Tremendous advances in computing, information, and communications technology are dramatically, and permanently, altering the landscape that constitutes what we call "work." This landscape is not only the future within which industrial engineers will work, but is also the future that industrial engineers will work with. That is, industrial engineers must design systems of people, machines, materials, capital, and so on, in a world that will be drastically different from the one we see today. In addition to this, the current education and tools of industrial engineers are rooted in an epoch that is itself outdated for today's needs, not to mention the future.
What are some of the key issues, at least as we know them today, that will affect these systems?
One, organizational restructuring, has been enabled in large part by improvements in communication, brought about by advances in technology. Client/server and cloud computing models are dramatically changing the way in which we store, retrieve, and view information.Emerging visualization tools will allow industrial engineers to see systems as they have never seen them before .
WHAT DO INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERS DO?
We can always rely on the formal definition, from the Institute of Industrial Engineers, to help us
understand what IEs do. As per KVSS Narayanarao "Industrial Engineering is a Human Effort Engineering and also System Efficiency Engineering".
Key among these things we do are improvement and integration. And, in order to do these thingswe must measure. Industrial engineers are involved in products, processes, and services, from "hard-core" manufacturing to health care and insurance. The systems we consider are facilities, information systems, various types of material handling, and people (we could list more).These activities have changed very little in the past, at least in comparison to the changes that will need to occur in the next few years. And these changes are being brought about, either directly or indirectly, by one thing---computer technology.
New types of collaborative tools are beginning to be used, but only by a few. Primary among
these is groupware. While a rather straightforward, and evolutionary, development, consider the effect on industrial engineers. Tracking information flow will become a thing of the past. Imperative will be the measurement of the use of information and the assurance that information needs are met. Boundaries around functions will drift away, and the culture of the organization will change. Thus, technology will beget cultural change, which in turn will beget technology. Dynamic working groups will form outside of any formal organizational structure. Planning may become very difficult, and will at the very least become quite different.
The Intemet will continue to provide remote access to, and easy provision of, information.
Increasingly, Intranets (within-company Interact systems) will provide information traditionally provided through other means. The platform-independence of this technology will reduce resistance to multi-platform organizations, so finally the "DOS-geeks" and "stinkin Mac users" can peacefully coexist, even with UNIX machines.
Java, bringing interactivity to the Web, will open new vistas for applications, and Java "applets" will provide productivity tools that can be easily developed, managed, maintained, and used. There will be a dramatic increase in the use of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). As industrial engineers look for ways to improve supplier-vendor relationships, and increase communication, we will find EDI to be an indispensable tool. Of course, some level of standardization and improved security will be required before this becomes commonplaceJthese things are coming.Teleconferencing will reduce travel and improve communication through visual contact.Compresses video tools are becoming usable, and increased bandwidth will allow use of this
technology to skyrocket.
In addition, this computational improvement has led to advances in the use of scientific visualization techniques. Other engineering disciplines have realized the value of these tools in identifying trends and patterns in data that couldn't be seen otherwise. Industrial engineers can also use these powerful tools, and we find their value to be tremendous.
Through e-mail, cellular communications, wireless computing, groupware, video conferencing, and telepresence, a virtual setting is possible. Benefits abound. Reduced facility cost, reduced travel expenses, less pollution, more flexible time for employees, ability to handle special needs(e.g., working mothers, handicapped), and drawing skills from people around the world or from people whose skills otherwise may not be utilized.
IMPACTS ON INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERS
These technologies axe fun to discuss, but the bottom line is the impact on industrial engineers. It is evident how they may affect our working lives, and we've experienced much of this change already. But how will it affect the actual work we do? For example, how will work be measured in this new environment? There may be employees who have no need to be on site. How will we observe their work, as we have traditionally done in the past? Or do we need to observe their work? Will we as IEs concern ourselves with output as the sole measure of performance? Let's consider but a few of the issues that axe relevant.
Products/Services Issues
Virtual products will be customer oriented, requiring continued focus on quality. Organizations must become learning, flexible, and highly-adaptive, with high responsiveness to customer needs. Organizations must provide products and services with a very short cycle time. Also, product life cycles will continue to shrink.
Infrastructure Issues
Organizations will "go virtual." There will be an increased demand for industrial engineers to use their human factors skills in designing new infrastructures.
Management Issues
Planning how to hire employees will be important. We will see the rise in the "employee as consultant," i.e., a "freelance worker" who may work for many different organizations, perhaps all without leaving his or her home. How will this affect compensation and performance measurement systems? What sort of job classifications will be required? What about quality control? The labor force of the future may be build on a "just-in-time" basis.
The virtual workplace will require totally different management procedures. Personnel selection and placement will become more challenging. Employees may feel isolated. Performance measurement and evaluation will be increasingly difficult. Traditional industrial engineering tools and techniques may not be useful in this new environment. How will effective work measurement be conducted?
Culture is critical. Trust will have to be at the highest level in virtual settings. The organization cannot succeed in partnerships without trust. Since employees may be "just-in time" or on a consulting basis, what will happen to culture, identity, loyalty, and a sense of community?
Training and Skills Issues
The new environment will require working in teams. The work place is getting "flatter," and team centered.
A greater percentage of employees will be doing knowledge work. Industrial engineers will face increasing pressure to become more "general" because the environment will change rapidly and require different kinds of skills. However, increased pressures will cause IEs to focus, providing a dilemma for the industrial engineer in the work place. One thing is certain,industrial engineers will require expertise in computer and information technologies.
Industrial Engineers should adapt these technological changes and prove their importance in the Industry.
What are some of the key issues, at least as we know them today, that will affect these systems?
One, organizational restructuring, has been enabled in large part by improvements in communication, brought about by advances in technology. Client/server and cloud computing models are dramatically changing the way in which we store, retrieve, and view information.Emerging visualization tools will allow industrial engineers to see systems as they have never seen them before .
WHAT DO INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERS DO?
We can always rely on the formal definition, from the Institute of Industrial Engineers, to help us
understand what IEs do. As per KVSS Narayanarao "Industrial Engineering is a Human Effort Engineering and also System Efficiency Engineering".
Key among these things we do are improvement and integration. And, in order to do these thingswe must measure. Industrial engineers are involved in products, processes, and services, from "hard-core" manufacturing to health care and insurance. The systems we consider are facilities, information systems, various types of material handling, and people (we could list more).These activities have changed very little in the past, at least in comparison to the changes that will need to occur in the next few years. And these changes are being brought about, either directly or indirectly, by one thing---computer technology.
New types of collaborative tools are beginning to be used, but only by a few. Primary among
these is groupware. While a rather straightforward, and evolutionary, development, consider the effect on industrial engineers. Tracking information flow will become a thing of the past. Imperative will be the measurement of the use of information and the assurance that information needs are met. Boundaries around functions will drift away, and the culture of the organization will change. Thus, technology will beget cultural change, which in turn will beget technology. Dynamic working groups will form outside of any formal organizational structure. Planning may become very difficult, and will at the very least become quite different.
The Intemet will continue to provide remote access to, and easy provision of, information.
Increasingly, Intranets (within-company Interact systems) will provide information traditionally provided through other means. The platform-independence of this technology will reduce resistance to multi-platform organizations, so finally the "DOS-geeks" and "stinkin Mac users" can peacefully coexist, even with UNIX machines.
Java, bringing interactivity to the Web, will open new vistas for applications, and Java "applets" will provide productivity tools that can be easily developed, managed, maintained, and used. There will be a dramatic increase in the use of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). As industrial engineers look for ways to improve supplier-vendor relationships, and increase communication, we will find EDI to be an indispensable tool. Of course, some level of standardization and improved security will be required before this becomes commonplaceJthese things are coming.Teleconferencing will reduce travel and improve communication through visual contact.Compresses video tools are becoming usable, and increased bandwidth will allow use of this
technology to skyrocket.
