THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA GRADUATE CATALOG
Table of Contents > College of Engineering

11.6.7 INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING (IE)
Program Coordinator: Professor Robert G. Batson, Office: 233 H. M. Comer Hall

For many years the Department of Industrial Engineering offered the master of science in industrial engineering. However, the Department ceased to exist on August 15, 2007. There is now an Industrial Engineering Program that reports to the Dean of the College of Engineering, and Dr. Robert Batson serves as the Coordinator of the program. The MSIE degree program terminates on August 15, 2009.  That is the date by which MSIE students must have completed all degree requirements in order to receive the degree.
 
There were two prerequisites required of every student in the M.S.I.E. degree program:
 
Simulation. Each candidate for the M.S.I.E. degree must have had a simulation course in his or her undergraduate program, or must pass with "C" or better at least 3 hours (typically IE 561 during spring of the first year) of simulation as part of the graduate program.
 
Work design and human performance. Each candidate for the M.S.I.E. degree shall have completed IE 402 or equivalent in his or her undergraduate program, or must pass IE 502 Work Design and Human Performance during the first year of his or her graduate program.


 
Degree Requirements
Graduate students currently in the M.S.I.E. degree program have coursework available to support research (thesis or nonthesis) in one of the following areas of faculty expertise:

  • information and decision support
  • risk analysis and quality engineering
  • engineering and quality management
  • intelligent manufacturing systems
  • logistics engineering and supply chains
  • industrial engineering applications in the automotive industry

Minimum credit hour requirements are 24 hours of acceptable coursework and 6 hours of thesis research under Plan I, or 33 hours under Plan II. In all cases, the student's supervisory committee determines which courses are required, which courses are acceptable, and any permissible substitution or exceptions. Other general degree requirements are as follows:

  1. Six hours of mathematics are required in addition to the minimum College of Engineering requirements, either during undergraduate or graduate study. In industrial engineering, these requirements are typically met by taking 6 hours of either operations research or engineering statistics courses with IE designations. In particular, GES 500 Engineering Statistics and GES 501 Operations Research, taken as remedial prerequisite courses, will constitute the 6 hours in mathematics even though they may not be counted toward the minimum hours required to graduate.
  2. As detailed above, each student must satisfy the M.S.I.E. prerequisite requirements.
  3. Major requirements: 18 hours of 500-level or above IE courses, which are in an area(s) approved by the supervisory committee. Six of these hours may be IE 599 Master's Thesis Research under Plan I. Hours earned in IE 598 Research Not Related to Thesis may not be used to satisfy the major requirements, but do count in the 33 hours total for Plan II students.
  4. Six hours of graduate-level courses in a minor approved by the student's committee. Minors outside the department are acceptable, with the approval of the student's committee. Note that courses taken as part of the 6 hours for the minor cannot be counted in the 18 hours of major requirements.
  5. Six hours of thesis research (IE 599) under Plan I, or 3–6 hours of nonthesis research (IE 598) under Plan II. (More than 6 hours of thesis or nonthesis research may be scheduled, but a maximum of 6 hours can be applied toward the M.S.I.E. degree.) Under Plan I, a thesis is produced that must meet all standards set forth by the Graduate School. Under Plan II, a research report is produced which is to be of the style and quality of a thesis but is not reviewed for acceptability beyond the examining committee. The 6 hours for thesis research should be distributed over two semesters, or one semester and the summer terms. The department encourages, but does not require, a 6-hour effort on nonthesis research. If 6 hours of nonthesis research are conducted, these hours are normally distributed over two semesters, but under exceptional circumstances and with approval of the supervisory committee, a student may take 6 hours in one semester or during two consecutive summer terms.
  6. Six hours of approved electives under Plan I or 9 hours of approved electives under Plan II.
  7. A student must enroll in the one-hour-per-week IE 595 Seminar each semester in which he or she is enrolled up to a maximum of three semesters, except the semester in which he or she plans to graduate. That semester, the student enrolls in IE 596 Seminar for one hour's credit. This seminar is an important part of the development of the student into a professional industrial engineer. It also promotes camaraderie among IE graduate students. Attendance and participation are mandatory.


