The process might be a manufacturing line, where each process step is a physical operation that creates a product, or involve paper and information, such as the steps required to apply to a particular college for admission. Improvement can mean reducing cost, or reducing the time required to complete the process, or reducing the number of errors. To be effective, industrial engineers must combine technical knowledge with concerns about how people fit into the systems they design, skills that organizations need a lot right now. Industrial engineers find jobs in manufacturing firms, hospitals, transportation firms, and government agencies. An industrial engineer might be in charge of quality on a production line, develop computer models to improve service to patients in a hospital clinic, or work to reduce inventory costs.
Many industrial engineers move into supervisory or management positions as their career progresses.
At WPI, the IE program is designed to provide students with the tools to spearhead process improvement efforts and the knowledge to implement and employ new technologies. In addition to satisfying a significant graduation requirement, the MQP must be focused on industrial engineering design. It is typically performed for a business organization. These two elements of our approach to MQPs result in a very valuable learning experience for all of our students.