Black Intelligentsia Libraries
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Industrial Engineer
​Do you consider yourself to be multi-talented, a person of many gifts?  Are you are a lover of Math, Science, puzzles, and strategy games?  Do you have the gift of "imagination"?  If so, then Industrial Engineering may be the perfect occupation for you.  It is only fitting that other engineering disciplines jokingly refer to IEs as "imaginary engineers."  It takes imagination—a true gift—to make or invent something out of nothing or a way out of no way, which is the earmark and calling card of an Industrial Engineer.  Because the craft is so broadly based and vastly scoped, Industrial Engineers truly become "Jacks and Jills of all trades."

An Industrial Engineer's scope in the manufacturing world includes but is not limited to:  forecasting demand, facilities design (plant layout according to annual production demand), simulations and resource planning (number of people to hire and machines to buy to meet production needs), methods engineering (production line balancing and designing to ensure smooth production flow, eliminate unnecessary inventory, and maximize throughput/output), ergonomics (workstation design to protect production workers), test engineering and quality control (to eliminate product defects), logistics and packaging (movement of product between workstations and to and from plant), supply management (supplier quality and reliability to plant from supplier), manufacturing engineering (actual step-by-step making/machining of product), cost analysis (purchasing and budging), inventory control (raw materials, finished goods, and between workstations), database design and management, and scheduling (production, machines, and workers).  Experience in simulations, finance, scheduling, logistics, and database design makes IEs invaluable as they are highly utilized in service industries from hospitals, banks, warehouse-stores (Home Depot, Lowes, Target and Walmart), traffic controlling, military, postal services (UPS, FedEx), and natural disaster emergency management (FEMA).

Students interested in studying Industrial Engineering should take high school courses in Mathematics, such as Algebra, Trigonometry, and Calculus; Computer Science; and Sciences such as Chemistry and Physics.  A Bachelor's Degree in Industrial Engineering takes 4 to 5 years, depending on the program and coop experience.  Licensure is required for those who wish to establish their own Industrial Engineering consulting firms and provide services directly to the public.  

Since Industrial Engineering is so closely tied to finance, it would serve one well to consider a minor in Business Management while pursuing their undergraduate degree in order to gain a more theoretical, less math-intensive, supplemental understanding of managing a manufacturing plant.  This will only help in the transition into upper management and executive positions, after familiarizing oneself with management terminologies. Manufacturing coops and internships typically start with time-studies, 2-D facility layouts with AutoCAD, and the making of instruction manuals for production workers as a means of establishing standard operating procedures (or SOPs).

Industrial Engineers are the cryptologists of the manufacturing and service industries, using mathematical modeling, accounting/finance principles, and statistics to decipher codes and to invent order and efficiency out of chaos.  ​Because the scope of an IE is so broad and the range so vast, IE graduates "wear many hats" and hold just as many different titles throughout their careers.  Regardless of the superficial title manifested on name-tags, badges, or on paper, the title of "inventor" is one that will endure every step of the way.
Job Description
Median Salary & Range
​Median Salary:  $77,240

Salary Range:  ~$50,350 - $115,340+
College Majors & Attainment Routes
​The normal routes to becoming an Industrial Engineer have been to major in Industrial and Systems Engineering, Transportation and Logistics Engineering, or Manufacturing Engineering, and in rare cases, Mechanical Engineering.  

Very few, if any, Industrial Engineering programs offer concentrations in undergraduate studies.  They are designed to train their graduates to be "Jacks and Jills of all trades" in the manufacturing and service industries.  In order to concentrate in and develop a particular area of expertise, one would have to seek a Master's Degree in that particular area, ideally after gaining a few years of post-graduate work experience in that desired concentration.
Colleges That Provide Above Majors
​Colleges and universities that have Industrial Engineering and related majors are:  North Carolina A&T State University (Greensboro, North Carolina); Morgan State University (Baltimore, Maryland); Tennessee State University (Nashville, Tennessee); Virginia State University (Petersburg, Virginia); Alabama A&M University (Normal, Alabama); Howard University (Washington, DC); Prairie View A&M University (Prairie View, Texas); Tuskegee University (Tuskegee, Alabama); Spelman College (Atlanta, Georgia); Southern University (Baton Rouge, Louisiana); Florida A&M University (Tallahassee, Florida); Savannah State University (Savannah, Georgia); Benedict College (Columbia, South Carolina); Wilberforce University (Wilberforce, Ohio); Central State University (Wilberforce, Ohio); and Florida Memorial University (Miami Gardens, Florida).​
Available Scholarships