Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering
Lead Author: Gregory S. Parnell, Contributing Authors: C. Robert Kenley, Eric Specking, Ed Pohl
Systems Engineering (SE) overlaps with many fields, such as Industrial Engineering (IE), Engineering Management, Operations Research, Project Management, and Design Engineering. In fact, the main Industrial Engineering body of knowledge, called the Industrial and Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge (ISEBoK) (IISE 2021), includes the word "systems" in its title and includes a section on systems design and engineering, which references the SEBoK. This article describes the similarities and differences between SE and IE based upon their respective standards, handbooks, and bodies of knowledge. Based on this assessment, this article describes potential roles that systems engineers and industrial engineers perform during a system’s life cycle.
Introduction
When systems engineers and industrial engineers are in the same organization, they have different roles and responsibilities. While job titles vary by organization, many organizations have individuals that perform both SE and IE activities. This article tries to help systems engineers and industrial engineers better understand the different perspectives of the fields and the knowledge needed to meet the needs of their organizations and customers. The article compares the use of international standards and the contents of the bodies of knowledge for SE and IE.
Systems Engineering
The International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) is a “not-for-profit membership organization founded to develop and disseminate the interdisciplinary principles and practices that enable the realization of successful systems.” INCOSE defines systems engineering as
a transdisciplinary and integrative approach to enable the successful realization, use, and retirement of engineered systems, using systems principles and concepts, and scientific, technological, and management methods. (INCOSE 2021)
Here, the terms “engineering” and “engineered” are used in their widest sense: “the action of working artfully to bring something about.” “Engineered systems” may be composed of any or all of people, products, services, information, processes, and natural elements.
INCOSE aligns its SE Handbook with ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288, System Life Cycle Processes, which focuses on processes. SEBoK Part 3 is also organized around 15288 process areas. In this view, SE is process oriented. Each edition of the SE Handbook aligns to an ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288 edition. Figure 1 shows the overall structure of the eight parts of the SEBoK.
<< INSERT FIGURE 1 HERE>>
Figure 1. Structure of the SEBoK.
The major SE and Management processes and activities are in SEBoK Part 3 Systems Engineering and Management as shown by its central role in Figure 1. Figure 2 shows the 15288 processes and how they align with the SE Handbook and SEBoK topic areas. We will use these SEBoK topics of knowledge areas to compare with the knowledge areas of IE in a subsequent section of the paper. The knowledge areas in Figure 2 align with the system life cycle if started at the top of the first column and traversed to the bottom, continued at the bottom of the second column and traversed to the top, and then continued at the bottom of the third column and traversed to the top.
<< INSERT FIGURE 2 HERE>>
Figure 2. Mapping of Technical Topics of Knowledge Areas of SEBoK with ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288 Technical Processes. (SEBoK 2021)
Industrial Engineering
The Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) states that it is “the only international, non-profit, professional society dedicated to advancing the technical and managerial excellence of industrial engineers.” (IISE 2021). IISE started in 1948 as the American Institute of Industrial Engineers. In 1981, the organization was renamed the Institute of Industrial Engineers to reflect its growing international membership. In 2016, the membership voted to change the name to the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers. This addition reflects a vote by its membership and aligns with the “changing scope of the profession that, while keeping its industrial base, has seen more industrial and systems engineers working with large scale integrated systems in a variety of sectors”.
At the turn of this century, the view of industrial engineering was reflected in two prominent publications: Handbook of Industrial Engineering (Salvendy 2001) and the fifth edition of Maynard's Industrial Engineering Handbook (Zandin 2001). Solvendy (2001) stated that industrial engineers are trained to design and analyze the components of which man-machine systems are composed. They bring together individual elements that are designed via other engineering disciplines and properly synergize these subsystems together with the people components for a completely integrated man-machine system. Industrial engineers are focused on the improvement of any system that is being designed or evaluated. They make individual human tasks more productive and efficient by optimizing flow, eliminating unnecessary motions, utilizing alternate materials to improve manufacturing, improving the flow of product through processes, and optimizing the configuration of workspaces. Fundamentally, the industrial engineer is charged with reducing costs and increasing profitability through ensuring the efficient use of human, material, physical, and/or financial resources.
