Key Success Factors

for IEs
Engineer A.A. Naqvi
Syed_aan@yahoo.com
B.Sc. Industrial Engineering
Ref.: Industrial Engineering Handbook

Summary

While the role of industrial engineers can and does

vary widely across modern organizations, certain
factors are evident in those organizations in which
industrial engineers have enjoyed much success.
The following are several key success factors for
ensuring the effectiveness of the industrial
engineers role.

1. Be Flexible, but Focused.

Todays industrial engineer should be open to new assignments

and look for opportunities to contribute in new ways.

Expectations of industrial engineers change as the organization

changes and the most successful ones respond by evolving
their role to stay in sync with the overall organization.

At the same time, in whatever role industrial engineers play,

they should strive to maintain a focus on value-added work.

Surveys of U.S. industries show that employees spend only 25

percent of their time on average doing value-added tasks

2. Apply Industrial Engineering

Concepts to Real-World Problems.

To understand a theory is only part of the challenge;

understanding how to use it in a real-life problem is
the true challenge. Too often, younger engineers
apply recipes without understanding their
limitations, thus relying on flawed assumptions to
justify new projects.

The true understanding of how concepts are

applicable makes a very important difference in the
long-term success of projects or change initiatives.
Another challenge is being able to explain to higher
management how these theoretical concepts
translate into bottom-line value for the organization.

3. Understand the Big PictureHow

Change Initiatives Impact the Overall
Organization.

System thinking is a skill that every industrial

engineer should possess. Understanding how a
change can impact an organization is essential in
truly having a positive impact on the bottom line. It
is easy to perform a process improvement on a
subsystem, but understanding and conveying how it
benefits the whole organization is whats really
important

4. Understand and Analyse the

Current Processes Accurately

To understand current processes an industrial

engineer must live the day-to-day reality of the shop
floor.

Only a true comprehension of current reality will

enable the best process improvement alternative:
Not understanding presents the risk of pushing
solutions that look great on paper, but dont answer
the fundamental need of an operation. Often, simple
changes yield large returns and allow for the
discovery of the true long-term process
improvement alternatives.

It is also important to properly apply basic

5. Manage Change.

People manage all processes. If the people affected

by the changes are not convinced of the solution,
there are many ways in which they can contribute
to its failure.

Helping key players understand the importance of

the change and the benefits it will bring to the
organization is a challenging but important task.

Most failures in projects can be attributed to a poor

change management process. Figuring out a new
solution on paper is easier than predicting human
reaction to the changes. Ask, What does it mean
for the people affected? Not taking the time to

6. Follow Through on
Implementation.

Too often the mistake is made of assuming that if a

project is implemented successfully, the benefits will be
recovered. This is a mistake to avoid at all costs. The
goal of an industrial engineer is to create value.
Overlooking the securing of savings that are generated
by a successful project is like forgetting to take home
the groceries you paid for at the store. It is up to the
industrial engineer to ensure that a measurement or
tracking system is put into place, following a project
implementation. Benefits as well as project costs should
be tracked to the bottom line.

7. Be Creative

The ability to see current reality and generate new

ideas is what brings the most value to any changing
organization.

The industrial engineering education provides useful

skills and techniques that can be applied to any
process, from manufacturing to the service industry.

The industrial engineering profession is

continuously growing in new areas because of the
people who used their creativity to apply their
knowledge outside of the traditional field of
industrial engineering practice.

The success of industrial engineers in nontraditional areas, such as logistics, health care,
theme parks, banking, and retail, can be attributed

8. Communicate Clearly

To put ideas into practice, an industrial engineer must also possess

excellent verbal and written communication skills. Most of the
process improvements recommended by industrial engineers involve
techniques or technologies that can be complex.

These solutions could have a sizable impact on the business but may
require significant investments. The ability to present
recommendations to decision makers in a way that they can readily
comprehend requires that industrial engineers work on creating
clarity.

Decision making has to be based on understandable facts that are

supported scientifically. Reporting results and financial information in
an understandable way is also critical in gaining and maintaining the
trust level of senior management. Complex projects may take years
to complete and ongoing communication of milestones is critical in
ensuring continuous support for current and future projects.

Many industrial engineers education and experience position them

well to make significant contributions to organizational performance
improvement across most industries and sectors. Their unique

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