INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING &

ERGONOMICS (ME 392)

 Industrial Engineering Defined
 Industrial Engineering is defined by the Institute
of Industrial Engineers as :
 A branch of Engineering “concerned with the
design, installation, and improvement of
integrated systems of people, material,
equipment, and energy.

 It draws on specialized knowledge and skills in

the mathematical, physical, and social sciences
together with the principles and methods of
engineering analysis and design to specify,
predict, and evaluate the results to be obtained
Basic Objectives
 Ergonomics Defined
- The science of
fitting a job to a
worker.

- It is mainly concerned with the field of the human operator and

his working environment.
 Course Overview
1. Methods Engineering- Planning, methods study,
standardisation, work measurement, control .

2. Forecasting: Quantitative & Qualitative -Times

series models –Jury of executive opinions, Delphi methods, naïve,
moving averages, trend projection, exponential smoothing etc

3. Layout and Material Handling - Product and Process

layouts and Material Handling

4. Ergonomics – Psychological components of job design,

labour standards

5. Total Quality Management & Inventory

 Course Objectives
Upon completion of this course, you would be able to:
1.State the basics of methods engineering;
2.Explain and apply approaches to forecasting and forecasting
techniques;
3.Explain facility layout techniques (Process and Product
Layout) and the techniques for their optimisation, and the role
of material handling systems in them;
4. Explain ergonomics, describe work station design and job
design;
5. Explain the techniques of total quality management and
 Reading List
1. Barry Render and Jay Heizer (1995), Principles of Operations
Management: Building and Managing World Class Operations.
2. Benjamin Niebel (1982), Motion and Time Study, Richard Irwin INC,
USA
3. Fred Meyers, (1999),Motion and Time Study for Lean Manufacturing,
Prentice Hall Press, 2nd Edition.
4. Fred Meyers and Matthew Stephens (?) Manufacturing Facilities
Design and Material Handling
5. David Osborne (1985), Ergonomics at Work, Wiley & Son Ltd, New
York
 BACKGROUND
 The advent of industrial
engineering is
frequently associated
with the industrial
revolution (1760-1820).
 It was during this period
that household
production was
replaced by production
in factories.
 BACKGROUND-INDUSTRIAL
REVOLUTION -1
Before the Industrial Revolution: every thing was done manually.
E.g. Clothing and textiles, furniture, tools for working on farms etc
Distributions: Goods produced could only be distributed in the
locality in which they were produced;
Communication: Messages had to be sent through travelers to
other countries;
Fuel: Wood was being used as fuels;
Transportation: horses were used
Limitations of producing everything manually??
Limitations of Producing
Manually
 BACKGROUND-INDUSTRIAL
REVOLUTION -2
Industrial Revolution (IR): Brought a transition to new production and
manufacturing processes
 Business men harnessed the power of rivers and streams to
mechanise particular sectors
Three main innovations were associated with the IR:
Mechanised cotton spinner powered steam or water
The efficiency of steam engines improves so that they no
longer required a lot of fuel.
Charcoal was substituted for coke with for iron making
(reduced fuel costs)
 BACKGROUND-INDUSTRIAL
REVOLUTION -3
- A gentleman by name Samuel Slater stole the technology
and travelled to America.
- Today, almost everything is being mechanised:
Shoe manufacturing
Food manufacturing
Automobile manufacturing
Electronics manufacturing
Fuel production
What can we say about Ghana and manufacturing?
Effects of Industrial Revolution
 Industrial Revolution – A Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=d4joqYycnqM
 BACKGROUND-IE - 1

 Frederick Winslow Taylor : founder of

Industrial Engineering and Scientific
Management.

 His pioneering work in:

 design,

 measurement planning and scheduling

(1880-1915)
 BACKGROUND – IE- 2

 Taylor introduced the concept of, methods

engineering, time study, tool standardization,
costing methods, employee job selection, and
incentives, among others.

 Frank and Lilian Gilbreth also made significant

contributions to IE
 BACKGROUND – IE- 3
Frand & Lilian critiqued the formulation of IE & SM provided by
Winslow According to the couple:
The formulation of IE and SM provided by Winslow would be
difficult to follow and,
 was also incomplete because it did not consider the human
element on the shop floor.
The Gilbreth’s are also recognised with the introduction of
‘therbligs’
The term ‘classical’ has been applied to the traditional industrial
 Effective Industrial Engineer
 Has capability of evaluating and utilizing the
appropriate classical and more sophisticated
management-science operations research
techniques in solving unstructured real life
problems.

