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At times while reading this book, you may wonder exactly what you are learning and you may not be able to point to specific new skills and knowledge you have, but I guarantee that you will have new ideas and new ways of thinking by the time you complete this book. By the time you finish reading this book, you will have begun to think like an IE. How does an IE think?

One example of how an IE thinks is that when something goes wrong - a customer got the wrong shipment, a worker was injured, a plant did not produce the quantity of product that was planned for that day - an IE blames the system, not the people. An IE keeps asking "why?" until the root cause is identified for a problem:

• Why did the customer receive the wrong shipment?
  • Because the wrong shipping label was put on the customer’s shipment.
• Why was the wrong shipping label put on the customer’s shipment?
• Because some shipments were removed from the shipping department.
• Why were the shipments removed?
  • Because the customer had made some last minute changes to the order.
• Why did the customer make some last minute changes?
  • And so forth.

The IE in this example could end up identifying problems in how customer orders are tracked, in how the sales people identify appropriate products for customers, or in when and how shipping labels are printed and applied to shipments. The IE will probably end up making changes to the physical system (including the information system) and to the procedures used. Perhaps the shipping label should not be printed until the order is actually being shipped.

The big idea from this example is that an IE blames the system, not the people. Now, that idea may not always be true; yes, sometimes people simply make mistakes, but the IE should always think first, second, and often about how systems can be improved so people don’t make mistakes. An IE tries to set up systems so people do tasks right the first time every time.

Here is a list of ideas that you will read about throughout this book and that we will bring up repeatedly in our discussions:

• If a problem occurs, blame the system, not the people.
• Design the system so people do tasks right the first time every time.
• Design the system so people can do their work quickly, safely, and well.
• Reduce the variation in a system, so tasks are done consistently.
• IEs are always unhappy because they are always thinking "this could be done better."
• If it ain’t broke, it can still be improved.
• Small incremental improvements of a process add up, but more radical reengineering may sometimes be needed.
• A system should help ordinary people do extraordinary work.
• Some workers hate IEs because industrial engineering can be viewed as a tool of management to get more work out of the workers.
• How a person does a job is important in achieving quality, efficiency, and safety.
• The process for doing a task makes a big difference in how quickly, well, and safely the task is done.
• Achieve quality in goods and services by having good processes, not by inspecting goods and services to fix problems after they have occurred.
• While most engineers design physical objects, industrial engineers design systems. A system includes physical objects, but also includes rules and procedures that aren't physical.
• The ideas of IE have been around for decades, but the ideas get repackaged and resold periodically: some examples are TQM, CQI, re-engineering, the Toyota system, lean manufacturing, Six Sigma.
• IEs can work for any organization because IEs improve processes and systems.
• Every organization must scan the environment for change and must think about its place in the global economy.
• The customer is not always right, but the customer comes first.
• All products and services involve both products and services.
• A team of people using good team processes will produce better work than any one of the individuals could have.
• Happy workers are good workers.
• Decisions should be based on facts, logic, and analysis, not on hunches.
• People can usually grasp information better, especially data, if it is displayed visually.
• Document what you do.
• Don’t use information technology to computerize an inefficient process; make the process more efficient first.
• An IE must engage in life long learning. You must keep up with new technologies, new software, and new ideas.

None of the above statements is true all the time. You don’t want to stick blindly to any one of these statements all the time. But most of the time, the above ideas are good ways for an IE to think.

It is about you

One big, final idea that you will see throughout this book is that industrial engineering is about you, in two ways. First, the ideas of industrial engineering can be applied to your own life, and second, you need to make sure that you use good processes for doing industrial engineering. As an IE you work on improving the system of the organization for which you work; as an individual, you work on improving the system that is you.

Many students have read and have recommended very strongly The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey. Those seven habits are:

1. Be proactive.
2. Begin with the end in mind.
3. Put first things first.
4. Think win/win.
5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood.
6. Synergize.
7. Sharpen the saw.

In Chapter 8 (IE Careers), I’ll give you more details on each of these points. Together, the seven habits help you apply IE ideas to make yourself an effective person.

As an IE, you do your work in a context: the people you work with closely, the organization that employs you, the area where the organization is located, the state where you live, the country where you live, and, of course, the world. The systems approach, which I’ll explain in Chapter 5, urges you to think about putting the process you are studying into a larger context so you won’t make a change that improves the process but that does damage to the larger system. I like the phrase “think globally, act locally.”

IEs, more than other engineers, think about the people in the system. Engineering ethics, which I’ll present in Chapter 8, starts with the rule “Engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public in the performance of their professional duties.” Throughout this book, I’ll urge you to consider your own behavior and your effect on systems at different levels and especially your effect on people.

For example, as a woman in a male dominated field, I have decided to use inclusive language; I avoid using the word “he” for an engineer. I don’t want my language behavior to cause any student to have doubts about becoming an engineer.

You’ll have many issues to think about throughout this book. One of the biggest issues involves your choices about who you are.