Industrial Engineering Technicians: Salary, career path, job outlook, education and more

Industrial engineering technicians assist industrial engineers in devising efficient systems that integrate workers, machines, materials, information, and energy to make a product or provide a service. They prepare machinery and equipment layouts, plan workflows, conduct statistical production studies, and analyze production costs.

What do Industrial Engineering Technicians do?

Industrial engineering technicians typically do the following:

• Suggest revisions to methods of operation, material handling, or equipment layout
• Interpret engineering drawings, schematic diagrams, and formulas
• Confer with management or engineering staff to determine quality and reliability standards
• Help plan work assignments, taking into account workers performance, the capabilities of machines, and production schedules
• Prepare charts, graphs, and diagrams to illustrate workflow, routing, floor layouts, how materials are handled, and how machines are used
• Collect data to assist in process improvement activities

Industrial engineering technicians study the time and steps workers take to do a task (time and motion studies). To set reasonable production rates, they consider how workers perform operations such as maintenance, production, and service.

The versatility of industrial engineering technicians allows them to be useful in a variety of projects. For example, they work in supply chain management to help businesses minimize inventory costs, in quality assurance to help businesses keep their customers satisfied, and in the growing field of project management to control costs and maximize efficiencies.

Industrial engineering technicians generally work in teams under the supervision of industrial engineers.