Industrial Engineering in the New Normal: Opportunties and Threats during the Next 5 Years

Only Industrial and Systems Engineering combine technical skills with business acumen. We need Industrial Engineers now more than ever to help businesses recover and succeed in the New Normal. But what are the (3) opportunities that Industrial Engineers need to be at its optimal game in 2025 and what are the risks? Engr. Korina Mercado

Opportunities and Risks Industrial Engineering Program will face in the next 5 years. What do we need to know about it and how we can address it to succeed in the New Normal.

Industrial engineering began in the late nineteenth century with the development of time-and-motion study, which led to the standardization of processes and thereby increase efficiency. The field became known as “productivity management”.

What are the major challenges and pivots companies had to make due to pandemic. (1)Adjustment to operational process; (2)Reduction on budget; (3) Limitations on facilities; (4) Reduction of staff; (5) Changes to supply chain operations; (6) Staff training and learning opportunities; (7)Reduction of staff training and learning opportunities; (8) Decreased/Increased investment in R&D; (9) Closing of certain plants/site/locations; (10) Reduction of projects (11) Loss of customers and (12) Changing focus of R&D to address and combat COVID 19 pandemic issues.

But wait, weren't these problems that Industrial Engineers, Optimization Managers, and Management Leaders occasionally faced even before the pandemic? You're lucky if your management team includes someone with a background in industrial engineering, lean six sigma, or agile sigma. because it will be simpler to plan a strategy.

The business needs of every organization are shown in the infographic below, along with the tools, techniques, and strategies used in industrial engineering to meet those needs on the right. The complete set of solutions to fulfill these business needs is only available in industrial engineering. In addition, this is the rationale behind some colleges' decision to rename Industrial Engineering as Management Engineering.

Now what are the opportunities or pivots IE degree holders need to do to be optimal in their game in the next 5 years? — Industrial Engineering (3) Opportunities for Improvement

The case we see here right now is that “Pandemic poses lots of opportunities for Industrial Engineering” that we can breakdown into 3 major categories.

1. Methodology Evolution tied with Tech

“Experts Say the ‘New Normal’ in 2025 Will Be Far More Tech-Driven, Presenting More Big Challenges”

I’ve read in?World Economic Forum?that manufacturer worker skills are depreciating due to mental health issues. Which is a serious topic in the new normal. How can these processes be achieved by the rise of technology? How can we achieve a smooth transition on the processes involved and the technology involved without the proper methods and business process improvement methodologies of Industrial Engineers?

This is one of the reasons why methodology evolution specifically merging of tech and business process improvement is a must. In the aviation Induy Operational Excellence / Strategy, Analytics and Optimization Team works hand in hand with Digital Transformation Team to have optimal solutions for each problem.

We all know that our beloved methods and srategies are precious but we need to be realistic. What got us here, won’t get us there.

I’ve been working with Aviation Industry for 8 years now and aviation processes and data are very complex. I’ve used different methodologies during my practice and using different tools made me wonder…

“Industrial Engineers makes engineering, things, systems etc. better, but are we revolutionizing our methodologies?”

That particular day 2 years ago, I searched if there is an improved Lean Six Sigma to handle projects in an optimal and faster manner. In the New Normal, time is of the essence, businesses need to recover. We need Business Agility more than ever.

And so — I found Agile Sigma Methodology??by?Sir Timothy T. Gaffney?the founder and CEO of The Gaffney Institute, without another second of thinking, I reached out to him! And now — I am one of the pioneers being trained by this methodology. I’m currently on my Agile Sigma Black Belt Training. I’ve seen a big difference, how the strengths of Agile and Lean Six Sigma is combined.

Agile Sigma Methodology??—is a?customer centric?business improvement methodology?that?iteratively delivers?significant process improvements?resulting into?optimal efficiencies?and?process sigma levels.

Normalizing Industrial and Systems Engineering — Industrial Engineering and Tech when combined is a powerful tool that will help any entity in this world

Agile Sigma Methodology??is just one of the revolutionary merging of Industrial Engineering and Tech, share with us other methodology evolution you know by commenting in this article.

2. Emotional Intelligence addressing Individual Contributors and Upper Stakeholder Management eliminiating the risks of Mental Health

“Research by The Standard, a US-based insurance company, finds that 55% of workers say a mental health issue has affected them more since the pandemic began and 36% say substance issues have become more of a problem.”

“Leaders and companies will view?relieving workers’ anxiety?as a critical business responsibility. We all need a sense of stability and balance and that will require techniques such as easing isolation through technologies that enable us to still communicate and collaborate. If workers are connected with each other, it won’t matter if they’re working in different ways or from different locations; they will still be able to feel like they belong and are making a difference in their work.” —?World Economic Forum

Industrial Engineers, Industrial Engineering Leaders in Management Positions must understand the importance of EQ in Industrial Engineering Life in the New Normal — Emotional intelligence (otherwise known as emotional quotient or EQ) is?the ability to understand, use, and manage your own emotions in positive ways?to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges and defuse conflict.

There is a dramatic increase in trend of mental health issues across all organizations and if Industrial Engineers have to deliver all these management expertise and changes that is needed to be accomplish to pivot. Collaboration and communication is very critical in the end to end process.

