Home > Undergraduate Academic Catalog 2012-2013 > Programs of Study > Industrial Engineering Technology

Industrial Engineering Technology

Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering Technology

Who manages the flow of people at theme parks or airports? Decides what kind of training employees need before they work with new equipment? Explains to accountants why the cost of a facility upgrade has changed? Determines where to add people or machinery for maximum impact? If you like to be at the center of the action, designing creative solutions that make business and industry work safer, faster, and leaner, the career for you is industrial engineering technology.

Offering the only Industrial Engineering Technology program in the University System of Georgia, Southern Polytechnic prepares you to help make organizations more efficient, productive, and cost-effective. This kind of skill adds directly to your company's—and your own—bottom line.

Who makes a good industrial engineering technologist? Students who are organized, analytical, and detail oriented, yet who can think of creative solutions to resolve problems. Since you work with people from many different areas, you need to enjoy interacting with diverse specialists. Excellent communication skills are crucial, too, as you translate engineering requirements to non-engineers and explain technical information to managers.

Industrial engineering technologists manage quality, resources, and systems of a wide range of workplaces, including commercial facilities, service organizations, hospitals, and insurance companies.

To compete today, business and industry must aim for the greatest productivity and quality. SPSU does the same. Our small classes ensure more individual attention from our expert faculty. Moreover, IET's Industry Advisory Board provides suggestions to keep our curriculum current.

As you master quality control, facility design, time studies, simulation software, and project management, you can immediately apply such course knowledge in a part-time job or internship. Employers appreciate our students' professionalism, learned by making class presentations and working in teams. This experience also prepares you to manage future projects—a new service, a new process, a new product or whatever new innovation your employer is considering.

SPSU's IET graduates work for such powerhouses as Delta Airlines, Shaw Industries, Milliken, General Electric, UPS, Lockheed Martin and several other top companies.

Traditionally industrial engineering technologists have pursued careers in manufacturing environments, but increasingly they hold positions in logistics, banking, healthcare, and transportation. Our student organizations—branches of the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE) and American Society for Quality (ASQ)—put you in contact with professional networks before graduation.

The field of Industrial Engineering Technology offers the student a challenging career in business, industry, or government. Graduates deal primarily with the efficient management of money, materials, and labor in a business and industrial environment.

Career opportunities involve problem solving in the fields of:

Production/Materials Management
Facilities Planning
Process Improvement
Quality Control
Logistics and Supply Chain Management
Systems Simulation
Salary and Compensation Plans
Workplace Design
Personnel Management
Occupational Safety, Health and Ethics
Project Management
Economic Analysis/Cost Control

Offering the only Industrial Engineering Technology program in the University System of Georgia, Southern Polytechnic prepares you to help make organizations more efficient, productive, and cost-effective. To enable the graduate to solve such a wide variety of business and industrial problems, the curriculum of study is broad and interesting.

Program Educational Objectives:

Graduates of the Industrial Engineering Technology Program will:

Meet industry expectations for expertise in the design, improvement, and installation of integrated systems of manpower, machines, materials, information, energy and logistics,
Possess a balance of knowledge that encompasses the specialties in the industrial engineering spectrum,
Be capable of combining the knowledge and practice of engineering technology with the science of decision making in business, manufacturing, and service,
Be capable of using the sciences together with methods of engineering analysis and design to evaluate, specify, and predict the results to be obtained from integrated systems,
Be capable of career advancement with increasing responsibilities,
Understand legal, political, social and ethical issues to increase their sense of responsibility, membership, and awareness in society,
Possess the necessary interpersonal skills to communicate and work effectively in teams.

Program Outcomes:

Graduates of the Industrial Engineering Technology Program will demonstrate the following:

An appropriate mastery of mathematical and scientific knowledge, techniques, and tools used in analysis of industrial systems.
An ability to adapt to emerging applications of mathematics, science, engineering and technology.
An ability to conduct, analyze and interpret experiments and apply experimental results to improve manufacturing and service processes.
An ability to apply creativity in the design of industrial systems and processes.
An ability to function effectively on multidisciplinary teams.
An ability to identify, formulate and solve technical problems related to industrial engineering.
An ability to communicate effectively.
An ability to engage in and recognize the need for lifelong learning.
An ability to understand, professional, ethical and social responsibilities.
Respect for diversity and issues of social and global nature.
A commitment to quality, timeliness and continuous improvement.
An ability to integrate industrial systems using engineering methods.

The B.S. in Industrial Engineering Technology program is accredited by the Technology Accreditation Commission (TAC) of ABET. Further information regarding the accreditation board may be found at www.abet.org.

The Faculty:

Robert W. Atkins Professor

Thomas R. Ball Department Chair

David C. Caudill Professor and Associate VPAA

E. Lester Dollar, III Associate Professor

Ruston M. Hunt Professor and Dean of Extended University

Kenneth W. Jackson Associate Professor

Christina R. Scherrer Associate Professor

Gregory Wiles Assistant Professor

In this section:

BS in Industrial Engineering Technology Requirements

Manufacturing Operations