In addition, this computational improvement has led to advances in the use of scientific visualization techniques. Other engineering disciplines have realized the value of these tools in identifying trends and patterns in data that couldn't be seen otherwise. Industrial engineers can also use these powerful tools, and we find their value to be tremendous.
Through e-mail, cellular communications, wireless computing, groupware, video conferencing, and telepresence, a virtual setting is possible. Benefits abound. Reduced facility cost, reduced travel expenses, less pollution, more flexible time for employees, ability to handle special needs(e.g., working mothers, handicapped), and drawing skills from people around the world or from people whose skills otherwise may not be utilized.
IMPACTS ON INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERS
These technologies axe fun to discuss, but the bottom line is the impact on industrial engineers. It is evident how they may affect our working lives, and we've experienced much of this change already. But how will it affect the actual work we do? For example, how will work be measured in this new environment? There may be employees who have no need to be on site. How will we observe their work, as we have traditionally done in the past? Or do we need to observe their work? Will we as IEs concern ourselves with output as the sole measure of performance? Let's consider but a few of the issues that axe relevant.
Products/Services Issues
Virtual products will be customer oriented, requiring continued focus on quality. Organizations must become learning, flexible, and highly-adaptive, with high responsiveness to customer needs. Organizations must provide products and services with a very short cycle time. Also, product life cycles will continue to shrink.
Infrastructure Issues
Organizations will "go virtual." There will be an increased demand for industrial engineers to use their human factors skills in designing new infrastructures.
Management Issues
Planning how to hire employees will be important. We will see the rise in the "employee as consultant," i.e., a "freelance worker" who may work for many different organizations, perhaps all without leaving his or her home. How will this affect compensation and performance measurement systems? What sort of job classifications will be required? What about quality control? The labor force of the future may be build on a "just-in-time" basis.
The virtual workplace will require totally different management procedures. Personnel selection and placement will become more challenging. Employees may feel isolated. Performance measurement and evaluation will be increasingly difficult. Traditional industrial engineering tools and techniques may not be useful in this new environment. How will effective work measurement be conducted?
Culture is critical. Trust will have to be at the highest level in virtual settings. The organization cannot succeed in partnerships without trust. Since employees may be "just-in time" or on a consulting basis, what will happen to culture, identity, loyalty, and a sense of community?
Training and Skills Issues
The new environment will require working in teams. The work place is getting "flatter," and team centered.
A greater percentage of employees will be doing knowledge work. Industrial engineers will face increasing pressure to become more "general" because the environment will change rapidly and require different kinds of skills. However, increased pressures will cause IEs to focus, providing a dilemma for the industrial engineer in the work place. One thing is certain,industrial engineers will require expertise in computer and information technologies.
Industrial Engineers should adapt these technological changes and prove their importance in the Industry.
1 komentar:
In the current of globalization like today, technological progress is so visible . Of course technology in the future was very needed . All the men of current nearly there is no one who can off with the technology of a small children to adults . In performing a work there is always pertaining to technology . I think a little later human existence as a worker will be replaced by an apparatus sophisticated / technology works . For that man / should be more skilled workers in order to cope with environmental changes very rapidly at the moment and not replaced by technology.
But with technology advancement existing we should not forget culture that we have , lest the progress of this technology makes culture lost .
In this article states that a current knowledge of industrial engineers is more important than the large number of existing employees. An industrial engineering graduate should be able to show their existence in the world of employment.
Prove its ability to survive in conditions "under pressure" of a job. Various pressures that exist will make us more focused and be able to compete. Of course in the future we as an industrial engineers should be able to master the technology and not the technology that controls humans.
Adinda Putri Vinakanti (115060701111061)
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