Younger, John E. (John Elliott), 1892-

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 The Knowledge Bank at The Ohio State University Ohio State Engineer  Title:  What is Industrial Engineering? Creators:  Younger, John E. (John Elliott), 1892- Issue Date:  Nov-1934 Publisher:  Ohio State University, College of Engineering Citation:  Ohio State Engineer, vol. 18, no. 2 (November, 1934), 7-8. URI:  http://hdl.handle.net/1811/35164 Appears in Collections: Ohio State Engineer: Volume 18, no. 2 (November, 1934)  What Is IndustrialEngineeringBy John YoungerINDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING is seemingly a new termand one which is not often understood and indeedoccasionally misunderstood. Yet it represents abranch of engineering which is very old, going back infact to our earliest forms of manufacture when theIsraelites made bricks and when Tuba! Cain forgedweapons for the chase.For industrial engineering should really be called manu-facturing engineering, as it deals with that science. Ifyou are interested in how to make things, how to man-age men, how to understand the cost of manufacturing,or in management generally, then you are clearly destinedto be an industrial engineer. If you like to work aroundtools, if you like the smell of hot metal and the smell ofhot oil as the tool runs over the metal, then you are inter-ested in Industrial or Manufacturing Engineering.It is only recently that there has arisen a science ofmanufacturing. Formerly things were made any oldway, the important thing not being the way they weremade but the final result after they were made. Let usillustrate. At one time Henry Ford of Walter Chryslersaid, "Build me a car." He didn't care how it was built,the important thing was to obtain a car. But today asignificant change has come about. These two manufac-turers are saying to their staff not, "Build me a car,"but "Build me a $450 car," which means that the carhas to be manufactured to a price and you know whatthat means. It means that every step in the manufactur-ing process has to be scrutinized—that the cost of each stephas to be analyzed and that the one best way of manu-facturing has to be selected and only the best way. Manu-facturing has become scientific and now demands men whoare trained to think straight and clearly. It demandsmore and more college graduates who are trained in fac-tory processes, and in: cost analysis. It wants men whohave a background of general engineering, with a specialstudy in economics and in cost accounting and in shopprocesses. All of this work this University is preparedto give.What is economics? We read in the paper a lot abouteconomists helping the government, but how can econo-mists help manufacturers? Let me give you a simpleillustration. Some of you may know what a planer is—a tool for cutting materials in which a table reciprocatesunder a single-point tool which shaves off the materiallaid on the table. Now, you may also know that a mill-ing machine is a machine having the same result butdoing it in a very different way. Well, the planer isfound in tool rooms and the milling machine is found inmass-production shops, rarely do they interchange. Why?Because each has its logical place, due to the economics ofthe situation. And so the science of economics teachesus whether to use a large machine or a small one, or onetype or the other. A knowledge of economics allied witha knowledge of engineering is a tremendous asset to theyoung engineer who wishes to be a successful manager.Similarly there goes a knowledge of cost accounting andof materials of construction and of mechanics. All ofwhich are in the curriculum of the Industrial Engineer.There is another branch of engineering closely alliedto manufacturing and that is sales engineering. Hereagain there is a tremendous field for the young man whois fond of traveling, of keeping out of the rut, of meet-ing people, and of rarely having routine jobs. The salesengineer is likewise a new product of the century, anddemands are now for men college trained in engineeringand in business.It is easy to design an article or product. It is rela-tively easy to manufacture it, but it is a difficult thing tosell it. Just suppose you are in a steering gear businessmaking gears for the automotive industry and you want tosell your new steering gear to Ford or Plymouth or Chev-rolet. You must know its weight and its reduction ratesand its available power or torque at the steering arm.And you must know its length and inclination—all en-gineering facts, before you can sell it intelligently. Thesales engineer of today is more than an engineer; he is anengineer plus business man occupies a responsible posi-tion with a good salary. Many of our Industrial Engi-neering graduates are sales engineers and obtained theirpreliminary college education here in Industrial Engineer-ing by taking special courses in salesmanship and market-ing. Some of them are with the General Electric Com-pany selling their specialties. Some are at the GoodyearTire and Rubber Company selling power belts and fleetinstallations of truck and tractor tires. Some are in themachine tool business selling milling machines and grind-ing machines. Others are with Frigidaire selling air con-ditioning equipment, and so it goes.The last few sentences illustrate the places wheregraduates in Industrial Engineering go. They first ofall go anywhere there is something to be manufacturedor where an engineering product is to be sold. They goto the rubber industries, the metal working industries, theglass industries, the automotive industry, the machine toolindustry, and the electrical industry. This broad fieldensures that we will have a demand for our men and thisNovember, 1934 Page 7has proved to be the case. Throughout the depressionyears we have always been able to place our best men.True we have not placed all our men, but all have had achance.It is interesting to note that our work leads to man-agement positions. It usually takes years to be a manager,but the groundwork we give you in Industrial Engineer-ing is a distinct asset. This ground work largely revolvesaround the handling of men, and in some of our courseswe try to give you an education which will be helpful inthis field. *We are too young, only eight years old, to be able topoint to any outstanding men who have graduated fromour department, but we can point to several who are ontheir way. Otto Winter graduated some six years agoand went .as an apprentice sales engineer to the CincinnatiMilling Machine Company. He advanced rapidly andbecause of his ability was given the post of representativein Russia. He spent a year there and did splendid workin introducing and revealing the mysteries of milling ma-chines and cutters to the Russians. He returned to Amer-ica and was made Assistant Manager of the Detroit office.He entered into the work of the city of Detroit and tookup membership in several of the local engineering societies.This work brought him to the attention of the Whitmanand Barnes Company, an old-time concern of high stand-ing making drilling machines and other tools. He is nowtheir Chief Engineer.Our two first graduates—we had only two men en-rolled when we started—are doing splendidly. One,Mr. H. L. Cannell, is in charge of sales of lubricatingoil for the Standard Oil Company. He sells to manu-facturing and similar plants. The other, Mr. W. S.Gillen, is a superintendent of one of the General Electricplants at Warren, Ohio.Obviously there are positions open to industrial en-gineers regardless of the times. No company can at anytime reject a capable man who understands the latest de-velopments in equipment, the best methods of productionand the most efficient basis on which to operate a com-pany. This does not mean that we can coast throughschool on just enough work to get by, and expect to beo^ered a position as general manager; but it does meanthat if we dig out the facts, learn fundamentals, and areable to apply them we can forge on to a successful careerin our line of engineering.

What is Industrial Engineering?

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What is Industrial Engineering?

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