Industrial engineering is a branch of engineering which is concerned with figuring out how to make or do things better. Industrial engineers have the task of reducing production costs, increasing efficiency, improving the quality of products and services, ensuring worker health and safety, protecting the environment and complying with government regulations. They work to eliminate waste of time, money, materials, energy and other commodities.

Industrial engineering has the following objectives

1. Establishing methods for improving operations and controlling production costs.
2. Developing ways of reducing costs.
3. Researching ways of improving efficiency of processes.
4. Improving production processes and simultaneously ensuring worker safety.

Systems approach to Industrial Engineering

An industrial engineer has to carry out certain tasks when analyzing any activity. These include :-

1. Gathering and analyzing facts.
2. Preparing alternate solutions while considering internal and external constraints.
3. Selecting best solutions for any problem.

Similarly, while identifying any problem, the following steps must be carried out :-

1. Collection of facts using recording techniques like charts, diagrams and models.
2. Examining the facts by asking series of questions and brainstorming ideas for finding solutions.
3. Selection of best alternative if one method doesn't work.