Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Blog

Current status of the IME, MCE merger

2006-06-14T16:38:00.000-04:00

The committee met on Tuesday (6/12) and issued the following statement that was e-mailed to the Dean.

Yesterday we had our first summer committee meeting of the new ME-IE merger group. This meeting took place just an hour after we received news that each department would be losing a half-time secretarial position. Under this cloud, our meeting did not go well. Our planned efforts to build upon the previous preliminary report and develop a new combined department with exciting and ambitious plans was essentially dead on arrival. Obviously, we now have great concerns on your (the Dean's) plans, priorities and support for such a new department. It would appear that further input and assurances from your side will be required for us to make meaningful progress.

As indicated in the statement, the merger meeting is put on hold until further assurance from the Dean could be secured.

Thank you for your inputs and please continue to post your comments regarding this issue on the blog.

Jay

IME/MCE merger

2006-06-12T04:13:00.000-04:00

Dear Dr. Wang,

I am sorry that I have not written to you earlier on this subject, but I have been quite busy in the last few days at my internship here in France. An internship that was found for me because of my skills and knowledge in quality control. I feel strongly that a merger with the MCE department would not benefit our program. I am not very familiar with mechanical engineering, but it seems to me that their curriculum has little to do with logistics, supply chain management, ergonomics, and quality assurance, things that I consider to be at the heart of Industrial Engineering. I understand that perhaps our department is not meeting a critical mass, but that's not to say that it won't if given the chance. I have actively been involved in recruitment for the College of Engineering during Meet the University and Welcome Days in the spring, and I have seen a positive change and increased effort in recruitment over the last year. For our regional conference in 2004, our school had one of the largest representations at the conference, even with other schools such as WPI present. I believe that shows that our department is quite involved and active.

When I began college, I was oscillating between majoring in mechanical or industrial engineering. I was fortunate that the summer before college, I was able to attend a 2 day camp hosted by our department, designed to introduce students to some of the basic concepts of IME. Faculty were on hand to give us quick, yet informative, presentations on some of the different coursework, and we had the opportunity to see the casting lab and make a little placard to take home with us. Later on, after examining the mechanical curriculum more closely, I decided that it did not align with my interests. I like the personal attention that I am able to receive from my professors in the IME department. My professors have shown an active interest in the best interests of each and every student in the class. Because of our class sizes, they are able to do that more easily.

As someone who is graduating soon, I also question what degree would be granted. Would students receive a BS in Industrial Engineering? Mechanical Engineering? Industrial and Mechanical Engineering? How would that affect their ability to find a job? While I understand that such a change may benefit the college and university, it is also critical that the change benefit the students. Speaking with many graduate and undergraduate students, I think that many wish to see our department remain separate. Industrial Engineering department offer unique and important courses for engineers entering into the corporate world. With much of the manufacturing and design work now being performed overseas, engineers who understand the corporate functions of engineering are going to become more important than ever, which is something that is learned in Industrial Engineering. Compromising these courses could possibly serve to compromise a graduate's ability to optimally function in the corporate workplace.

I am unfamiliar with the specific motivations to combine these two departments. I am not writing with opinions from a business perspective, but rather a student's. My education in the Industrial Engineering department has been interesting and fascinating. I feel that I have a very unique set of skills that will benefit me greatly when I begin my search for a job in a few months. I feel that I would not have been able to develop these skills sufficiently in a larger classroom setting or in courses designed with a mechanical engineer in mind. I don't feel that my education has lacked from the size of our department, but rather has been enhanced.

I hope that my comments have helped. Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of any more assistance.

Regards,

Sarah Gabryluk

President, URI IIE Student Chapter

Class of 2007
--
Sarah Gabryluk
school: 67 Upper College Rd
Kingston, RI 02881
home: 90 Vista Dr
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
sarah.gabryluk@gmail.com

RE: IME and MCE Merger

2006-06-10T07:09:00.000-04:00

Jay,

My initial reaction would be to oppose an IME and MCE department merger at URI because I feel it would be detrimental to the IME department. However, what is the specific problem that is trying to be addressed? My assumption is that low IME undergraduate enrollment does not meet the critical mass required to financially support its own department. If that is not the case, please apply my comments as appropriate.

Advantages:

1. Cost savings by combining administration functions should be itemized.
2. Cost savings by combining some courses should be itemized and can probably be realized by a collaborative effort under the current department structure as well.
3. Collaborative efforts. Some synergies may be realized for course curriculum and laboratories but most will require costs involving the loss of identity that will be predominantly yielded by current IME interests.

