工业工程的真正价值--Real-IE-Value（中英文）
工业工程的真正价值Real IE ValueIndustrial engineers are great at solving problems. Ironically enough, there is still one age-old problem they unable to solve-identity. And the problem is not getting any to solve. In fact,“ identity” is just one of several challenges currently facing the IE profession.工业工程师非常善于解决问题。可是具有讽刺性的却是他们仍有一个长期性的问题得不到解决-一致性。而且这个问题解决起来一直很困难。事实上，“一致性”恰好是目前工业工程领域所面临的众多挑战性问题之一。 Todays competitive global economy and tighter corporate budgets are forcing IEs to deal with issues that were barely mentioned a decade ago. Companies are flattening corporate structures; IE departments are being eliminated or renamed; and universities and colleges are under even greater pressure to provide industry with graduates who are better trained to handle a much wider variety of job responsibilities.今天激烈的世界竞争和紧张的公司预算都迫使工业工程师们去解决被人们忽视很久的问题。公司开始重新组合团队结构；工业工程部被逐渐被取消或者重新命名；而且大学和学院也承担着向工业界提供被更好的培训而掌握了更广泛工作能力的毕业生的压力。 On the other hand, todays IE has at his or her disposal more technology and tools than the IE of 30 years ago could have ever imagined. New technologies have improved accuracy and speed and generally have increased the IEs ability to cover a more diverse set of interests.另一方面，现在的工业工程师可以使用许多他们30年前的同行想都想不到的技术和工具。新技术已经提高了精确度和速度并逐渐提高了工业工程师们解决更多样问题的能力。 In addition, the IE now has a greater opportunity to concentrate on any one of a broad variety of areas that many companies now recognize as individual departments-including simulation, operations research, ergonomics, material handling and logistics.值得一提的是，工业工程现在有更多的机会去集中于现在许多企业已经视为独立的学科的众多领域中的一个-包括防真学、运筹学、人因学、物料搬运和物流学。 The name game命名问题 What problems could possibly throw a shadow on such a bright array of opportunities? For starters, as new opportunities have developed for the IE, new questions have formed about what types of jobs the industrial engineer is qualified to perform.什么问题可能会在如此明亮的机会阵列上投下阴影呢？对于初学者来说，随着工业工程新的机遇的产生，诸如工业工程师到底能胜任什么样的工作问题也随之产生。 At one time, it was easier to define what an IE did .” Industrial engineering was simple in those days when we dealt with methods, work standards and work simplification,” says Carlos Cherubin, director of engineering for The Limited Co. “But there has to be some way to get past the old industrial engineering definition.”曾经，定义工业工程是很容易的。“工业工程那时候在解决问题，制订工作标准和工作简明化方面很简单”有限公司的经理卡罗.彻罗宾如是说。“但是现在需要放弃那些落后的工业工程定义了。” Even today, in many companies, IEs are still performing type of work that makes up what is now considered classical IE.” “The big change is that the commercialization of a lot of these areas have turned them into niche thrusts,” says John Powers, director of the management service department at Eastman Kodak Co. While IEs have always been very adaptable to these “thrusts” as a skill set, he says ,they are now competing for the headlines.甚至现在，在许多公司，工业工程仍然在从事那些现在看来是经典工业工程的传统的工作。“埃斯曼.柯达公司的人力资源部经理约翰帕娃说：“最大的变化就是工业工程领域的商业化使它们成为具有竞争性的舒适职业。”而且，工业工程师已经适应了这种竞争技能。他们现在正在争取这份工作。 Says Jerry Zollenberg, director of IE for United Parcel Service, “If a person loses slight of the total job and stars looking at the individual pieces, it comes out a little hairy.” For example, Zollenberg says that he has an operations research(OR) group of 40 to 50 individual who are working on the cutting edge of computer technology. At one time these people were designated as IEs. But Zollenberg says that even through they are not called IEs, the job they are doing is certainly IE-oriented and could be IE, depending on how you set up the organization.联合包装服务公司的工业工程经理杰瑞说：“如果一个人不能对整项工作做全面把握而只是将注意力放在个别的方面，那么结果就不会令人满意。”例如，诺龙博格博士说他公司有一个由40到50个人组成的专门从事计算机尖端技术的研究小组，这些人曾被称做工业工程师，但是，即使他们没被予以这种头衔，他们所做的还是工业工程的工作可以被称做工业工程，这取决于你如何组织这个团队。 Like it or not, the trend today is specialization, and companies are following suit. Tough economic times are forcing many companies to redefine corporate structures, with a primary goal of flatting their organization in an attempt to cut costs and speed the decision-making process. In the case of the IE department, that trend has moved departmental names from the generic “IE” to special functions or areas that are being performed. Former IE departments have been decentralized or renamed and are now described using such terms as Quality Improvement Engineering, Management Service or Engineering Service, just to name a few.不管是否真的这样，专业化是目前的趋势就，而且企业也在向这个方向发展。许多企业在这个经济时代的要求下都在重组公司结构，以期能够是组织有效能，可以节约开支并加快决策的进度。而在工业工程部门，专业化的趋势是工业工程不在是普通的工业工程而是具有专业的作用或者是个正在改善的行业。从前的工业工程部已经被分解或者重新命名。现在他们已经部分成为质量改善工程，质量服务或者工程服务，仅是名字多一点。 “What I see is companies getting away from the IE name and trying to have names that are more descriptive of the broader set of skills,” says Powers.帕娃说：“我所看到的就是企业都在减少使用工业工程这个名字而在尝试使用些更新的描述这些技能的名字。” For many, including Rebecca Ray, IE manager at Glaxo Inc., it is a step in the right direction. Her department will soon carry the title Performance Improvement Engineering.” IE is probably the only engineering profession that insists on wearing its degree on its
