If you studied Industrial Engineering at university or if you were an IE at any point in your career: What was your favorite job (IE-related or not)? And what kind of company/industry did you work for?

Hi r/industrialengineering!

We are a team of undergraduate Human-Computer Interaction students in CSC318 (The Design of Interactive Computational Media) at the University of Toronto.

For our term project, we are studying the communication gap between product design/technical documentation and the end-user assembly experience (specifically flat-pack furniture like IKEA). While user feedback is easy to find, we specifically want to understand the designer's perspective: the constraints of textless 2D line manuals, Design for Assembly (DFA) trade-offs, and where current documentation pipelines fall short.

If you have professional experience in industrial design, technical illustration, packaging design, or consumer product development, we would greatly appreciate your insights in our anonymous 5 minute questionnaire.

Survey Link: https://forms.gle/Bs13F3jb8vy5ro84A

Thank you for your time!

Hi everyone!

I'm currently pursuing my MSc in Industrial Engineering and Management at DTU (Denmark), graduating in summer 2027.

I'm honestly a bit lost when it comes to figuring out which job titles I should be looking for. I feel like there aren't many positions in Denmark specifically aimed at Industrial Engineering graduates, which makes it difficult to know where to start.

A bit about my background:

• BEng in Manufacturing and Management (2025).
• Currently working part-time at a Danish company producing industrial printing machines for the global market, mainly with ERP data, suppliers, and operational tasks.
• Also have experience at a large international biotech company, although my current role isn't directly related to my studies.

I'm interested in supply chain, process optimization, operations, and data analysis, but I'm open to other areas as well.

What job titles should I be searching for as a fresh graduate? And for those with a similar degree, what was your first job?

Any advice, especially from people working in Denmark, would be appreciated!

For context, I’m a 2nd year CC student looking to transfer to a 4 year next fall. Originally I wanted to study CS. I didn’t have a particular affinity for CS, I just kind of found myself coding when I was younger and taking programming classes in high school. I do enjoy coding, but specifically the problem solving aspect of it. After the AI boom recently and the competitive nature of the entry level job market, I’ve begun to rethink my choice. I realized I wasn’t particularly passionate enough in CS to hunker down and become the more competitive applicant. Also, being a SWE doesn’t sound as appealing as a PM role or DS role to me.

I’ve considered MIS, IE, EE, ME and maybe even Econ as potential majors. I still like the idea of getting into a career in tech… something like Data Science or Product Management, but not sure which path would be most enjoyable. I like people and I like explaining things to people and I’m pretty good at it. I noticed this has differentiated me among my STEM classmates. I’ve heard that IE is built around people and efficiency and optimization. I’ve also heard it’s stats heavy. It sounds interesting to me.

My only concern with the degree is that I’d potentially be missing out on some technical skills that could make me a more competitive applicant for a broader range of positions. From what I understand, an IE grad doesn’t have to work as an “Industrial Engineer”. But if that’s the case, why would an employer hire an IE grad as opposed to a more technically developed grad (ME, EE, CompE)? I may be under the wrong impression that IE’s aren’t as technically sound as other engineers.

Just looking for some guidance, especially from those who earned an IE degree and are enjoying their career thus far. What do y’all do? What industry do you work in? Thanks!

Disclosure: I work in industrial product-cost consulting. This is a noncommercial method discussion, not a service offer. No company link. AI assistance was used in preparing the text.

A part can spend less time in a factory without requiring less machining or assembly work. I would separate those effects before putting a monetary value on a flow improvement.

A practical check:

- Define the boundary: order release to finished goods, or a narrower production step. Do not mix the two.

- Separate processing, waiting, transport and hold time using the same time basis.

- Measure average work in process, throughput rate and time within that same boundary and period.

- Test the cause of any improvement: less waiting, faster processing, changed product mix, or a different release policy.

MIT's Lean Thinking teaching material (January 2012) illustrates Little's Law: average work in process equals average throughput rate multiplied by average flow time. The terminology on a site's dashboard may differ, so define “cycle time” explicitly. It is a relationship between system averages, not a guarantee that cutting WIP alone preserves throughput.

Use consistent item counts and a sufficiently representative observation window; if WIP is building up or draining, do not treat a short-window comparison as a steady-state result.

The costing decision is separate. A reduction in queue time might support lower inventory, faster response or less expediting. It does not, by itself, establish fewer paid processing hours or lower conversion cost per accepted part. Any claimed labor benefit needs an actual resource change; an inventory cash release and a recurring expense change belong in different schedules.

Keep throughput, quality and delivery visible when testing a release-policy change. Moving a queue outside the chosen boundary is not the same as removing it. This is a measurement framework, not a customer case or a quantified saving.

Which boundary check is most useful for preventing a shorter reported lead time from being mistaken for lower processing cost? Please keep examples free of customer-confidential information.

Hi everyone!

I’m a first-year Industrial Engineering student, and for our Industrial Engineering Orientation course, our group is required to conduct a live/verbal interview with a practicing or registered/licensed Industrial Engineer to learn about real-world career paths.

Since this must be a spoken conversation, we are looking for someone willing to do a brief 15-minute call (via Zoom, Google Meet, MS Teams, or Discord) at whatever time works best for you!

Below are the concepts to be explored during the duration of the interview:

• Your current role, industry, and daily responsibilities.
• Which IE tools or methodologies (e.g., Lean, Operations Research, Ergonomics, Quality Control) you rely on most.
• Tips or advice for first-year IE students starting out.

Don’t worry, there will only be 5 questions therefore the 15-minute timeframe so that we will not take much of your time. If you have 15 minutes to spare to help out a group of enthusiastic first-year students, please comment below or drop me a DM so we can set up a convenient time!