Disadvantages:

1. Loss of future growth potential for IME related interests. From my observation, the trend of consolidating IE into ME departments is over. Many institutions are in fact realizing that the IE core competencies are required by new curriculums in systems engineering, engineering management, enterprise systems and information systems science. The University of Illinois is a prime example of an institution in process of divesting IE from ME. Thus, whether or not growth such as this has been considered by the IME department, its possible implementation in the future would be extremely hampered after an IME/MCE merger took place.

2. Loss of identity. On the surface, a department name change would most likely remove the identifiable focus of manufacturing from the IME department and applied mechanics from the MCE department. I would expect something like the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. The impact may be negligible but I recommend that it be considered because someone obviously included manufacturing and applied mechanics in the current department titles for a reason that should not easily be overlooked. After scratching the surface, there is significant risk of having industrial and manufacturing engineering being lumped under the functions of the mechanical engineer. I think both departments recognize the differences in core competencies between the IE and the ME and therefore must work to prevent outsiders from wanting to pair them up. The loss of identity for IME can be shown by the case of the merger between IE and ME at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Industrial Engineering is not even listed as an undergraduate major on the main university academic website. Instead, a prospective student has to dig through the mechanical engineering website to find the Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering program. How many prospective students never get that far?
3. Loss of representation. After a merger the interests of the faculty and student under the previous IME department will most certainly lose representation on issue resolution where their interests are contrary to the current MCE departments interest. In addition, where IME and MCE agree there could also be a loss of representation within the College of Engineering because where two was once is now one.
4. Risk of unrealized expectations. My experience in organizational realignments has been that without a strict plan of defining new functions and sufficient effort to communicate the plan, expected gains in collaboration are rarely realized in place of confusion and cost savings are typically overestimated being eroded by hidden costs. Thus, the cost of conversion must not be overlooked.

Additional factors that should be considered:

1. What is the status of IME freshmen undergraduate recruiting efforts? Specifically, have all efforts been taken to assess what makes students select/not select IME as a major? Have identified measures been implemented to improve freshmen enrollment?
(Note: My experience as a Navy ROTC instructor at a major university, combined with the collateral duty of being the Recruiting Officer proved to me that maintaining an effective department website is crucial to drawing new recruits. Most importantly, it should be realized that having your website out-of-date or not frequently updated is a deciding factor when a prospective student narrows his or her choice.)

2. Is there a source of IME undergraduate students transferring from other URI engineering disciplines? If not, where are these students transferring? Why not IME? (Note: I did my undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering at a school with separate ME and IE departments. We had a large number of ME students that transferred to IE and at least one IE student that converted to ME. The curriculums were designed with a safety valve where students had an opportunity to experience each others field of study and execute a change with no impact to their graduation date.)

3. What competitive advantage does a separate IME department provide in comparison to other universities that prospective URI students may choose?

4. What is the expected impact on graduate programs? If the problem in enrollment is at the undergraduate level then how will a merger affect the availability of graduate level courses for current IME graduate programs? Could growth in graduate level programs sustain the financial support required to maintain a separate IME department that collaborates with the MCE department during the first two years of undergraduate study?

In summary, I recommend that the faculty evaluate the desired direction of growth for the disciplines of industrial and manufacturing engineering. If the assessment is that all means have been exhausted to grow under the current structure then I would concur that a change is needed. I would next recommend that a decision be made to grow in the direction of IME as a function of a mechanical engineer or IME as a function of an engineering manager. If IME at URI is a function of a mechanical engineer then I would recommend pursuing an IME and MCE merger. If IME at URI is a function of an engineering manager then I would recommend developing a plan to pursue growth in that direction.

Sincerely,

Brad

IME and MCE Merger

2006-06-09T18:53:00.000-04:00

Dear Dr. Wang,

I strongly feel that combining the IME department into mechanical engineering would be a mistake. It is a short term "solution" which essentially does not solve anything but makes it easier to eliminate IME in the long run. Not only would consolidation of the departments cause a loss of identity, I doubt that it would not significantly impact the number of students, and it would make it easier to phase out the program if enrollment did not increase. As faculty retired they would not be replaced, and no one would notice because the IME department was no longer a separate entity, but rather grouped into MCE. I think it would essentially be the equivalent of a elimination plan for the IME department.

