Blog Post 4: New Innovations in Industrial Engineering

This will be my fourth blog post and it will be to discuss some of the new innovations in the field of Industrial Engineering. As things constantly change and organizations strive for higher efficiency, companies cannot afford to be complacent. Industrial Engineers always need to look for new ways to improve the process.

One concept that could be considered a minor innovation in Industrial Engineering is continuous improvement or kaizen. Kaizen is when the process is constantly evaluated to ensure that a manufacturing process or any other process is always optimized. This method is generally considered as one of the best methods to see improvement over a span of time. Continuous improvement is also thought of as being fairly simple and cost efficient for the business.

Another very important innovation in the Industrial Engineering field is the six sigma strategy. A six sigma strategy is when a company becomes much more efficient through quality improvement. Six sigma literally means that a process has 3.4 defects or less per million opportunities. This is extremely hard for a company to achieve, but is well worth the time and effort if finished. There are two main methods to begin a six sigma strategy. The first is called DMAIC and is a 5 step method. This method takes the current process and improves upon it. The second method is called DMADV. This is also a 5 step method, but it creates an entirely new process.

There are many steps that an organization can take to improve efficiency. However, these two methods can greatly reduce costs and improve profits. When using continuous improvement or a six sigma strategy, an organization can truly optimize its processes and be successful in its endeavors.