The view of IE has evolved over the last two decades. IISE developed the ISE Body of Knowledge in 2021 (IISE 2021). The sixth edition of Maynard's Industrial Engineering Handbook is expected to be published in spring 2022. The ISEBoK has 14 knowledge areas, as shown in Figure 3. The first 13 knowledge areas identify the Industrial Engineering knowledge. The fourteenth is Systems Design and Engineering, which references the SEBoK. The ISEBoK provides a short description of each knowledge area, a detailed outline of knowledge area topics, and a list of references. The ISEBoK does not use standards as its foundation. In fact, the Standard Practice for Systems Safety (MIL-STD-0-882D) is the only standard cited in the reference section. IISE does not currently have a handbook developed by or for the Institute, although McGraw-Hill will release the 6th edition of Maynard’s Industrial and Systems Engineering Handbook in 2022. The new edition aligns with the ISEBoK.
<< INSERT FIGURE 3 HERE>>
Figure 3. Industrial and Systems Engineering Knowledge Areas
The 14 topic areas included in the ISEBoK connect to international standards even though it does not use standards as its foundation or provide references for standards in most of the topic areas. Key words were developed from each topic area’s name to search the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) website (ISO 2021) to find a rough estimate on the number of standards in each topic area. This search found hundreds of potential standards. Of course, a standard that mentions one of the key words may or may not be relevant. Examples of areas that did not yield any ISO standards from the search are operations research/analysis and engineering economic analysis. This does not mean that those areas do not have applicable standards. Organizations other than ISO do produce guidelines or principles to help practitioners. For example, the environmental protection agency provides guidelines on economic analyses (EPA 2021). The quality and reliability engineering area used to rely heavily on military standards (Mil-Stds), many of which were eliminated with acquisition reform in the Department of Defense a number of years ago.
Venn Diagram Comparison
This section compares the two bodies of knowledge. Figure 4 shows a Venn Diagram to identify the knowledge areas that are usually performed by systems engineers, the ones usually performed by industrial engineers, and the knowledge area descriptions that are used by both disciplines.
<< INSERT FIGURE 4 HERE>>
Figure 4. Venn Diagram
There are 11 primarily SE knowledge areas, 7 primarily IE knowledge areas, and 12 overlapping knowledge areas. Table 1 provides some illustrative examples of the differences in SE and IE focus in the overlapping knowledge areas.
| Knowledge Area | SE Focus | IE Focus |
| 2. Operations Research (OR) and Analysis | OR and analysis is used in systems analysis to assess system performance and to evaluate system designs (Levis & Wagenhals, 2000; Wagenhals, Shin, Kim, & Levis, 2000; Wagenhals, Haider, & Levis, 2003; Raz, Kenley, & DeLaurentis, 2018) | OR and analysis is used to optimize operations, maintenance, and logistics. OR is also used to evaluate and optimize manufacturing systems. |
| 5. Quality & Reliability
Engineering |
Quality and reliability requirements are treated as system-wide performance requirements (Buede &Miller, 2016, 157-159; Wymore 1993, 401) that are assessed at the systems level. One example is availability, A0, which measures the degree to which a system is either operating or can operate at any time when used in its typical operational and support environment. (DA PAM 70-3 2008, 87) | Quality and reliability are used to evaluate and improve the manufacturing process of goods and services. Reliability is also used to evaluate and improve system operations. |
| 6. Ergonomics and Human Factors | Ergonomics and human factors are considerations in assessing the potential usability of a system for end-users in an operational environment. According to Buede and Miller (2016, 180), “Performance elements of usability are ease of learning (learnability), ease of use (efficiency), ease of remembering (memorability), error rate, and subjectively pleasing (satisfaction).” | Ergonomics and human factors are used to assess and improve manufacturing and operational processes. They are also used to assess and improve the actual usability of products and services. |
| 9. Engineering Management | Engineering managers and SEs work with program managers to develop and improve new products and services. | Engineering managers and IEs support operations managers responsible for manufacturing processes and the operation of systems providing products and services. |
| 11. Information Engineering | Information Engineering is critical to the development of new products and services that are increasingly software intensive. Information engineering is relevant for model-based systems engineering software tools and databases, requirements management software tools and databases, and overall configuration management of the systems design and requirements baseline. | The Information Engineering knowledge area focuses on using data in information systems to facilitate decision-making and business communication. |