As companies worldwide become more competitive and profit driven, the demand for industrial and manufacturing engineers is increasing (look at the postings that have been unfilled for months on Monster). It is vital both from the University's standpoint and from a student's perspective to ensure that the program remains intact to allow students to receive specialized training as an industrial engineer and not a mechanical engineer with a concentration in IME.

The better solution to increase enrollment (which seems to be the main reasoning behind consolidating departments) would be to better market the program and increase interest through a nation wide recruitment program and focusing on New England. Currently many IE students in the Northeast are attending better known programs at WPI, UMASS and Northeastern. Establishing a better known program at URI would help increase enrollment. This would require effort from both students and faculty, but I believe it would be more successful than consolidating the departments. Thank you for your consideration on this matter.

Sincerely,

Aaron Clark

RE: IME and MCE Merger

2006-06-09T16:54:00.000-04:00

Dear Dr. Wang,

Thank you for forwarding this to me. To clarify, I actually received my MS in Mathematics at URI in 1975. While I was there I took a couple of Operations Research Courses which got me started in that direction. I eventually got my PhD in Industrial Engineering and was the keynote speaker at the IIIE Conference 2 years ago. With that as background I would like to contribute my brief editorial on this topic. As an engineer with Invensys that works in the industrial automation field I see more and more requirements every day for engineers who understand both the engineering and the business disciplines. There is considerable angst among management that their engineers are very technically proficient but cannot fit into the business strategy and objectives of the company. This is an area which I saw Industrial Engineering and Operations Research filling. I do not know exactly how the URI Departments are organized, but I would strongly suggest that you be careful to take this situation into consideration. I believe the job of an Industrial Engineer has great potential to become a force in industrial operations over the next few years if it is the key engineering discipline that converges business and engineering skills.

I have attached a copy of an article I published a couple of years ago on this topic. I hope it and my inputs are of some value.

Thanks and Best Regards,

Peter G. Martin
Vice President of Performance Management
Invensys

URI merge IME and MCE departments

2006-06-08T22:58:00.000-04:00

As a recent graduate of the URI department of Industrial Engineering I will have to say that I think the merger of the two departments will be disappointing. I understand that the IME department is not as popular as the MCE program and while merging the department may provide the IME program more exposure, I think that there are other ways to expose the students to the Business side of engineering (IME) without merging departments.

I too was initally going to be enrolled in MCE but then through an informational meeting I attended I learned about IME and switched over becasue I enjoyed learning about process improvemenet, quality, analysis, facility layout and many other subjects that people may take for granted when the hear the word engineering. Personally I enjoyed the smaller class size and appreciated the dedication of the teachers to thier students well being. In larger class sizes you don't get that.

Granted there may be benefits to merging the departments from a business point of view. Maybe the IME department isn't bringing in enough students to remain an independent program, but i believe that with the right advertising and maybe some Cirriculum structure changes the program would be fine. More hands on and more projects, help students get internships or require one in order to graduate. One of the other ideas I liked was having the business and IME students working together. Even if the pilot program offered a few semesters (spring 2005) didn't exactly bring in dozens, but it didn't get a whole lot of advertising either. Maybe instead of having the senior classes working together try to start earlier in the students career so the students in each department learn more about each other and how to work with each other. A lot of the class work was learning how to communicate with people who didn't speak "engineering" but it was fun.

Bottom line: I know the school is a business but I don't want to see the Industrial engineering program get swallowed up and forgotten. If the departments are merged then who is to say the IME program won't be dropped for URI completely? Think of what will happen to the resources needed for each department. I know they will have less funds for research, equipment, staff changes etc...

Thanks for listening,

MEGHAN EDMONDS

meghan.edmonds@gmail.com

Re: IME and MCE Merger

2006-06-08T22:25:00.000-04:00

Jay,

From what I have heard, there are too few IME freshman to be sustainable. I can see where the first two years could be combined, most likely all of the first year is the same for all engineering students; it was at Northeastern.

I think it is important to keep the OR, statistics (QA, DOE) , Industrial design, DFMA as an option for the IME group; even if combined with graduate students as it now. I would be extremely disappointed if they were watered down and combined.

The IME program offers wonderful classes that are not available anywhere else.

I think that the reality is that it would be difficult to replace retired faculty if nothing is done and a merger is the best option. The number of students need to increase somehow.

This opinion is not based on data but on hear say. So that is my 2 cents.

