Brief History

On the bases of King Saud University objectives and its responsibilities to provide Saudi society with highly educated intellectuals and professionals who are capable of satisfying society needs, a Department for Industrial Engineering in the college of engineering has been established in year 1422H (2002 G). However, industrial engineering as a program has been found in the year 1403H (1983 G) under the umbrella of Mechanical Engineering Department. Since its establishment, the industrial engineering program has made an indispensable contribution to the rapid development and advancement of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It enhances the role of the Industrial Engineering Profession in the country which is concerned with the synthesizing, designing, analyzing, operating, and maintaining various integrated production systems and its processes to produce products using distinguished solution techniques and tools. Industrial Engineer graduates play a vital role in all development plans of the country and hold key positions in all governmental and private sectors. They are heavily involved in numerous manufacturing and service industries in Saudi Arabia and abroad.

Introduction

The skill and the knowledge of the industrial engineering specialization is reflected on the development and economic plans of the production systems through the synthesizing, designing, analyzing, operating, and maintaining various integrated production systems and its processes to produce products using distinguished solution techniques and tools which achieving high productivity and quality at a reasonable price.

The mission of the Industrial Engineering program is to offer a high-quality program to educate and graduate industrial engineers who are equipped with the scientific and technical capabilities and tools that allow them to effectively practice and lead the profession.

Industrial engineering program provides the graduates with broad career opportunities, ranging from manufacturing systems to service systems in wide range of organizations in private and government sections. Graduates of the Industrial Engineering program will be able to pursue career in a variety of technical positions, including quality engineering, manufacturing engineering, Strategic, operational and logistical planning, management engineering, Operations Engineering, Safety engineering, Maintenance Engineering, Production Engineering, Cost Engineering, Engineering Project management, Human factors and ergonomics Engineering, and many others of technical works.  Most them move into supervisory and management roles and many become executive leaders in their chosen industries.        

The department of Industrial Engineering offers distinguished undergraduate and graduate (Higher Diploma, Master and doctorate) programs. These programs are continuously updated to keep pace with national and international developments. IE department curriculum is spread into four areas of specializations which are:

• Manufacturing Systems Engineering: this area is concerned with the design and the analysis of production processes and manufacturing system. It includes many types of sciences, such as, manufacturing technology; factory design; automation of process and system using computers; computer aided design and manufacture; manufacturing system design and operation.

• Industrial Operations Systems Engineering and Logistics: this area is concerned with studying and analyzing industrial operations, engineering supply chains and planning, controlling and monitoring industrial production. It includes many types of sciences, such as, operations research; Production planning and control; designing and analyzing supply chains; manufacturing cost analysis.

• Human Factors Engineering: this area is concerned with design and analysis of work and its time according to the required human factors in order to achieve the best production levels. It includes many types of sciences, such as, human factors analysis; time and motion study.

• Quality, Safety and Maintenance Systems Engineering: this area is concerned with design and analysis of quality, safety and maintenance systems that are necessary for different production organizations. It includes many types of sciences, such as, maintenance engineering; quality engineering; occupational safety engineering.