IE and System Thinking

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Industrial Engineering ?
Industrial Engineering Is Concerned With the Design,
Improvement, and Installation of Integrated Systems of
People, Material, Information, Equipment, and Energy. It
Draws Upon Specialized Knowledge and Skill in the
Mathematical, Physical, and Social Sciences Together
With the Principles and Methods of Engineering Analysis
and Design to Specify, Predict, and Evaluate the Results
to Be Obtained From Such System
Object Knowledge Skill Result Job
Conceptual Framework of IE Research 9
Engineering



Science Industrial Eng.

Object :Natural System Artificial System Integrated System
Output :Theory/Knowledge Product/service Value Added
Performance :Truth Benefit Efficiency
Validity : Absolute Relative Contextual
Start : Curiosity Need/Problem Need/Problem
Profession : Scientist Engineer Engineer/Manager

Conceptual Framework of IE Research 10
Relationship of Industrial Engineering to Other
Engineering and Scientific Disciplines
Civil
Engineering
Electrical
Engineering
Mechanical
Engineering
Chemical
Engineering
Industrial
Engineering

Manufacturing
Engineering

Early Industrial
Engineering
(Scientific
Management)
Ergonomics
Economics
Physiology

Psychology and
Sociology
Statistics
Mathematics Physics
Operation Research
Quality & Reliability
Computer & Inf.Sci
Control Theory

Productivity
Science
Chemistry
Military
Engineering
Logic

Early Management
Philosophy
Conceptual Framework of IE Research 11
IE and Its Integrated System






Data /Information
Inte-
grated
System
IE

Model

Problem
Solution Decision
Action
Criteria
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How To Get The Solution?
Problem
Common Sense?
Model Standard?
Generate Alternatives
Build New Model
Simulation
Solution
Use&Choose
Formulate
Yes
Yes
No
Decision
No
Conceptual Framework of IE Research 13
Model Building Process
Modeler Real System
Analysis of System
Problem Formulation
Components Model
Model Formulation
Solution
Valid ?
Stop
No
Conceptual Framework of IE Research 14
Analysis of System
Formulate the Problem
Determine Performance Criteria
Identification of Components Model
Decision Variable
Constraints
Parameter
Logical Relationship
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what is IE work about?
IE seeks to improve organised human activity
organised human activity takes place in what we can
perceive as organisations or human activity systems
human activity systems are social systems in the first
place
all engineering work has a social context, but systems
that non-IE engineers work with are mostly perceived as
technical systems
technical systems are embedded in almost all human
activity systems
for this reason, human activity systems can also be called
socio-technical systems
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How different is IE ?
engineers are concerned with goal seeking systems
that are primarily closed
this means that there is a goal the system wants to
achieve
such systems can be put into a laboratory and
studied in isolation from the environment
the system can thus be reduced to its parts and
analysed
analysis can provide knowledge and understanding
of a closed system

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IE is concerned with purposeful systems that
are always open
a purposeful system is an organisation with
goal seeking individuals
these goals can change from person to person
and also from time to time
open systems do not fit into laboratories
understanding an open system will not be
possible through analysis only


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analysis of a system reveals its structure and
how it works; its product is knowledge, not
understanding
we need systems thinking to understand
human activity systems
systems thinking includes and complements
analysis
this is how OR/IE is different from most
engineering and from disciplinary science
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IE OR MS
OR provides the scientific basis of IE
the mathematical models and techniques
used by IE are primarily OR models and
techniques
in the past, IE was more concerned with the
engineering applications of OR
IE now deals with almost all applications of
OR, alongside traditional engineering
MS is another term for OR

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Why is IE need systems thinking ?
As we already said before, IE learning has dual
objectives:
mastering quantitative analysis and
mathematical modelling (OR, probability
theory, statistics, economics etc)
building systems thinking skills in order to put
this knowledge into effective use

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What is systems thinking?
real-life examples that need ST:
1. an emergency services call centre
answering, recording and checking calls
providing fast response
balancing costs and waiting times
difficulty in evaluating response rate
a queueing, or waiting line problem


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2. vehicle scheduling
varying pick-up/delivery times
time-windows
labour rules
capacity and congestion restrictions
20! = 2 432 902 000 000 000 000
least time, least distance, least cost ?
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3. writing a mission statement
should be relevant and meaningful
achievable and measurable goals and
targets
active cooperation and participation
must be secured
often a compromise
lengthy canvassing and negotiations
needed
soft OR; problem structuring

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5. screening for breast cancer
early tretment of growths
incidence rises with age
95% chance of cure if detected at preinvasive
phase
mammography effective 85% of the time
costs $200 000-$300 000 per machine; $50-
$100 per screening etc.
what is the best screening policy ?
how do we balance costs and human suffering ?

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common features of these situations:
a complex problem situation
what is the problem?
what do we mean by a solution?
incomplete information
situation conceived as a system;
meaning that a system is,
not an ontological entity (ontology is an area of
metaphysics that studies the nature and existence of
reality)
but it is an epistemological entity (epistemology is an
area of metaphysics that studies the nature of
knowledge about reality)

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situation requires systems thinking such as:
hard OR, or
soft OR
all these situations involve gaining knowledge
about a human activity system and all such
knowledge is heavily meaning loaded and
experience based
knowledge is gained in what Checkland (1) calls
the experience action cycle:

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systems thinking is to formulate some systems
relevant to aspects of perceived reality that is of
interest and then to use the systems in a
methodology to find out about, or gain insight to, or
engineer some of the world outside
the following figure from Checkland (1) summarises the
difference between the two perspectives:

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(1) Checkland P.,J. Scoles Soft Systems Methodology in Action,
Wiley 1990