Best Regards,

John

Input on IME / ME Merger

2006-06-08T22:22:00.000-04:00

Dear Dr. Wang,

I believe there could be confusion in companies looking for graduates. At times I think of Industrial / Manufacturing Engineers as being one in the same or at least easily trained as being able to back up each other - they are both process / system focused. These are perhaps the most "general" engineering and most cross functional in my mind. Because of their training they can also do the research and develop skill sets more easily to perform some "design" functions. I believe URI graduates some of the best IME candidates I have ever seen and is a "gem" in our region - I am perplexed as to why they do not draw more students into the program (marketing? need student feedback data on this).

When I think of an ME I think of someone who is product and design focused. While they can be involved in the manufacturing process to understand the pitfalls in items they design their focus in more on design and not necessarily the process used in the manufacture of the products designed. I think of them as less cross functional and more specialized.

In combining the disciplines the naming of the combined departments must try to convey the gist of the body of knowledge the graduates will possess - herein lies the difficulty I believe - what will hiring companies be looking for? Have other schools ventured into this area and what has been their experience? The only benefit I can see is the student who wants to be a IME may be able to pick up some more ME courses (and vice versa) but this can be accomplished by allowing students to take courses in the other disciplines as electives.

Perhaps a curriculum review should be undertaken between the departments - with a focus on the first two years. Perhaps in this way a more general overview and understanding of all disciplines may be obtained by the student - which will aide in their cross functional abilities as graduates. Also, with this understanding they could "pick a lane" in their junior years and still graduate as an IME or an ME depending on their course work in the junior and senior years. This may be the best of both worlds - a consensus would have to be reached between the departments as to what would be the best course offering in the first two years however - but if the team accomplished this the identities of the two departments could be maintained and the benefits of a "paper merger" attained.

Best wishes to the team of faculty addressing this issue - it is very important work!

Regards,

Norm Lamontagne

IME / ME Merger

2006-06-08T22:19:00.000-04:00

Gentlemen:

I graduated in 1964, shortly after the department of Industrial Engineering was established. Finally, we were no longer living under the arrangement you are now considering. Finally as Industrial Engineers we were given some recognition and respect. You are considering a move, which I consider a step backwards 40 years!

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering are important job activities in the world and should not be diluted by placing them under the Mechanical Engineering curriculum. URI needs to train engineers for these roles. The curriculums are different. The motivation and interests of the students are not the same. I agree that in the first two years the basic course work is similar, as it is for all of engineering. But, this is not a reason to combine them but rather for the faculty to find more creative ways to use the resources available to train the students, not to change the focus. This will reduce resources, in the IME area, over time. It will also lose students, over time, because the interest has been altered as well.

I have always found Industrial and Manufacturing Engineers, in business, to be the people making things happen on a daily basis, through process improvements, cost reductions, safety issues, labor and tooling improvements, quality improvements, and new product transitions from product engineering. Mechanical engineers are drawn to the design side; requiring different skills and interests. I just dont see how they can be trained the same way in an academic environment. I can hear someone saying we wont change the curriculum. However, the person heading up Mechanical Engineering is experienced and skilled in this area and will not be sensitive to the needs of IME and they will be affected over time.

URI Engineering has earned a good reputation but I feel very strongly you will regress with such an ill advised decision. I think you should leave Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering as a free standing group and look for others ways to gain economies.

Best regards,

Bruce

_____________________
Bruce H. Bumpus
The Sagamore Group
P.O. Box 344
Medfield, MA 02052
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IME and MCE Merger

2006-06-08T13:24:00.000-04:00

Dear Alumni and Friends,

The Dean has charged six faculty from both IME and MCE to discuss about themerger issue on next Monday, June 12th. Several faculty including some from the mechanical engineering have expressed worrisome concerns about this merge since it could lead to further reduction of resources in both departments. It might be difficult for the merged department to replace a retired faculty or staff in the future especially in the IME side. The Industrial Engineering program and the Manufacturing Systems Engineering program might lose their identities in the merged department. On the plus side, the BSIE program might get more students if a common first two-year curriculum could be put in place. Faculty could work/collaborate closer under the "same roof". The merge could facilitate sharing of labs and equipment, etc. We think that the potential benefits described above could become a reality if the goal of the merge is to expand and strengthen existing programs in both departments and to look for new opportunities.

Please share your thoughts and opinions regarding this merger issue with the rest as soon as possible so they could be reflected in the meeting.

Best Regards,

Jay

Jyh-hone (Jay) Wang, Ph.D.

Chair & Associate Professor

Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
103 Gilbreth Hall
University of Rhode Island
Kingston, RI 02881

ph:401-874-5195
fax:401-874-5540