 
Course Descriptions

IE 402 Work Design Human Performance. (4-0) Four hours.
Prerequisite: PY 101, CS 114, IE 203, and GES 255.
Methodology related to the design, improvement, and evaluation of non-machine systems with emphasis on the principles of human factors and work measurement.

IE 415 Advanced Engineering Economics. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisites: IE 203 or CE 366, and either GES 255, GES 400, or GES 500.
Capital budgeting, decision making under risk and uncertainty, utility theory, cost estimation, and design of financial control through management simulation.

IE 417 Project Management. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisites: IE 203 or CHE 479, and GES 255 or equivalent.
This is an engineering management course designed to introduce students to the functions of project engineers and managers. It details the process of planning and controlling project scope, time, and cost.

IE 418 Engineering Management. (3-0) Three hours. Same as GES 418.
Prerequisite: IE 203 or equivalent or the consent of instructor.
An introduction to management principles and the management functions of planning, organizing, motivating, and controlling. Management of research, design, manufacturing, and quality will be studied.

IE 420 Artificial Intelligence for Manufacturing Systems. (3-9) Three hours.
Prerequisite: GES 257 or equivalent.
The course covers the basic concepts in fuzzy set theory, fuzzy logic and approximate reasoning. Relation between fuzzy set theory, probability theory, and possibility is discussed. Applications of fuzzy set theory in manufacturing systems are outlined.

IE 421 Reliability, Maintainability, and Total Productive Maintenance. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisite: GES 255 or GES 500.
Measures and methods of reliability engineering, maintainability engineering, and total productive maintenance, as used in the system design process.

IE 422 Quality Engineering. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisite: GES 257 or GES 400 or 500.
Introduction to quality planning approaches, including quality function deployment and robust product and process design.

IE 425 Statistical Quality Control. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisite: GES 255 or GES 500.
Use of statistical tools and techniques in the control of quality of manufactured products. Shewhart control charts; advanced control charts; capability analysis; single, double, and multiple sampling inspection plans.

IE 426 Design and Analysis of Experiments. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisite: GES 257 or GES 400 or GES 500.
Design of experiments and application of analysis of variance, regression analysis, and related statistical methods.

IE 430 Advanced Productivity Engineering. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisites: IE 253 and either GES 257, GES 400, or GES 500.
Advanced study and design of productivity improvement systems; study of productivity management philosophies and methods; and thorough study of systems to assess white-collar, indirect-labor, and direct-labor productivity.

IE 434 Ergonomics of Cumulative Trauma Disorders. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisite: IE 351.
Theory and application of ergonomics interventions to control occupation-related cumulative musculoskeletal injuries in industry. Field trips and design projects will provide experience in application of theoretical material.

IE 446 Advanced Information Systems Design. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisite: IE 464.
Current concepts in information systems architecture and applications. Including decision support systems and CASE tools. Emphasis placed on expanded use of systems design methodology.

IE 448 Expert Systems in Manufacturing. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisite: IE 464.
The objective of this course is to detail the methods by which expert systems technology may be applied to the manufacturing environment. Emphasis will be placed on knowledge-engineering techniques and the use of expert system shells.

IE 454 Safety Engineering. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisites: GES 255 or equivalent, or consent of the instructor.
An introduction to safety engineering and accident prevention, including related state and federal laws. Topics include impact of accidents on industry, state and federal regulatory laws, hazard identification, analysis, control techniques, accident investigation, and environmental and human factors.

IE 455 Product Safety Management. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisites: GES 255 or equivalent, or consent of the instructor.
Government regulations, court cases, and problems and solutions concerning product safety, for current and potential engineering and business managers. Reports, projects, discussions, and local field trips involving a wide range of products and services of interest to students.

IE 460 Facilities Planning and Design. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisite: IE 402.
Corequisites: IE 321 and IE 363.
Economic factors in and techniques for the location and layout of a manufacturing facility; relationship of material handling and layout; and analysis and design of integrated material-handling systems.

IE 461 Systems Simulation. (2-3) Three hours.
Prerequisites: CS 114 and GES 257, or consent of the instructor.
Corequisite: IE 364.
Simulation methodology, emphasizing discrete, computer-simulation modeling. Writing proficiency is required for a passing grade in this course.