 Has good interpersonal skills and be very

observant.
 Classical Activities - 1
Industrial engineering is similar to civil, electrical and chemical
- IE is concerned with analysis and design
-the application of laws and material of nature for useful and
constructive purposes.
IE is also different because it is concerned with equipment and
systems in which people are an integral part.
An industrial engineer must be able to integrate people into
designs and must know their physical, physiological and
psychological and other characteristics –singly or in groups.
 Activities
 The early, and still major, activities if
industrial engineers include
 work methods analysis and improvement,
 work measurement and the establishment of
standards, wage rates and incentives
 job and workplace design,
 plant layout, assembly line balancing
 material handling,
 cost reduction
 production planning and scheduling,
 inventory control,
 maintenance scheduling, equipment evaluation,
 overall productivity improvement
 Activities
 All these activities were done, almost
exclusively in the early days, in
manufacturing industries.
 As technology evolved, additional activities
were added to this list. These include:
 Machine tool analysis,
 Numerically controlled machine installation and
programming,
 Linear programming
 Queuing theory
Activities
 Simulations,

 Management information systems,

 Human/machines systems design,

 Ergonomics,

 Biomechanics, and

 the use of robots and automation

Activities
Industrial engineering techniques that were
used to successfully run a factory could
also be applied
 in the office,
 laboratory,
 classroom,
 hospital (including the operating room),
 banks,
 the government, the military and,
 other non-industrial sectors.
Activities
 The production function is dynamic by its
inherent activities .
 Traditional industrial engineers are
frequently called upon to determine the
impact of product mix variances, and
equipment additions or deletions on
facilities arrangement and line balancing
on the manufacturing area.
Activities

 The production function has become more

complex with the additional energy
computations and pollution level
considerations.
 As a result, it is almost impossible to
evaluate manually;
 However, through the use of simulation on a
computer, answers to “what if” types of
questions which provide significant inputs
to the decision maker are able .  
 METHODS ENGINEERING

 A technique used by progressive management

to improve productivity and reduce costs in
both direct and indirect operations of
manufacturing and non-manufacturing
business organisations.

 Methods engineering is applicable to any

enterprises where human effort is required.
METHODS ENGINEERING

 It can be defined as the systematic procedure

for subjecting all direct and indirect
operations to close scrutiny in order to
introduce improvements that will make work
easier to perform and will allow work to be
done smoother, in less time, with less energy,
effort, and fatigue, and with less investment
per unit.
 The ultimate objective of methods
engineering is profit improvement.
METHODS ENGINEERING - OBJECTIVES

Main Objectives: Other Objectives :

 Improve customer satisfaction
 Increase productivity and  Improve product and/or service
efficiency quality
 Reduce lead times and improve
 Reduce cycle time work flow
 Reduce product cost  Increase flexibility of work
system
 Reduce labor content  Improve worker safety
 Apply more ergonomic work
methods
 Enhance the environment (both
inside and outside the facility)
METHODS ENGINEERING
 Methods engineering includes five
activities:
 PLANNING

 Identify the amount of time that should be

spent on a project so as to get as much of
the potential savings as is practical.
 METHODS STUDY
Through methods study:

 What is currently being done is observed;

 Better ways of executing functions are

developed.
STANDARDISATION
 The standardisation phase includes
training of the operator to follow the
standard method.

 Standardisation of
 equipment,

 methods, and

 working conditions .
WORK MEASUREMENT
 The number of standard hours in which
operators, working on standardised job or
working with standardised method is
determined by measurement.

 Work Measurement methods

 stop-clock time studies

 Work sampling
CONTROLS

 The established method is periodically

audited, and various management
controls are adjusted with the new time
data.

 The system may include a plan for

compensating labour that encourages
attaining or surpassing a standard
METHODS ENGINEERING

Work Review of
sampling Records
planning

Operation Flow process Man and Machine

process chart chart process chart

Purpose of the Design of Tolerances and Materials Process of Method

operation the part specifications manufacture study

Set – up and Plant Layout Material Working Motion and

tools Handling Conditions micromotion study

standardization
Standardardization of Operator training Standardization of
tools working conditions

Work measurement
Fundamental motion Time Study Standard data
data and formulas

controls
Wage Incentives Management Audits
controls

Fig. 1 – Elements of Methods Engineering