example, is a new strategy put forward by American industrial engineering experts to revitalize American manufacturing. It was China's industrial engineering experts who quickly accepted and actively spread this new idea in China [2].

The history of industrial development, especially the success or failure experience of manufacturing industry, tells us that industrial enterprises need industrial engineers, and with the expansion of IE application, people further realize that national development and social progress also need industrial engineers. As the IIE Institute of the United States said, "Industrial engineering is not limited to the skills of a specific industry. All organizations that want their capital consumption to achieve the best production and quality should hire industrial engineers. " 1In August, 1998, China Electromechanical News also published an article saying: "Industrial engineers are technical talents who are committed to designing efficient and optimized operation systems for various enterprises, government departments at all levels and even service industries such as shopping malls, banks and hospitals."

Obviously, except IE major, no other major can cultivate such a person. It is precisely because China neglected the development and application of industrial engineering when introducing and popularizing modern management in the early 1980s that IE specialty in China has not been developed for a long time, resulting in a serious shortage of industrial engineering talents today. Some enterprises have failed to handle the relationship between introduction, digestion and innovation, and have repeatedly "made foreign countries"; Some factories are designed without IE, and the logistics is unreasonable, so they are demolished and rebuilt. Most enterprises do not have IE basic skills, so it is difficult to meet challenges and seize opportunities. There is also automation for the sake of automation, which is actually a disaster; In particular, scientific and technological innovation and product development have been neglected for a long time, or rushing headlong into it, losing money and shouting. , resulting in huge waste, environmental pollution and serious losses, forming a long-term unresolved qualitative and structural contradictions. These problems are closely related to our lack of industrial engineers, which is a historic lesson. Of course, the country's economic system and operational mechanism are fundamental, but all problems, difficulties and puzzles cannot be attributed to system and mechanism problems. It seems that all the problems are "just a package", and the shareholding system can solve all the problems. Others are irrelevant and dispensable. It's not like this at all! If you have to boil it down, it should boil down to the quality problem-the quality of workers, the quality of leaders, quality of enterprise, the quality of the nation, the quality of the whole people, and the quality of the country, including the basic skill IE that has been used in the world for a hundred years.

IE, especially basic IE, is a compulsory course for industrial enterprises, which is insurmountable. This course will be made up sooner or later. Of course, making up lessons does not mean repeating history. We should seek a suitable starting point and deal with different situations differently. Don't make a one-size-fits-all, fixed model, seek truth from facts, improve efficiency and shorten time. Repeating history is actually resisting progress and unrealistic, because today's situation is different from that at that time; Besides, keeping pace with others will never catch up with others, and you can only fall behind forever.

Fourth, the resistance to promote the concept of industrial engineering.

Generally speaking, the concept and practice of industrial engineering in the factory is not smooth sailing without resistance, which can be divided into three points:

(1) In some closed family-owned enterprises, the concept of business owners is not open enough and they are unwilling to provide comprehensive information on all aspects of public factories. Without information, industrial engineers cannot solve problems.

(2) The conservative concept of human beings refuses to change, and industrial engineers cannot give full play to their strengths.

(3) A new thing has to go through the process of learning * * before people can skillfully use it, and the beginning of learning * * is always difficult and the effect is not obvious, so people would rather try harder and continue to use the old methods and things that * * is used to.

This kind of resistance has weakened the popularization of the concept of industrial engineering to some extent, which is one of the reasons why China's business circles can't keep up with developed countries. Although the concept of industrial engineering was introduced into Taiwan Province province as early as around 1942, so far, few people know what industrial engineering is, and the reason is that it is influenced by these resistances.

As mentioned in the introduction, the trend of the times makes the types of enterprises bigger, and the traditional instinctive management methods will inevitably be eliminated. Although everyone has the instinct of management, the quality of management, the number of managers and the width or narrowness of management scope are all limited by personal ability. Therefore, how to make large-scale work better and faster by systematic methods must be managed by scientific methods and rely on industrial engineering.

Of course, the ability of industrial engineers is by no means omnipotent, but as long as they have professional knowledge of industrial engineering, they are less prone to make mistakes, because the practice of industrial engineering is not based on intuition, but on data. Similarly, if there is industrial engineering, the probability of making wrong decisions can be greatly reduced.

[Edit this paragraph] V. Ways for industrial engineers to solve problems

Industrial engineering solves problems in the following two ways:

(a) Problem solving and decision-making (problem solving &; Decision making)

(1) Determine the problem: first understand the nature and crux of the problem.

(2) Problem analysis: Only by looking for information, recording the current situation, understanding the restrictive factors and discussing the problem can we go deep into the problem.

(3) Seek possible solutions to the problems.

(4) Evaluate various schemes and determine the best decision.

(5) take action.

(6) Evaluate the results of actions and propose better solutions.

(2) System and Method Engineering (System &; Method engineering)

From data collection, organization and analysis to how to arrange, problems can be solved by mathematical calculation and special technology.

The future of industrial engineering.

Judging from the above explanations, can industrial engineers only work in factories? In fact, in developed countries, industrial engineering has long been applied outside the factory. Industrial engineering is used in hospitals, farms, restaurants, hotels, post offices, banks, transportation, construction, military institutions and various government departments.

