An Industrial Engineering minor is for persons who enjoy planning, organizing, and directing activities relating to the production of a product or service.  A person with an aptitude for quantitative and analytical skills is a good candidate for this area.

The minor is divided into two programs, suggested by the Industrial Engineering school, which can be altered to fit the student's course preferences, but must include 15 credit hours.

PROGRAM A
Production and Management Systems Engineering:   Methods and theoretical foundations for analysis, design, installation, and maintenance of operational and management systems included in the production and distribution of goods and services.  Planning, scheduling, allocation, and control for productivity improvement and effective utilization of economic, human, and physical resources.

PROGRAM B
Human Factors Engineering:  Systematic application of knowledge about sensory, perceptual, mental, and psychomotor characteristics in the engineering design of equipment, controls, services, managerial considerations, and new technology such as computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM), automation, robotics, and computer control.

Career opportunities in industry with an Industrial Engineering minor could include positions in production scheduling, production supervision, quality control, site selections for facilities, inventory management and assembly line balancing.  Many of these areas would be entry positions for advancement to plant management.  Although the manufacturing industry is the primary employer, positions are also available in consulting firms, government agencies and service industries.

The following career information is taken from the Peterson's Guide to Careers. If you would like to look into these career areas further, this would be an excellent place to start your research.

Production / Operations: The kinds of positions discussed here refer specifically to the management activities directly associated with production operations, including methods, equipment, processes, and personnel.

Production Planner: Sometimes called production engineers - design the production scheme, i.e., the flow of work and information. This includes such items as scheduling, materials specifications, machine usage, materials-handling procedures, control methods, and personnel training and supervision. Operations research, organizational skills, and human relations skills are especially vital in this area

Product Engineers: Handle test requirements and inspection to make sure the product is produced according to specifications.

Reliability/Maintainability Engineers: Concentrate on maintaining or improving the reliability of the design to ensure that the product performs the way it was intended to in the product development stage.

Promotions in the production / operations area may be made to manufacturing, production, or construction management and to engineering staff positions. It should also be kept in mind that job titles are named by the function performed rather than according to the academic background of the worker.

Research and Development: Research activity includes systematic, critical, and intensive investigation directed toward the acquisition of new or fuller scientific knowledge, with or without reference to a specific application. Development on the other hand, refers to the systematic application of scientific knowledge directed toward the creation or substantial modification of equipment, materials, instrumentation, devices, systems mathematical models, procedures, techniques, or processes. Development work may include the design, construction, and testing of pilot plants and pre-production prototypes and models. Product development and process development refer specifically to the development of new or improved products or processes; new product development is closely tied to the marketing function.