| 13. Product Design & Development | SE focuses on the design of systems that provide products and services and the system life cycle. SE includes the technical processes for system design and verification and the technical management processes for project planning, assessment, and control; risk management; and decision management in the Systems Engineering Handbook(2015, 47-83, 104-121). | The knowledge area of the ISEBoK (2021, 53-46) focuses on the design of products and the product life cycle. It closely parallels the technical processes for system design and development of SEBoK. |
| Systems Deployment | SEs participate in defining requirements, defining the architecture, and verification and validation of deployment systems needed to the deploy the system of interest, e.g., special transport equipment such as the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) that NASA used to transport Space Shuttle orbiters. (Jenkins 2000) | IEs are more focused on air, ground, water, and intermodal logistics to include transportation and distribution of systems and products. |
| Updates, Upgrades, Modernization | SEs are involved defining requirements, defining the architecture, and verification and validation of updates, upgrades, and modernization of systems. One way that this has been explained is that a second iteration of the systems engineering V-model is completed as the systems remains in service while a system change project is implemented (Ven, Talik, and Hulse 2012). | IE’s are involved in manufacturing processes and supporting operations of systems to provide goods and services. IEs can help identify the need for updates, upgrades, and modernization of manufacturing and service processes and work with EMs, SEs, and design engineers to provide improved capabilities. |
| Service Life Extension | SEs are involved in service life extension efforts in the same way that they are involved in updates, upgrades, and modernization of systems. | IEs are involved in service life extension efforts in the same way that they are involved in updates, upgrades, and modernization of systems. |
| System Maintenance | SEs participate in defining requirements for maintenance across the life cycle of the system, determine the impact of maintenance constraints on the system requirements and the system architecture (Walden et al, 2015, 97-98). | IEs provide engineering support to production processes maintenance and system maintenance to sustain operation of production and service processes and systems. |
| Logistics | SEs participate in defining requirements for logistics across the life cycle of the system, determine the impact of maintenance constraints on the system requirements and the system architecture (Walden et al, 2015, 97-98). | IEs are very involved in logistics planning and operations including supply chain management, transportation, and distribution. |
| Disposal & Retirement | SEs identify requirements, define the architecture, and verification and validation of disposal and retirement needed to the disposition or retire the system of interest, e.g., nuclear material stabilization processes and equipment needed to disposition fissile nuclear materials to enable shutdown of the nuclear production facilities (Kenley, et al, 1999). | IEs plan for disposal and retirement as part of their product design process. Increasingly, IEs must consider environmental impact and sustainability issues. |
Roles in a System Life Cycle
Systems engineers and industrial engineers play important roles in a system life cycle. Figure 5 modifies a format from Buede and Miller (2016). It shows the system life cycle stages and, based on analysis in the previous section, identifies and summarizes the major roles of systems engineers, industrial engineers, and design engineers. Some processes have been aggregated to simplify the figure.
<< INSERT FIGURE 5 HERE>>
Figure 5. Roles in a System Life Cycle
Summary
In summary:
- The SEBoK SE and Management Part is based on an ISO standard. IE has several related ISO standards. IISE does not link its body of knowledge to standards.
- Based on their respective bodies of knowledge, SE is more process focused, while IE focuses more on concepts and techniques. SE and IE have overlapping bodies of knowledge.
- The SEBoK and INCOSE's SE Handbook align with the system life cycle. The ISEBoK does not have an analogous organizing structure.
- Systems engineers and industrial engineers both play important roles in the system life cycle with some overlapping responsibilities.
References
Buede, D. M. & Miller, W. D. 2016, The engineering design of systems: models and methods, Wiley. (Hoboken, NJ, US)
DA PAM 70-3. 2008. Army Acquisition Procedures. Pamphlet, January 28, 2008, Department of the Army. (Washington, DC, US)
Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers, IISE Body of Knowledge, viewed November 13, 2021, < https://www.iise.org/Details.aspx?id=43631>
Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers, Origins of IISE, viewed November 13, 2021, <https://www.iise.org/details.aspx?id=295>
International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), What is systems engineering, viewed November 13, 2021, <https://www.incose.org/systems-engineering>
International Organization for Standardization, Standards, viewed November 14, 2021, <https://www.iso.org/standards.html>
ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288, 2015, Systems and software engineering-System life cycle processes.
