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Industrial Engineersin the

Industrial Evolution

J.G. “Hans” Demmel, PhD

Sr. Vice President – IndustryInstitute of Industrial Engineers

Sr. Manager Systems EngineeringRaytheon Missile Systems

TPCR: RMS-1402

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EVOLUTION

Process of Continuous Change

from a

Simpler State

to a

more Complex State

Definition

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Unique PositionIndustrial Engineers are in a Unique Position to Manage Evolutionary progress due to the way in which we view the World

Pessimist: Glass is half emptyOptimist: Glass is half fullIndustrial Engineer:Glass is twice as big as it needs to be !

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• Industrial Engineers have been, and continue to be, in the middle of the continuing Industrial Evolution

• Employed the concepts associated with Digital Computing to move Manufacturing from a Simpler State to a more Complex State

In The Middle

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Employing Networks

• Industrial Engineers employed Network Technology to move Service Industries from a Simpler state to a more Complex state

• Developed integrated order processing systems tying real-time Inventory Systems to Point of Sale order systems

ETHERNET

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Trade Studies

• Industrial Engineers, as a result of their breadth, lead Trade Studies that evaluate competing alternatives to employ in the Industrial Evolution

• Trade studies are made at the appropriate level of detail to support decision making and lead to a proper balance between system performance and cost

Should I buy a laptop, a notebook, or a tablet

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Life Cycle Costs

• Industrial Engineers possess the skills to justify investments in more automated and integrated systems

• Cost vs. Value• Life Cycle Costs

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Man-Machine Interface

• Industrial Engineers are key to keeping the Human a part of the evolutionary process

Modern 737 cockpit displaycommons.wikimedia.org/wiki

Early 737 cockpit displaycommons.wikimedia.org/wiki

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Mitigate Unintended Consequences• With evolution come unexpected results• Industrial Engineers cover the elements others may omit

zimbio.com

creditcardmachine-direct.com

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Data Fusion

• Industrial Engineers understand how to leverge multiple data sources

• Taking various independent data elements, and combining them to create meaningful information

Weather Applications and Products Enabled Through Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII)ops.fhwa.dot.gov 1/2007

VII ABS Events

VII Derived Vehicle Speeds

RWIS Road Temps

Precipitation Type

Road Treatment Data

Precipitation Rate

Fused Interest Field

Final Product – Slick RoadwaysDecision Support System – Targeted Treatments

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System Integrators

• As Industry moves towards greater complexity, a role exists for individuals with interdisciplinary skills to pull the complexity together

• Industrial Engineers are able to accomplish this• Collaborate with

– Information Technology– Electrical designers– Computer Science– Mechanical designers– Medical Professionals– Management– Others …

INFORMATIONTECHNOLOGY ELECTRICAL

DESIGN

MECHANICALDESIGN

COMPUTERSCIENCE

MANUFACTURINGENGINEERS

MEDICALM

AN

AG

EMEN

T

CHEMICALENGINEERS

PHYSICS

FINANCE

CONTRACTS / LEGAL

SUPP

LY C

HA

IN

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Parting Thoughts• To the engineer, all matter in the universe can be

placed into one of two categories

1) Things that need to be fixed, and 2) Things that will need to be fixed after you've had a few

minutes to play with them

• Engineers like to solve problems

• If there are no problems available, they will create their own problems

Normal people don't understand this concept; they believe that if it ain't broke, don't fix it

Engineers believe that if it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet