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August 1, 2021

A little history on the evolution of Industrial Engineering

Once upon a time the industrial engineering …

What is it concretely? Where does this profession come from?

In short, you will understand, it’s time to do a bit of history. In this post, I will briefly explain to you (to avoid getting bored …) the birth of Industrial Engineering and the evolution of this function over time.

You will see that I am going to talk mainly about the notion of work organization and production. If you read this blog regularly, you must have probably noticed that Industrial Engineering has diversified to achieve other functions such as the environment, safety … These evolutions are a logical continuation linked to the impact of the industry, but I will not discuss it here. I will go back to the genesis of Industrial Engineering and show you the main evolutions.

Historically, Industrial Engineering finds its roots in the United States at the beginning of the century with the work of Taylor (which we no longer present …), Gilbreth (American engineer, he was a pioneer in the study of movements and work organization), Gantt (mechanical engineer and management consultant), on the study of work organization and cost reduction. The multidisciplinary nature of the profession was already recognized. Moreover, the pioneers of the profession already allied the notion of work organization with that of management.

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In Taylor’s work, we see a certain need to combine the technical dimension with a social and human component, with the specific aim of obtaining productivity gains. The direct consequence resulting from the work of Taylor is indeed the obtaining of a mass production, a strongly progressing machinery and a diffusion of mathematical and statistical methods.

Then Europe and Asia developed a force in this field after the Second World War. The reconstruction of industrial tools called for rational management of monetary and human resources. The advent of automatic and computer techniques has gradually enabled gains in the operating phase of the production tool, whether in terms of quality or productivity.

A boom in Operational Research is also making itself felt (also called decision support, can be defined as the set of rational methods and techniques of analysis and synthesis of organizational phenomena that can be used to develop better decisions. ROI to optimize decision-making power A development of tools is also emerging, such as statistics and mathematics which come to the aid of management, stocks, programming, supplies, equipment maintenance, all this goes well with the notion of “rational management” that I mentioned above. Industrial Engineering until the end of the 1970s was thus closely linked to productivity.

The two oil shocks, the industrial boom in emerging countries, the upheaval of political and economic systems in Eastern Europe, changes in lifestyles and the globalization of markets are creating new conditions for our companies.

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It was not until the 1980s that the name Industrial Engineering took off, succeeding the term Scientific Organization of Work.

With the increasing complexity of the industrial environment, the profession as such must adapt, new functions have been born:

  • know how to integrate design and production methods and information into the company’s internal and external human resources,
  • to be able to direct all the potential of the organization towards the satisfaction of the real needs of the consumer (in other words, the customer!)
  • integrate the cost / lead time / quality compromise: intrinsic production costs, production lead times and the quality expected by the customer

The concept of Industrial Engineering, although quite recent as we have seen, has undergone a strong evolution according to the needs of the moment. Previously, the need of industries was all the more turned towards a technical and organizational need for mass production. Nowadays, this need has turned into a managerial need oriented towards innovation and problem solving.

As you probably know, “globalization” and consequently increased competition between companies only reinforces this new need.

What is automation technology?

Automation technology encompasses all of the work procedures and equipment that allow facilities to operate independently. This includes machines, apparatus, instruments and other devices. Human intervention is hardly necessary.

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The discipline belonging to engineering sciences covers a multidisciplinary approach that includes mechanical engineering and electrical engineering. The aim of automation technology is to automate machines and plants so that they work autonomously with efficiency and a low error rate. Depending on the complexity of the installations, it is possible to achieve different degrees of automation. The higher this automation, the less human involvement in the ordering process. The improvement of the central components contributes strongly to making the systems more and more efficient. Harmonic Drive AG is a competent partner for quality drives in the field of automation technology.

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