The undergraduate program strives to provide students with the necessary knowledge and skills to address organizational and industrial problems. The primary areas of interest are analysis, design, planning, operation and control of manufacturing and/or service systems.
The undergraduate program is based on mathematics, basic sciences and engineering analysis. In addition, students are encouraged to improve their background and skills in management, humanities, and social sciences. Graduates have the opportunity to participate in employment in both private and public sectors.
Here is the definition from the American Institute of Industrial Engineers :
"Industrial Engineering is concerned with the design, improvement, and installation of integrated systems of people, material, equipment, and energy. It draws upon specialized knowledge and skills in the mathematical, physical and social sciences together with the principles and method of engineering analysis and design to specify, predict, and evaluate the results to be obtained from such systems."
In 1990, The Council of Industrial Engineers and The Council of Industrial Engineering Academic Heads came together determining the skills and qualifications that a professional industrial engineer should have:
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IE’s should have a sound base about science, math and engineering and the ability to solve technical problems.
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IE's should serve as leaders in the application, integration, comprehension of new concepts and techniques that arise in the companies they work in or in other places.
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IE’s should understand the meaning of the process improvement function and accept it as an engineering problem.
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IE's should be system integrators who combine science, technology and work life. They should consider problems from technical, humanitarian, informative and financial points of view.
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IE’s should have an extraordinary ability of project management and a sound commercial intelligence (endorsements, return of investment, cash administration, marketing and sales info).
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IE's should always be ready to learn new things and eager to accept modern working methods.
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IE’s should have the appropriate skills of comprehending the basis applications anywhere in the management of a company. In the meantime, they should concentrate their studies on the needs of customers and be aware of relations between inside and outside customers.
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IE's should have good communications skills. They should be able to adjust themselves to new conditions, think by themselves and apply their skills in all fields of function and industry.
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IE's should have a global point of view and a sound comprehension about different cultures, nations and technologies. They should have the highest professional standards.
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Finally, IE's should be proud of themselves and their profession. The brightest students whose future contributions to the university, industry and society will be appreciated must be the students of Industrial Engineering.