What can I work on if I study Industrial Engineering?

What can I work on if I study Industrial Engineering? This is a question that many have asked themselves if they are thinking study industrial engineering having Doubts about the field of work of an industrial engineer and where he can work. Given that industrial engineering is one of the most sought-after careers in Colombia, it is important to know in which fields, sectors and jobs these graduates can perform. But first, let's start with the basics:

What is the career of the industrial engineer?

THE industrial engineering It is a branch of engineering that deals with the development, improvement and implementation of integrated systems of people, money, knowledge, information and equipment to optimize complex processes, systems or organizations.

It's a career that integrates practices and functions of the areas of human, material, IT and financial resources, among others, a optimize and increase the productivity of a company or organization.

The industrial engineer deals with organizational and business problems such as:

• Plan, evaluate and implement investment projects in pursuit of value generation for key players in the organization.
• Design of industrial systems and processes with a global and scalable approach.
• Optimize production times, making production more efficient to exploit every second.
• Maximize and leverage limited resources so there is no waste or shrinkage.
• The optimization of production processes, processes and tasks of operators and machinery.
• Maximizing profits and/or profits.

What does an industrial engineer do?

The field of work of an Industrial Engineer is extremely broad and has as its professional field companies that produce goods and services in the most diverse fields of economic activity. This professional can work in companies in the following sectors: mining, industrial, commercial, financial, manufacturing, construction, product, service and even logistics areas.

Professional field of an industrial engineer

Regardless of sector or industry, an industrial engineer can work in the following areas:

Production, logistics and distribution

An industrial engineer can use his knowledge of process planning and optimization and apply it to the production, distribution and logistics chain. These engineers can design plans and execute them so that each of the steps in the process is done as efficiently and quickly as possible. It includes tasks such as planning, scheduling work shifts and identifying raw materials. It is about having such comprehensive planning that makes it possible to make the production process something really profitable for the organizations.

Industrial safety

In order for processes within a company to function properly, especially those relating to operators, safety in their working environment must be guaranteed. These can develop protection policies, methodologies and actions for workers, with the aim that they are in the best conditions to achieve the objectives of the organizations.

Project management

An industrial engineer may also fill project manager positions, applying and creating new methodologies to manage such projects. It is carried out through 4 specific functions: planning, organization, management and control. It is a process of resource management, using engineering expertise, techniques and methodologies to address the changing needs and goals of the business.

Finance and accounting

From the point of view of industrial engineering, the field of finance links 2 variables: on the one hand, the transparency and profitability of financial statements; and second, strategic thinking to make these financial statements profitable with optimization potential. An industrial engineer analyzes real-world situations to evaluate their room for improvement and apply it to an area-level, process-improvement, or company-wide project. Or analyze the company's equity and financial situation, in order to be able to evaluate the company's results.

Processes and standardization

At this point, the engineer has the task of finding how to enhance and optimize all the processes of the company's production chain. This can be based on customer satisfaction, quality management and increased production. This must analyze the scenario to identify improvement points, generate process standardizations and verify that each of the phases is carried out in the best way, in compliance with the legal requirements in force.

As can be seen, a good percentage of graduates from this career are in more specific and diversified fields, in addition to the classic industrial manufacturing.

Furthermore, an Industrial Engineer graduated from the VIA allows you to work in public or private organizations, being able to hold positions such as:

• Director of planning departments
• Director of logistics departments
• Director of production departments
• Director of quality departments
• Purchasing Director.
• general manager
• Innovation and technology manager.
• Entrepreneur
• Project leader.

Study a career in Industrial Engineering at EIA!

Now that you thoroughly understand what an industrial engineer works on, consider studying Industrial Engineering at VIA. Youand we invite you to learn more about our programme, the subjects you can take and the skills you will develop as a graduate of the programme. Make up your mind and contact us.