IE 462 Material Handling and Distribution in Discrete Manufacturing. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisites: IE 364 and IE 321.
An investigation of material flow and physical distribution systems in discrete parts manufacturing. Topics include principles and techniques for the analysis and design of material handling systems, unit load design, equipment selection and justification, and warehousing and distribution logistics.

IE 463 Systems Design I.
(2-3) Three hours.
Prerequisites: IE 402, IE 363, and IE 460.
Corequisites: IE 417 and IE 425.
Application of the morphology and iterative process of systems design, with emphasis on designing and implementing solutions to actual industrial problems. Students function independently in manufacturing and service systems. Writing proficiency is required for a passing grade in this course.

IE 464 Information Systems Design. (2-3) Three hours.
Prerequisites: IE 321 and CS 114.
An overview of management information systems (MIS) focusing on the practical aspects, applications, and methodology of MIS, particularly from the industrial engineer's perspective. Information systems design methodology is covered in detail.

IE 466 Manufacturing Systems Design. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisites: IE 321 and IE 364.
Investigation of design issues and approaches for the analysis and design of manufacturing systems.

IE 467 Production Planning and Control. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisites: GES 255 or GES 500, and IE 363 or GES 501.
Forecasting and estimation; aggregate planning; charts and network models; resource allocation; inventory control; sequencing and scheduling; dispatching; flow control; bills of materials; and requirements planning.

IE 468 Inventory Systems. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisite: IE 467.
Introduction to the planning and operation of inventory systems, including independent demand models, hierarchical systems, in-process planning, just-in-time, and aggregate inventory considerations.

IE 470 Supply Chain Engineering. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisite: None.
The application of constrained models to supply chain planning and design, emphasizing facilities, routes, and inventories. Interface with production planning systems and transactional databases.

IE 478 Advanced Linear Programming. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisite: IE 363 or GES 501.
Linear programming, duality, postoptimality analysis, decomposition principle, bounded and discrete variables, goal programming, and multi-objective programming.

IE 483 Computer-Aided Manfacturing. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisites: DR 125 or DR 133, and ME 383.
Introduction and application of several technologies used in computer-aided design/manufacturing including computer-aided design, solid modeling, rapid prototyping, geometric dimensioning and tolerancing, machining process optimization, NC programming CNC machines, software-based product and process design in machining.

IE 485 Systems Design II. (1-6) Three hours.
Prerequisite: IE 463.
Corequisite: IE 467, IE 364, or IE 461.
Continuation of IE 463 Systems Design I, with emphasis on designing and implementing solutions to actual industrial problems. Students learn to function as team members to solve problems in manufacturing and service systems.

IE 491:492 Special Problems (Area). One to six hours.
Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor.
Special topics courses designed to study in depth one or more topics related to industrial engineering. Credit awarded is based on the amount of work undertaken.

IE 498 Honors Research Project. (3-0) Three hours
Prerequisites: None.
Course provides an opportunity for students in the Industrial Engineering Program to conduct in-depth independent study in a research topic of their choosing.

IE 499 Honors Design Project. (3-0) Three hours.
Course provides an opportunity for students in the Industrial Engineering Program to conduct in-depth independent study in a design topic of their choosing.

IE 502 Work Design and Human Performance.
(2-2) Three hours.
Corequisite: GES 500 or equivalent. Not open to students who have earned credit for IE 402 or IE 351.
Design and evaluation of human-machine systems and working environments to optimize human productivity and performance, with emphasis on the industrial environment.
 
IE 515 Advanced Engineering Economics. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisites: IE 203 or CE 366, and either GES 255, GES 400, or GES 500. Not open to students who have earned credit for IE 415.
Capital budgeting, decision making under risk and uncertainty, utility theory, cost estimation, and design of financial control through management simulation.

IE 517 Project Management. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisites: IE 203 or CE 366, and GES 255. Not open to students who have earned credit for IE 417.
This is an engineering management course designed to introduce students to the functions of project engineers and managers. It details the processes of planning and controlling project scope, time, and cost.

IE 518 Engineering Management. (3-0) Three hours. Same as GES 518.
Prerequisite: IE 203 or CE 366. Not open to students who have earned credit for IE 418.
An introduction to management principles and the management functions of planning, organizing, motivating, and controlling. Management of research, design, manufacturing, and quality will be studied.

