If you are seeking a happy engineering career that is in high demand, well paid, and close to home, then consider Industrial Engineering. In 2011, this occupation was listed as one of The Happiest Jobs for college graduates.
The State of Louisiana Long Term Demand of Top Occupations to the Year 2016 includes the following in Demand Level I: Industrial Engineers, Industrial Production Managers, and Engineering Managers requiring approximately 130 graduates each year in Louisiana. This demand far exceeds what Louisiana 4-year colleges can supply each year.
The job demand for industrial engineers will continue to be high. According to the national Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of industrial engineers will rise by 14 percent from 2008 to 2018. This ranks among one of the highest growth rates of all engineering disciplines. This rate is expected to be even higher in the state of Louisiana. The Louisiana Workforce Commission forecasts that 840 new industrial engineering jobs will be created, a growth rate of 41.4%. This ranks among the top 20 fastest growing jobs in Louisiana (out of 700 occupations).
Industrial engineering includes decision-making related to the best use of people, material, equipment and energy to achieve the goals of an organization. The organization may be a manufacturing facility, hospital, bank, amusement park, airline, government office, or any other group organized to make a product or perform a service. Industrial engineers make significant contributions to their employers by saving money while making the workplace better for fellow workers.
If there is one phrase that summarizes the activities of industrial engineers, it is "the search for a better way." For example, a better way to make workplaces more comfortable and safer by improving workstations and work procedures, a better way to perform assembly operations using robots and machine vision systems, a better way to assure product quality by statistical process control techniques, a better way to improve the efficiency of the entire organization by implementing Lean-Six Sigma technologies, and so on.
Manufacturing firms and service industries hire a significant number of industrial engineers. Today, more and more businesses hire industrial engineers in areas like computer information systems, business operation, finance, and sales and marketing. Corporations as diverse as Coca Cola, UPS, Disney, IBM, Entergy, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Intel, Microsoft, Motorola, and Boeing all use people with industrial engineering backgrounds to help manage their business.
The industrial engineering curriculum has been developed to prepare students for meaningful careers in this challenging and important branch of engineering. The success of the program is evidenced by the high demand for its graduates in all sectors of the economy and the many professional accomplishments of the faculty.
Areas Industrial Engineers Work
Industrial engineers are involved in all aspects of manufacturing and service industries. The following are some industrial engineering fields:
- Management Engineer in Health Care
- Quality Engineer
- Manufacturing System Engineer
- Production and Inventory Control
- Human Productivity
- Organization Administration (Human Resources)
- Environment Protection and Industrial Safety
- Consulting
- Engineering Software Management
- Technical Sales and Marketing
Top 5 Employers of LA TECH IE Graduates
For additional information, contact Dr. Jun-Ing Ker, Program Chair of Industrial Engineering at ker@latech.edu or Dr. John Easley at jeasley@latech.edu.
