Industry and academia white paper on the industrial engineer (IE) of the future

Concern has been expressed for some time now that the field of Industrial Engineering, and the IE in particular, has developed an 'identity crisis'. Industry has argued on one hand that graduate IE's do not possess all the necessary skills to become 'change agents' and full 'systems integrators'. Academia has argued on the other hand that industry has failed to properly communicate the changing needs for IE curricula and do not interface enough with the academic world in providing a medium for IE educators to gain application experiences. This paper is a result of a meeting between these two groups (which occurred at the '90 IE Fall Conference in San Antonio) to address the issues surrounding these 'perceived' differences, identify the problems therein, and develop a list of action plans that each discipline can began to implement in resolving these issues. This document is a compilation of the thoughts and works of many (see Participants listing), the primary purpose of which, is to stimulate effective change.

Industry and academia white paper on the industrial engineer (IE) of the future Conference Paper