IE 520 Artificial Intelligence for Manufacturing Systems. (3-9) Three hours.
Prerequisite: GES 257 or equivalent.
The course covers the basic concepts in fuzzy set theory, fuzzy logic, and approximate reasoning. Relation between fuzzy set theory, probability theory, and possibility is discussed. Applications of fuzzy set theory in manufacturing systems are outlined.

IE 521 Reliability, Maintainability, and Total Productive Maintenance. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisite: GES 255 or GES 500. Not open to students who have earned credit for IE 421.
Measures and methods of reliability engineering, maintainability engineering, and total productive maintenance, as used in the system design process.

IE 522 Quality Engineering. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisites: GES 257 or GES 400/500.
Introduction to Taguchi methods, including loss function, orthogonal arrays, and parameter design experiments; also the role of Taguchi methods in quality function deployment (QFD) process.

IE 525 Statistical Quality Control. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisite: GES 255 or GES 500. Not open to students who have earned credit for IE 425.
Use of statistical tools and techniques in the control of quality of manufactured products. Shewhart control charts; advanced control charts; capability analysis; single, double, and multiple sampling inspection plans.

IE 526 Design and Analysis of Experiments. (3-0) Three hours. (Also GES 526.)
Prerequisite: GES 257, GES 400, or GES 500. Not open to students who have earned credit for IE 426.
Design of experiments and application of analysis of variance, regression analysis, and related statistical methods.

IE 528 Advanced Design of Experiments. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisite: IE 426, IE 526, or GES 526.
Theory and application of experimental design, including randomized block, Latin squares, factorial, fractional factorial, and nested designs.

IE 530 Advanced Productivity Engineering. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisites: IE 402 and either GES 257, GES 400, or GES 500. Not open to students who have earned credit for IE 430.
Advanced study and design of productivity improvement systems. Study of productivity management philosophies and methods. Thorough study of systems to assess white-collar, indirect-labor, and direct-labor productivity.

IE 534 Ergonomics of Cumulative Trauma Disorders. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisite: IE 402 or IE 502. Not open to students who have earned credit for IE 434.
Theory and application of ergonomics interventions to control occupationally-related cumulative musculoskeletal injuries in industry. Field trips and design projects will provide experience in application of theoretical material.

IE 546 Advanced Information Systems Design. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisite: IE 464 or equivalent. Not open to students who have earned credit for IE 446.
Current concepts in information systems architecture and applications, including decision support systems and CASE tools. Emphasis is on expanded use of systems design methodology.

IE 548 Expert Systems in Manufacturing. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisite: IE 464 or IE 546. Not open to students who have earned credit for IE 448.
The objective of this course is to detail the methods by which expert systems technology may be applied to the manufacturing environment. Emphasis will be placed on knowledge engineering techniques and the use of expert system shells.

IE 554 Safety Engineering. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisite: GES 255 or equivalent. Not open to students who have earned credit for IE 454, IE 502, or equivalent.
An introduction to safety engineering and accident prevention, including related state and federal laws. Topics include impact of accidents on industry, state and federal regulatory laws, hazard identification, analysis, control techniques, accident investigation, and environmental and human factors.

IE 560 Facilities Planning and Design. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisite: IE 402 or IE 502. Not open to students who have earned credit for IE 460.
Corequisites: IE 321 and IE 363 or GES 501.
Economic factors in and techniques for the location and layout of a manufacturing facility; relationship of material handling and layout; analysis and design of integrated material-handling systems.

IE 561 Systems Simulation. (3-3) Three hours.
Prerequisites: IE 203 and CS 114, or consent of the instructor.
Corequisite: GES 257 or GES 500. Not open to students with credit for IE 461.
Simulation methodology, emphasizing discrete, computer-simulation modeling.

IE 562 Material Handling and Distribution in Discrete Manufacturing. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisites: IE 364 or GES 501, and IE 321 or equivalent. Not open to students who have earned credit for IE 462.
An investigation of material flow and physical distribution systems in discrete parts manufacturing. Topics include principles and techniques for the analysis and design of material handling systems, unit load design, equipment selection and justification, and warehousing and distribution logistics.

IE 565 Advanced Systems Simulation. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisites: IE 461 or IE 561 and IE 321.
Simulation methodology; simulation modeling of complex systems using digital computers; computer models simulating operating characteristics of manufacturing plants and service industries.