In China, some hospitals have also hired industrial engineers to be responsible for equipment configuration, personnel utilization, drug inventory control, data flow and so on (such as MacKay Hospital is an example). This application can be said to be an extension of industrial engineering. At present, the field of industrial engineering is not limited to industry, so the name of industrial engineering can no longer cover its scope.

In China, although military and state undertakings have taken the lead in implementing industrial projects, it is those foreign-funded factories that really make it blossom and bear fruit. Because of its enviable results, many state-owned factories were persuaded to pay attention to this new gadget. Over the years, there have been more and more advertisements for industrial engineers, which clearly proves that industrial engineering has begun to be widely accepted in China.

In recent years, due to the lack of energy, rising raw materials and shortage of workers, the competition in the international market has become increasingly fierce, and the problem of public hazards has aroused widespread concern. There is no doubt that industrial engineers will become the darling of the times in China.

On the other hand, with the development of electronic calculators, the discipline of industrial engineering is rapidly expanding its field. In foreign countries, systems engineering and operational research have become an extension of industrial engineering. Use them to solve the big and complicated problems in enterprise management. This trend will undoubtedly be the development direction of industrial engineering in China.

Two short stories of industrial engineering

In the field of industrial engineering, "research on motion and time" occupies a very important position. 188 1 year, Frederick W. Taylor, who was revered as "the father of industrial engineering" by later generations, initiated "Timestudy", and Frank B. Gilbrtth revived "Sports Study" or "Sports Study" in his later years. Later, these two studies were closely related and inseparable, so they merged into "Action and Time Research" (or "Working Hours Research"). Here are two stories to trace the origin of action time research.

During the period of 1898, Taylor worked in Bethlehem Steel Plant in Bursley. At that time, the factory employed 400 ~ 600 shovelers to shovel various materials in a square about 2 miles long and 1/4 miles wide every day. These shovelers don't need shovels prepared in the workplace. Many people bring shovels from home. When shoveling coal, each shovel weighs only 3.5 pounds, while when shoveling ore, each shovel weighs 38 pounds. This kind of self-provided shovel, the difference in weight of each shovel, caused too much curiosity. He thought, "Is the shape and size of the shovel related to the workload of the shovel?" "What kind of shovel is the most economical and effective?" "What kind of shovel are workers comfortable with and shovel much faster? These problems should be discussed. Taishi selected two excellent shovels to do experiments in different places in the field, recorded their time with a stopwatch, shoveled materials of different proportions with shovels of different sizes, and recorded the size, style and weight of each shovel respectively. After many experiments, it is found that when the weight of each shovel is about 2 1.5 pounds, the most economical and effective result can be obtained, that is, workers can shovel the most materials per person every day. Use a small shovel to shovel heavy objects and a large shovel to shovel light objects, but the weight of each shovel is about 2 1.5 kg. After getting this result, Tai Shi designed shovels of different sizes to train workers and worked out reward methods. When the laborer can complete the required work, he can get a bonus of 60% of his daily salary. Otherwise, they will be given the correct working methods to ensure that they can get the same bonus. After this improvement, the work that originally required 400 ~ 600 workers can be completed by 140 workers after adopting the new method. In this way, the cost per ton of shovel is reduced by 50%, while the wages of workers are increased by 60%. Plus the cost of research, it can save 78 thousand dollars every year. This not only greatly improves the output of the factory, but also improves the work efficiency, salary and working mood of the shovel.

1885, Gilbress was employed by a construction worker in 17, and found that the working methods and working speeds used by workers in building and bricklaying were different. We should study what method is the most economical and effective. Ji then analyzed the bricklaying action of the workers. I found that every brick was paved by workers. They took the lead and bent down to pick it up with their left hand. At the same time, they turned the brick over and chose the best side, so that they could be put out when stacking. After this action is completed, the right hand begins to shovel mud and smear it on the stacking place. Bricks are placed behind the left hand, and the right hand is fixed by tapping a few times with a trowel tool. The agent carefully studied this periodic action and made it into a movie. After detailed analysis, it is known that workers bend over to pick up bricks, which is easy to increase fatigue. It is not an effective way to hold bricks with your left hand, and it is unnecessary to knock bricks again. So after many experiments, a new bricklaying method was obtained. After the bricks are transported to the construction site, workers with low prices are selected and placed in a wooden frame with 90 bricks in each frame, and the best side or one end is placed in a certain direction. This wooden frame is hung on the worker's left, so that when the left hand holds the brick, the right hand holds the putty at the same time, and at the same time, the concentration of the putty is increased, so that when the brick is placed on it, it can be put in place without knocking. After this improvement, the workload of workers has greatly increased. The action of laying each brick was reduced from 18 times to 5 times. After the workers are trained, the old method can only lay bricks 120 blocks per hour, and the new method can lay bricks 350 blocks, which improves the work efficiency by nearly 200%. Through the action analysis of Ji, the best bricklaying method is determined. From this, it developed into the future kinesiology.

The above two examples show the attitude of Taihe Ji, the founder of man-hour science, to analyze and explore the truth when things happen, and this spirit is also relied on by industrial engineering in the future.