International Organization for Standardization (Geneva, Switzerland)
Environmental Protection Agency, Guidelines for Preparing Economic Analyses, viewed November 19, 2021, <https://www.epa.gov/environmental-economics/guidelines-preparing-economic-analyses>
Guide to the Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge (SEBoK), viewed November 15, 2021, <https://www.sebokwiki.org/wiki/Guide_to_the_Systems_Engineering_Body_of_Knowledge_(SEBoK)>
Jenkins, D. R. 2000, Boeing 747-100/200/300/sp, Airliner tech series, v. 6. Specialty Press Publishers and Wholesalers (North Branch, MN, US)
Kenley, B., Scott, B., Seidel, B., Knecht, D., Southworth, F., Osborne, K., Chipman, N. & Creque, T. A. 1999, Program to Stabilize Nuclear Materials as Managed by the Plutonium Focus Area. Waste Management '99 (Tucson, AZ, US)
Levis, A. H. & Wagenhals, L. W. 2000, C4ISR architectures: I. Developing a process for C4ISR architecture design. Systems Engineering, 3, 225-247. (US)
Raz, A. K., Kenley, C. R. & DeLaurentis, D. A. 2018, System architecting and design space characterization. Systems Engineering, 21, 227-242. (US)
Systems Engineering, INCOSE, viewed November 14, 2021, <https://www.incose.org/systems-engineering>
Systems Engineering and Management, 2021, Guide to the Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge (SEBoK), viewed November 11, 2021
<https://www.sebokwiki.org/wiki/Systems_Engineering_and_Management>
Ven, M.V.D., Talik, J. and Hulse, J. (2012), An Introduction to Applying Systems Engineering to In-Service Systems. INCOSE International Symposium, 22: 879-894. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2334-5837.2012.tb01377.x
Wagenhals, L. W., Shin, I., Kim, D. & Levis, A. H. 2000. C4ISR architectures: II. A structured analysis approach for architecture design. Systems Engineering, 3, 248-287. (US)
Wagenhals, L. W., Haider, S. & Levis, A. H. 2003. Synthesizing executable models of object-oriented architectures. Systems Engineering, 6, 266-300. (US)
Walden, DD, Roedler, GJ, Forsberg, KJ, Hamelin, RD, & Shortell, TM, (ed.) 2015, Systems Engineering Handbook: A Guide for System Life Cycle Processes and Activities, 4th Edition, Wiley (Hoboken, NJ, US).
Wymore, A. W. 1993. Model-based systems engineering: an introduction to the mathematical theory of discrete systems and to the tricotyledon theory of system design, CRC Press (Boca Raton, FL, US)
References
Works Cited
IIE. 1992. Industrial Engineering Terminology, revised edition. Norwood, GA, USA: Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE). Accessed March 7, 2012. Available: http://www.iienet2.org/Details.aspx?id=645.
Salvendy, G. (ed.) 2001. Handbook of Industrial Engineering, Technology and Operations Management, 3rd ed. Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Turner, W.C., J.H. Mize, K.E. Case, and J.W. Nazemtz. 1992. Introduction to Industrial and Systems Engineering, 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA: Prentice Hall.
Zandin, K.B. (ed.) 2001. Maynard's Industrial Engineering Handbook, 5th ed. New York, NY, USA: McGraw-Hill.
Primary References
IIE. 1992. Industrial Engineering Terminology, revised edition. Norwood, GA, USA: Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE). Accessed March 7, 2012. Available: http://www.iienet2.org/Details.aspx?id=645.
Salvendy, G. (ed.) 2001. Handbook of Industrial Engineering, Technology and Operations Management, 3rd ed. Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Zandin, K.B. (ed.) 2001. Maynard's Industrial Engineering Handbook, 5th ed. New York, NY, USA: McGraw-Hill.
Additional References
Operations Engineering
Hopp, W., and M. Spearman. 2001. Factory Physics, 3rd ed., New York, NY, USA: McGraw-Hill.
Heizer, J., and B. Render. 2001. Operations Management, 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA: Prentice Hall.
