Industrial Engineering Handbook. Volume 3

Author: (USA) Samir C. Saravadi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-02-01
Features: In 2001, Professor Samir C. Saravadi, a Fellow of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, a professor at Purdue University, and a renowned scholar in the field of industrial engineering, came to Tsinghua University to teach as a Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Industrial Engineering. At that time, he gave me a copy of the Industrial Engineering Handbook he had edited. This handbook was published in 2001 and was already the 3rd edition. It not only summarized mature and classic achievements in industrial engineering but also included numerous chapters reflecting the latest developments in industrial engineering internationally at that time. It was a highly valuable reference manual. In 2002, during a conversation, Professor Saravadi told me, "With the rapid economic development of China, industrial engineering must have a broad future. The handbook should be translated so that more Chinese readers can understand and apply industrial engineering." This is a large handbook with 2,800 pages and covers a very wide range of content. Inspired by Professor Saravadi's encouragement, I felt that the younger generation of industrial engineering scholars, taking the older generation of scholars like Academician Wang Yingluo as an example, should contribute to the development of industrial engineering in China. That same year, I contacted several talented young industrial engineering scholars about the translation of this book, and they responded with great enthusiasm, forming a team of six chief translators. Industrial engineering originated from the work of Taylor and Gilbreth in the late 19th century: time and motion studies. After introducing quantitative analytical methods such as operations research in the 1940s as its foundation, it had already developed into an independent scientific system. Since the 1980s, the rapid development of computer and information technology has provided new opportunities for the modern development of industrial engineering. Over the past 100 years since its emergence, numerous industrial engineering scholars have made significant contributions to improving industrial efficiency and product and work quality. The famous management theorist Peter Drucker said, "The 20th century saw major achievements in industry, with the greatest contribution to management technology being scientific management (industrial engineering), an idea created by Americans, accepted worldwide, and with a significant impact. Whenever it is applied, productivity increases, and while reducing workers' workload, their income rises. It has already increased labor productivity by over a hundredfold." The most successful application of industrial engineering is in manufacturing, whether it's Ford's assembly line or Toyota's lean production model, whether it's Deming's total quality management or Hammer's business process reengineering—none of these rely heavily on the principles and methods of industrial engineering. Today, the application areas of industrial engineering have greatly expanded, and its presence can be seen in more and more fields such as transportation, logistics, hospitals, and banks. Industrial engineering has only a brief history of over 20 years of development in China, but it has grown rapidly in recent years and has even led in some areas. For example, the chapter on computer-integrated manufacturing in the handbook was written by Academician Wu Cheng. As a scholar and teacher, I also deeply feel the urgent need in the industry for industrial engineering talent and research results. Industrial engineering is an engineering technology aimed at improving production efficiency and economic benefits. It primarily studies systems composed of people, materials, equipment, energy, and information. By comprehensively applying knowledge from natural sciences, social sciences, engineering, and management, it effectively designs, plans, and improves these systems to continuously reduce production costs, ensure quality, and enhance production efficiency and economic benefits. China advocates scientific development and aims to achieve a "new path of industrialization with high technological content, good economic benefits, low resource consumption, minimal environmental pollution, and full utilization of human resources." In this process, improving "efficiency" has become a must for enterprises. Only by effectively utilizing resources and increasing productivity can enterprise benefits rise, and the actual income of employees and enterprises increase. Currently, low labor costs are a major competitive advantage for Chinese manufacturing, but only by continuously improving efficiency and making high efficiency a competitive advantage can Chinese manufacturing achieve core competitiveness. Another key to emerging industrialization is "system optimization." Due to globalization, the scope of systems has become larger; from the combination of various resources within enterprises to national energy/mineral resources, more effective resource utilization is undoubtedly the key for both enterprises and economic development to shift from extensive to intensive models. Effectively optimizing systems is both a key and a challenge for emerging industrialization. Emerging industrialization also requires a "human-centered" approach. Being human-centered is a fundamental feature of emerging industrialization and also the ultimate goal of human social development. Industrial engineering is precisely the key to solving these critical issues. It studies engineering methods for improving industrial production efficiency from a systems and human-centered perspective; emphasizes a work environment with three levels of safety, efficiency, and enjoyment; and drives the progress of social productivity through three perspectives: "efficiency technology," "operations and systems technology," and "human-centered technology." In the economic development history of Western countries, industrial engineering has played a very important role. With the development of China's market economy system and various social undertakings, industrial engineering technology has also been widely applied to solve problems in production and operations. This book was written against this background, hoping to provide a relatively comprehensive and systematic help and reference for the research and application of industrial engineering. This book has 102 chapters, comprehensively and systematically elaborating on various fields and knowledge methods involved in industrial engineering. Compared to the previous two editions, in addition to adding new developments and methods in various research directions, it also includes an explanation of supply chain management and service systems. Each chapter of this book has been carefully proofread by experts, and the content comes from 176 outstanding professionals from around the world who conduct research in industrial engineering or related fields, covering all aspects of the field of industrial engineering.