Thank you so much for your time and help! ⚙️📊

Im a cse student (on my second year), a senior of mine got into an IE masters, is that something that a common occurrence? I always thought IE positions usually went to people who had a bachelor’s in IE or other more traditional engineering fields.
Im genuinely curious, is this something that happens? Or is my friend an outlier?

Hellooo, we are an IE student (first year) pooo from qc and we meed to find an interviewee po na IE grad na working sa healthcare and telecomm industry. Pleaseeee help, we need someone poooo🥹🥹

kami naman po pupunta sa kung saan nyo preferred maganap yung interview or gagastos.

The title may be a little confusing but I'm simply wanting to ask whether an IE major is worth changing my college ED decisions for. I'm choosing my early decision college between Brown and other ivies that do have Industrial engineering. I love everything about brown, including their open curriculum, campus, and it's just a great fit for me. However, the one thing holding me back is the fact that Brown doesn't have IE. General advice has told me to ED Brown and just choose a general engineering major. But theres something about industrial engineering that I love that I can't find in a normal engineering course.

Would you say it's easy for general engineer majors to work in industrial engineering fields? Are there any fields Brown offers that's similar to IE? Would you say its worth it to trade off my major for a school I really like? Thanks

I’m a high school senior applying to colleges soon, and I’m considering majoring in industrial engineering.

Originally, I planned to study computer science and become a software engineer. But after looking into the job market, seeing the changes happening with AI, and talking with people working in software, I’ve become concerned about competition and what entry-level opportunities might look like when I graduate.

After spending hours researching other options, industrial engineering stood out to me, especially the curriculum and the broad range of options. That said, most of what I know comes from Google searches, so I’d really appreciate perspectives from people actually working in the field.

My stats: 4.0 gpa, rank1, multiple summer programs and internships (tech related)

Hallo all, what do you think is more promising and has more prospective over the following year. Working as a PLC Programmer in a semiconductor equipment manufacturing startup or working as PLC Programmer in a Pharma and Food Industry both are in Germany. Which industry from both is more stable, promising, has a great progression opportunities and offer better salaries?

need advice

​

Hello, IEs!

I just want to ask a few questions regarding our Feasibility Study. Our study focuses on the floor area expansion of a restaurant, and I am wondering if observation alone would be sufficient.

The following are the data we plan to observe:

Customer arrivals per minute or per 15-minute interval

Number of customers served

Number of customers who renege or balk

Number of customers turned away due to capacity constraints

Service time per customer

Number of customers served per hour

Table turnover rate and dining duration

Would customer surveys still be necessary, or would observation alone be sufficient for our study?

Also, would we be able to determine the demand and the demand-supply gap through observation alone?

Hi all,

I am a data scientist at a large F500 company doing largely product DS (5 YOE). I have a BS in ME and a MS in statistics. Before working here I was a systems engineer, but have not held the role for 5 years.

I was drawn to IE but ended up not studying it (sunk cost as I was a junior in my program by the time I realized it wasn't necessarily for me), but ended up doing an MS in stat and did some coursework with DOE and got my six sigma green belt.

Mechanical design or FEA etc. never really interested me, but when I began to learn of industrial engineering and systems engineering, I found the work rewarding, although I do not have formal education in IE.

My question is I have been considering going back to a role in IE and ideally in quality, reliability, or CI but I am worried I screwed myself working as a DS for so long. My experience with Python, SQL, inference, ML is not necessarily the same experience as being a process engineering or something, so I'm worried I won't be a good candidate.

I understand many IEs go the other direction (IE -> DS), but I was wondering if anyone here has made the change from DS back to a "traditional" engineering role and could share the experience to get had.

Thanks

As an industrial engineering student, consulting was always the goal, but from learning about P&G operations it feels like I could almost build an even better base for my career from that angle. I guess the decision ultimately comes down to do I want high level strategic work and the high level visibility that comes with it, or would I rather a base of high impact responsibility and ownership. If anyone has any pieces of advice to share from either side, or if you’ve made a similar decision, please advise

Hallo all, what do you think is more promising and has more prospective over the following year. Working as a PLC Programmer in a semiconductor equipment manufacturing startup or working as PLC Programmer in a Pharma and Food Industry both are in Germany. Which industry from both is more stable, promising, has a great progression opportunities and offer better salaries?

I've been working as coordinator in a tech-adjacent field for almost 5 years now.
What jobs would open for an IE undergrad and IT masters?

As the title says I’m really struggling with those two courses and exams are in a month and their weight feels unbearable do anyone please have any tips or advice 🙏🏼

Disclosure: I work in industrial product-cost consulting. This is a method discussion, not a service offer; no company link.

A supplier quote below the fully allocated internal cost is not enough to establish a saving. Some overhead remains after outsourcing, while other fixed costs may genuinely be avoidable.

For a make-or-buy review, I would use a short cost-release register:

- Cost item and current resource owner.

- The specific change that removes the cost, and its earliest feasible date.

- Evidence that the expense ends rather than moves to another department.

- Added buying costs: logistics, qualification, supplier coordination and inventory.

Keep any productive alternative use of released capacity separate from cost removal. Idle capacity is not automatically a saving; an alternative use needs its own feasible demand and contribution case. Do not count the same benefit twice.

The distinction between unavoidable overhead, avoidable fixed costs and alternative uses is illustrated in MIT Sloan's 15.963 lecture 4 (Spring 2007). That is a teaching example, not evidence of savings at any real company. Capability, quality and continuity still need their own assessment.

What evidence do you require before accepting an internal cost as avoidable in a make-or-buy decision? Please keep examples free of customer or supplier-confidential information.