Mantel, S., J. Meredith, S. Shafer, and M. Sutton. 2008. Project Management in Practice. New York, NY, USA: John Wiley & Sons.
Operations Research
Banks, J., J. Carson, B. Nelson, and D. Nicol. 2005. Discrete-Event System Simulation, 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA: Prentice Hall.
Hillier, F., and G. Lieberman. 2010. Introduction to Operations Research, 9th ed. New York, NY, USA: McGraw Hill.
Kelton, W. David, R. Sadowski, and D. Sturrock. 2006. Simulation with Arena, 4th ed. New York, NY, USA: McGraw-Hill.
Law, A. 2007. Simulation Modelling and Analysis, 4th ed. New York, NY, USA: McGraw-Hill.
Winston, W. and J. Goldberg. 2004. Operations Research Applications & Algorithms, Independence, KY, USA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.
Production Engineering / Work Design
Freivalds, A. 2009. Niebel's Methods, Standards, and Work Design, 12th ed. New York, NY, USA: McGraw-Hill.
Groover, M. 2007. Work Systems: The Methods, Measurement, and Management of Work, Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA: Pearson-Prentice Hall.
Grover, M. 2007. Fundamentals of Modern Manufacturing, 3rd ed. New York, NY, USA: John Wiley & Sons.
Konz, S., and S. Johnson. 2008. Work Design: Occupational Ergonomics, 7th ed. Scottsdale, AZ, USA: Holcomb Hathaway.
Meyers, F., and J. Stewart. 2001. Motion and Time Study for Lean Manufacturing, 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA: Prentice Hall.
Facilities Engineering and Energy Management
Garcia-Diaz, A., and J. MacGregor Smith. 2008. Facilities Planning and Design, Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA: Pearson-Prentice Hall.
Tompkins, J., J. White, Y. Bozer, and J. Tanchoco. 2003. Facilities Planning, 3rd ed. New York, NY, USA: John Wiley & Sons.
Ergonomics
Chaffin, D., and G. Andersson. 1991. Occupational Biomechanics. New York, NY, USA: John Wiley & Sons.
Wickens, C., S. Gordon, and Y. Liu. 2004. An Introduction to Human factors Engineering. Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA: Pearson-Prentice Hall.
Engineering Economic Analysis
Blank, L.T., and A.J. Tarquin. 2011. Engineering Economy, 7th ed. New York, NY, USA: McGraw-Hill.
Newnan, D., T. Eschenbach, and J. Lavelle. 2011. Engineering Economic Analysis, 11th ed. New York, NY, USA: Oxford University Press.
Parl, C. 2007. Fundamentals of Engineering Economics. Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA: Prentice Hall.
Thuesen, G., and W. Fabrycky. 2001. Engineering Economy, 9th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA: Prentice Hall.
Quality & Reliability
Ebeling, C.E. 2005. An Introduction to Reliability and Maintainability Engineering. Long Grove, IL, USA: Waveland Press, Inc.
Hawkins, D., and D. Olwell. 1998. Cumulative Sum Chars and Charting for Quality Improvement. New York, NY, USA: Springer.
Kiemele, M., S. Schmidt, and R. Berdine. 1999. Basic Statistics: Tools for Continuous Improvement, 4th ed. Colorado Springs, CO, USA: Air Academy Press.
Montgomery, D., and G. Runger. 2007. Applied Statistics and Probability for Engineers, 4th ed. Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons.
Montgomery, D. 2013. Design & Analysis of Experiments, 8th ed. Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons.
Montgomery, D. 2009. Introduction to Statistical Quality Control, 6th ed. Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons.
Quality Staff. 2006. Data Quality Assessment: Statistical Methods for Practitioners. Washington, D.C., USA: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Engineering Management
Gido, J., and J. Clements. 2009. Successful Project Management. Cincinnati, OH, USA: South Western.
Kersner, H. 2009. A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling, 10th ed. New York, NY, USA: John Wiley & Sons.
Supply Chain Management
Jacobs, F., and R. Chase. 2010. Operations and Supply Chain Management. New York, NY, USA: McGraw-Hill.
Mentzer, J. 2004. Fundamentals of Supply Chain Management: Twelve Drivers of Competitive Advantage. Thousand Oaks, CA, USA: Sage.