Department of Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering

What Industrial Engineers Do

Industrial engineers focus on how to get the work done most efficiently, balancing many factors, such as time, number of workers needed, available technology, actions workers need to take, achieving the end product with no errors, workers’ safety, environmental concerns, and cost. They also engage in supply chain management and conduct quality assurance activities. In 2018 there were over 284,000 industrial engineering positions in the United States with an average salary of $88,000. Expected job outlook is for a growth rate of 8% per year, which is faster than the national average.