Industrial Engineering

The industrial engineering major gives you the skills needed to design, operate, manage and improve complex systems that involve people, materials, information, equipment and money. You gain the ability to analyze and optimize these systems to improve quality, productivity and safety of complex systems.

Preparing You for Success

As an industrial engineering major, you learn how business interests work together with engineering principles to provide goods and services for the global economy. Courses give you a foundation in engineering analysis, statistics, mathematics and computer applications. Because an industrial engineering degree is beneficial to management positions in many professions, the program includes the option of a management minor. You can tailor the degree to your career interests by adding a concentration in engineering management, logistics and supply chain engineering or systems engineering.

Because industrial engineers can work in so many different fields, the list of projects they may be assigned can be varied. For example, an industrial engineer may design the admissions procedure at a hospital, improve a product assembly process to increase quality and reduce worker injury or work with other engineers to design a new office building.

By the time you graduate, your experiences may include:

  • Analysis of economic aspects of engineering decisions; Statistical and data analytical skills for Big Data analysis
  • A laboratory-intensive introduction to manufacturing machinery and processes, tooling, and safety
  • Analysis of factors affecting product quality during manufacturing
  • Designing work environment with ergonomics and human factor principles
  • Optimizing complex systems via analytical modeling and virtual computer simulation
  • Networking and professional development through student organizations such as the American Society for Quality, the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers and APICS (the association for supply chain management)
  • Researching projects, study abroad programs, co-op programs, internships and a semester-long senior design project

Making Your Mark

Industrial engineering major is valuable in manufacturing and retail companies, and service industries, such as hospitals, government and logistics and also consulting firms. In recent years, almost all industrial engineering students found jobs or continued their education within six months of graduation. They are working at places such as Accenture, Amazon, Caterpillar, John Deere, Kohler, Microsoft and SpaceX.

Accreditation

Bradley's industrial engineering program is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, https://www.abet.org.

Major Requirements

Required Courses - 46 hrs.

  • IME 101: Introduction to Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering - 1 hr.
  • IME 103: Computer Aided Graphics - 2 hrs.
  • IME 110: Introduction to Computers and Computational Analysis - 3 hrs.
  • IME 301: Engineering Economy I - 3 hrs.
  • IME 311: Intro to Engineering Statistical Methods - 3 hrs.
  • IME 313: Operations Research I - 3 hrs.
  • IME 331: Fundamentals of Materials Science - 3 hrs.
  • IME 341: Introduction to Manufacturing Processes - 3 hrs.
  • IME 386: Industrial and Managerial Engineering - 3 hrs.
  • IME 401: Engineering Economy II – 3 hrs.
  • IME 412: Design of Experiments – 3 hrs.
  • IME 422: Manufacturing Quality Control – 3 hrs.
  • IME 461: Simulation of Manufacturing and Service Systems - EL – 3 hrs.
  • IME 466: Facilities Planning - 3 hrs.
  • IME 485: Occupational Ergonomics - WI – 3 hrs.
  • IME 499: Senior Design Project - WI + EL – 4 hrs.

Approved Technical Elective Courses - 21 hrs.

Students with a concentration should see the specific list of courses under their concentration. For students without a concentration, at least four of the technical electives (12 hrs.) must be Industrial Engineering courses from the following list:

  • IME 314: Operations Research II – 3 hrs.
  • IME 468: Engineering Analytics I – 3 hrs.
  • IME 478: Engineering Analytics II – 3 hrs.
  • IME 481: Lean Production Systems – 3 hrs.
  • IME 483: Productions Planning and Control – 3 hrs.
  • IME 486: Logistics and Supply Chain Systems – 3 hrs.
  • IME 487: Occupational Safety and Health – 3 hrs.

The other elective requirements (9 hrs.) may be satisfied by IME non-required courses above300-level or by non-required courses from other academic departments as listed below.

  • Accounting: ATG 304 to ATG 699
  • Biology: BIO 302 to BIO 699
  • Chemistry: CHM 316 to CHM 699
  • Civil Engineering: CE 310 to CE 699
  • Computer Science: CS 203 to CS 699
  • Economics: ECO 300 to ECO 699
  • Electrical Engineering: ECE 301 to ECE 699
  • Finance: FIN 322 to FIN 699
  • International Business: IB 306 to IB 699
  • Mathematics: MTH 301 to MTH 699
  • Management Information Systems: MIS 300 to MIS 699
  • Management and Leadership: ML 315 to ML 699
  • Marketing: MTG 304 to MTG 699
  • Mechanical Engineering: ME 301 to ME 699
  • Physics: PHY 305 to PHY 699
  • Additional Business Courses: BLW 342, ENT 385, or QM 326
  • Courses in Health Sciences: KHS 460, or KHS 480
  • Courses in Psychology: PSY 320 or PSY 321

Total Hours - 124