Industrial Engineering Degree Programs Give You a Manager's View of Business

Of all the engineering specialties, industrial engineering is one of the most diverse. Along with the usual engineering elements of math and science, industrial engineering includes finance and personnel management in the search to make the manufacture of goods or delivery of services more productive. An industrial engineering degree program can teach you how this all ties together.
Industrial engineers are concerned with business processes--how a product or service flows through a company from conception and design through implementation and delivery. Along the way, there are many opportunities to deploy materials, personnel, and automation to make the process more cost-effective, which is the focus of industrial engineers.

Online Degree Programs in Industrial Engineering

Online education makes it easy and convenient to learn more about industrial engineering. Online degrees can be structured around any work schedule and earned in any part of the country.
Coursework can include math and science like other forms of engineering, along with a special focus on industrial processes and the management of people and information. This requires a breadth of skills, but that is what makes the field especially interesting.

Industrial Engineering Career Outlook

Industrial engineering careers have a number of things going for them--a salary well above the national median and job growth projected to be above average in the years ahead.
Because engineering jobs are focused on productivity improvements, they are less susceptible to recessions than most other jobs; it is during economic downturns that demand for productivity improvement grows. Achieving productivity improvements can have a direct effect on the bottom line, which raises your profile within an organization. That, along with the broad range of management skills involved in industrial engineering, makes this an excellent springboard for management careers.
Source:
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Engineers

Richard Barrington is a freelance writer and novelist who previously spent over twenty years as an investment industry executive.