IE 566 Manufacturing Systems Design. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisites: IE 321 and either GES 501 or IE 364. Not open to students who have earned credit for IE 466.
Investigation of design issues and approaches for the analysis and design of manufacturing systems.

IE 567 Production Planning and Control. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisites: GES 255 or GES 500, and either IE 363 or GES 501. Not open to students who have earned credit for IE 467.
Forecasting and estimation; aggregate planning; charts and network models; resource allocation; inventory control; sequencing and scheduling; dispatching; flow control; bills of materials; and requirements planning.

IE 568 Inventory Systems. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisite: IE 363 or GES 501. Not open to students who have earned credit for IE 468.
Introduction to the planning and operation of inventory systems, including independent demand models, hierarchical systems, in-process planning, just-in-time, and aggregate inventory considerations.

IE 570 Supply Chain Engineering.
(3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisite: IE 363 or GES 501 or equivalent.
The application of constrained models to supply chain planning and design, emphasizing facilities, routes, and inventories. Interface with production planning systems and transactional databases.

IE 578 Advanced Linear Programming. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisite: IE 363 or GES 501. Not open to students who have earned credit for IE 478.
Linear programming, duality, postoptimality analysis, the decomposition principle, bounded and discrete variables, goal programming, and multi-objective programming.

IE 583 Computer-Aided Manufacturing.
(3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisites: DR 125 or DR 133, and ME 383
Introduction and application of several technologies used in computer-aided design/manufacturing, including computer-aided design, solid modeling, rapid prototyping, geometric dimensioning and tolerancing, machining process optimization, NC programming CNC machines, software-based product and process design in machining.

IE 591:592 Special Problems (Area). One to six hours.
Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor.

IE 595:596 Seminar. (1-0) One hour (each).
Presentation and discussion of recent journal articles of importance to the field of industrial engineering. Required each semester for industrial engineering students.

IE 598 Research Not Related to Thesis. Variable credit.

IE 599 Master's Thesis Research.
Variable credit.

IE 613 Systems Engineering I. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor.
Modern practices and theory of design and analysis of systems in industry.

IE 614 Systems Engineering II. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisite: IE 613.
Continuation of IE 613 Systems Engineering I.

IE 631 Occupational Biomechanics. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisites: IE 402 or IE 502 and GES 257 or GES 400/500.
The human musculoskeletal system; statics and dynamics of anthropometry; analysis and measurement of body motions; analysis of force systems in the body; and applications of biomechanics in the design of the workplace, tasks, and hand tools to improve productivity and reduce injuries.

IE 632 Work Physiology. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisites: IE 402 or IE 502 and GES 257 or GES 400/500.
Theory and techniques for measurement of the physiological costs of physical work, with applications in job design and worker selection.

IE 633 Human Information Processing. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisites: IE 402 or IE 502 and GES 257 or GES 400/500.
Human mental capabilities and limitations, human-machine interfaces, mental workload, human-computer interfaces, human error, and system design.

IE 634 Research Techniques in Human Engineering. (0-3) Three hours.
Prerequisites: IE 526 or GES 526, and IE 631 or IE 632, or IE 633.
Research design, laboratory vs. field experiments, methods of measurement, observation, data collection, and statistical analysis.

IE 671 Decision and Value Theory. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisite: GES 501 and IE 364.
Decision models; utility curves; subjective probability; uncertain payoffs; value of information; revision of prior probability; decision trees; multi-attribute utility models; and risk sharing and group decisions.

IE 679 Nonlinear Programming. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisite: GES 501 or IE 363.
Theory of and solution algorithms for nonlinear programs; and optimality conditions, convexity, linear approximation, gradient methods, search techniques, and geometric programming.

IE 680 Network Optimization. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisite: GES 501 or IE 363 or equivalent.
Theories, algorithms, and applications for networks and graphs: shortest path, K-shortest, traveling salesman, multi-terminal flow, minimum cost flow, and multi-commodity problems.
 
IE 682 Integer Programming. (3-0) Three hours.
Prerequisite: IE 363 or GES 501 or MGS 500 or equivalent.
Optimization in integer variables by cutting planes, branch-and-bound, group theoretic, and implicit enumeration.


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Update: Sep. 2007