The EQ skills needs to be tripled.

Not only in handling upper management, also the individual contributors. Communicating properly will make or break the plan.

Organizational Development is also a game changer. How will you transform your organization into a highly agile organization? How can collaboration be at its optimal? How can you motivate employees when we’re in the middle of pandemic and the hardest decisions are needed to be implemented every time?

“Industrial engineers must be tactful in what they say and in how they say it. In addition to tact, being a successful industrial engineer requires charm and the willingness to stand by one’s recommendations even in the face of unresponsive management.” Road To Agility — and Organizational Development Framework is what we use to achieve this. It is offered by?The Gaffney Institute US.

But how can you improve yourself as an individual?

As an Industrial Engineer advocate, I’ve been optimizing processes, systems and machines etc. for 8 years now and in my presentation when I received an award in the recent FWN Global 100 — Emerging Leader Category in San Francisco, California, I said that:

Significance is how you can bring your success to life. So it’s just not a paper, certificate or an award. That’s the main objective why I created the?“Optimize Life Series Project.”?It’s a framework that will explain the end to end process on how an individual can maximize his/her potential, time and resources. It utilizes the Agile Sigma Methodology Framework (combination of agile and lean six sigma) it will be done in 5 sprints. I’ll be leveraging on the best and latest methodologies, tools and strategies.

This project is the best significance of my success. It’s a continuous improvement and innovation through optimization.

If you want to join my alpha class you may join via this link:

Optimize Life Series Project — Our Community

We need to improve ourselves first before we improve an organization.

3. Representation and Awareness of Industrial and Systems Engineers?https://www.iise.org/Home/

It’s 21st Century but people are still talking like Industrial Engineering is for manufacturing only. Industrial Engineers, Leaders in the C-Suite that are Industrial Engineers — in service /other industry must testify and share their experiences to the world. Let the world know your great stories. Inspire more Industrial Engineers!

When I search Industrial Engineering, sometimes I am disappointed — Why? Industrial Engineering is the?engineering that deals with the design, improvement, and installation of integrated systems?(as of people, materials, and energy) in industry...

Is that it?

It is more than that. There is so much more Industrial Engineering can offer, (1) new methodologies, strategies, techniques are already out there, what are we doing about it? (2) it’s also a mindset that an individual can embody to will make an individual unconsciously optimize their life. And many more! (add on comment section!)

Road to Awareness: What now?

Pre Pandemic — People know that Industrial Engineering is great.

Pandemic — People know that Industrial Engineering is great. As an Industrial Engineer you know you are part of a great solution, what did you do about it?

Post Pandemic — New Normal — What are you doing about it now? If you’re an Industrial Engineer, be bold tell your ideas, present a solution that will help your company/business/startup/board survive and recover. I know you know the solution and what exactly to do. Be brave. If your part of the upper management, what are you doing about it to raise awareness and solve the companies problem, the community, do you mentor other Industrial Engineers?

I started sharing my testimonies 6 years ago, do it too! For the IE community.

Imagine a large community of Industrial Engineers thinking that each and everyone of them can make an impact. What plan and platform can they build?

*We need to address these opportunities because new normal needs more Industrial Engineers. We are part of the solution. We are a huge chunk of the recovery. Imagine if all Industrial Engineers will share their testimony. We can eliminate the threats in Industrial Engineering!

RISK or THREAT? — Job Trend for Industrial Engineers

“Employment of industrial engineers is projected to show little or no change from 2014 to 2024. Firms in a variety of industries will continue to seek new ways to contain costs and improve efficiency.

In 2014, this occupation was projected to increase by 0.9% in 2024 to 243,200 jobs. Linear extrapolation of the 2012 projection for 2022 results in an expected number of 235,400 jobs for 2024, 3.2% lower than the 2014 projection for 2024. This indicates expectations for?future employment trends are better than the 2012 trend?within this occupation.”

—?If we will not address the gaps and we will not leverage on the 3 opportunities presented above. We will be expecting for this trend to go down further. The world needs to know how important Industrial Engineers are.

“Industrial engineering began in the late nineteenth century with the development of time-and-motion study, which led to the standardization of steelworkers’ motions and production processes and thereby increased their output. The field became known as “productivity management” in the early 1900s, and it flourished in America with Henry Ford’s successful implementation of the assembly line. The industrial revolution galvanized support for productivity management, and academic institutions gave it the name “industrial engineering,” which is what is studied today. The future of industrial engineering is linked to the future of American manufacturing. Manufacturing is affected by tariffs, employment levels, inflation, advertising, demand, public perception, inventory levels, seasonability of product — the list is endless. Computers make the job more efficient, and will continue to do so in the future, but the fate of the industrial engineer is tied to these unpredictable factors.

“Industrial engineers will continue to be in demand, but their numbers are expected to increase only as fast as manufacturing in the United States increases.” —?Industrial Engineering demand is not dependent on Manufacturing Trend, because Industrial Engineers are needed everywhere. Therefore, awareness is needed.

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Sources: Industrial Engineers, Industrial engineers, including health and safety Industrial engineers find ways to eliminate wastefulness in…careertrend.com, https://www.princetonreview.com/careers/79/industrial-engineer