Industrial and systems engineering for the 21st century: Discovering and assessing the multifaceted needs of industry

Although industrial and systems engineers possess broad skill mixes and play diverse roles working in industry, it is hypothesized that industrial and systems engineers have unique fundamental core competencies and associated knowledge that distinguish themselves from other related disciplines. This study was intended to discover from an industry viewpoint what these core competencies and associated knowledge are and how or whether they change according to different key sample subgroups.;The researcher suspects that industry's perception of what constitutes key competencies to produce ideal industrial and systems engineers may not be identical to what key competencies industry is actually utilizing. Therefore, this study was designed to discover if any differences exist along these two different dimensions by analyzing incumbents' responses.;To accomplish this, the researcher developed a knowledge based survey instrument to identify what specific industrial and systems engineering (ISE) knowledge items (KIs) are being applied in industry jobs. In addition, this instrument also asked incumbents to rate these 350 KIs to determine how much educational emphasis should be placed on each of them for undergraduate education curriculum development.;Based on the researcher's literature review, this project was the first ever to investigate these issues on such a comprehensive level of data collection and analysis for the ISE community. These results can be used by ISE institutions to help validate their respective curriculums. The survey instrument can also provide a framework methodology that can be altered to fit specific needs for different institutions. It can be duplicated in future years to track how industry's needs are changing over time. This provides a valuable tool for universities to use to ensure their respective curriculums keep pace with an ever-changing industry. The Ohio State University's (OSU) Industrial, Welding, and Systems Engineering (IW&SE) department will examine the resulting data to ensure its undergraduates are ready for industry's demands for the 21st century. However, the principle findings indicate the need for a diverse, well-rounded education that can be tailored to specific specialties. A detailed discussion is also provided regarding the results and implications for the total sample and each of the identified subgroups.