Engineering management (also called management engineering) is the application of engineering methods, tools, and techniques to business management systems. Engineering management is a career that brings together the technological problem-solving ability of engineering and the organizational, administrative, legal and planning abilities of management in order to oversee the operational performance of complex engineering-driven enterprises.
Universities offering bachelor degrees in engineering management typically have programs covering courses such as engineering management, project management, operations management, logistics, supply chain management, programming concepts, programming applications, operations research, engineering law, value engineering, quality control, quality assurance, six sigma, safety engineering, systems engineering, engineering leadership, accounting, applied engineering design, business statistics and calculus. A Master of Engineering Management (MEM) and Master of Business Engineering (MBE) are sometimes compared to a Master of Business Administration (MBA) for professionals seeking a graduate degree as a qualifying credential for a career in engineering management.
History Stevens Institute of Technology is believed to have the oldest engineering management department, established as the School of Business Engineering in 1908. This was later called the Bachelor of Engineering in Engineering Management (BEEM) program and moved into the School of Systems and Enterprises. Syracuse University established the first graduate engineering management degree in the United States, which was first offered in 1957. In 1967 the first university department explicitly titled "Engineering Management" was founded at the Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T, formerly the University of Missouri-Rolla, formerly Missouri School of Mines).
Inside the United States, other notable engineering management programs includes: In 1959, Western Michigan University began offering the predecessor to the modern engineering management bachelor's degree (titled "Industrial Supervision") and in 1977, Western Michigan University started its MS degree in Manufacturing Administration, later renamed as Engineering Management. In 1982, at the request of public utility companies in Nebraska, the University of Nebraska - Lincoln started a Master of Engineering in Engineering Management offered by the College of Engineering on-campus and on-site at each utility company across the State. Over the years, delivery expanded to include televised format to be accessible to all engineering companies in the State. In 2008 the program was renamed Master of Engineering Management and transitioned to fully online (web-based) delivery to serve the needs of engineering industry nation-wide and world-wide. In 1998, University of Wisconsin–Madison established the predecessor to their online graduate engineering management degree (titled "Master of Engineering in Professional Practice"). Michigan Technological University began an Engineering Management program in the School of Business & Economics in the Fall of 2012.
Outside the United States, engineering management includes: In Germany the first department concentrating on Engineering Management was established 1927 at the Technische Hochschule in Charlottenburg (now Technische Universität Berlin).. In Turkey the Istanbul Technical University has a Management Engineering Department established in 1982, offering a number of graduate and undergraduate programs in Management Engineering (in English). In UK the University of Warwick has a specialised department WMG (previously known as Warwick Manufacturing Group) established in 1980, which offers a graduate programme in MSc Engineering Business Management. In Canada, Memorial University of Newfoundland has started a complete master's degree Program in Engineering Management. In Denmark, the Technical University of Denmark offers a MSc program in Engineering Management (in English).MSc in Engineering Management . In Pakistan, University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore and National University of Science and Technology (NUST) offer admission both at Master and Doctorate level in Engineering Management while Capital University of Science & Technology (CUST), NED University of Engineering & Technology, Karachi and Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology have been running a Master of Engineering/MS in Engineering Management program. A variant of this program is within Quality Management. COMSATS (CIIT) offers a MSc Project Management program to Local and Overseas Pakistanis as an on-campus/off-campus student. In Poland, Warsaw University of Technology, Poznań University of Technology, WSB Merito University (Toruń branch), Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Kielce University of Technology all offer first-cycle studies (inżynier, EQF Level 6), with some of them also offering second-cycle studies (magister inżynier, EQF Level 7). In Italy, the first Engineering Management program was established in 1972 at the University of Calabria by Beniamino Andreatta. Politecnico di Milano offers degrees in Management Engineering., among many other public or private (and publicly-accredited) universities belonging to the same post-secondary academic degrees' classification. In Morocco, École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Rabat offers an Engineering Management degree (three years of study full time with a selective admission for Associate or bachelor degree holders). The degree offered is referred to locally as Diplôme d'Ingénieur and is equivalent to Master level degree. In Russia, since 2014 the Faculty of Engineering Management of The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA) offers bachelor's and master's degrees in Engineering Management. In France, the EPF will offer, from January 2018, a 2-year Engineering & Management major in English for the 4th and 5th years of its 5-year Engineering master's degree. The final two years are open to students who have completed an undergraduate engineering degree elsewhere.
Areas of practice Engineering management is a broad field and can cover a wide range of technical and managerial topics. An important resource is the Engineering Management Body of Knowledge (EMBoK). The topics below are representative of typical topics in the field.
Leadership and organization management Leadership and organization management are concerned with the skills involving positive direction of technical organizations and motivation of employees. Often a manager must shape engineering policy within an organization.
Operations, operations research, and supply chain Operations management is concerned with designing and controlling the process of production and redesigning business operations in the production of goods or services. Operations research deals with quantitative models of complex operations and uses these models to support decision-making in any sector of industry or public services. Supply chain management is the process of planning, implementing and managing the flow of goods, services and related information from the point of origin to the point of consumption.University of Waterloo , Management Engineering.
Engineering law Engineering law and the related statutes are critical to management practice and engineering.California Professional Engineers Act; Business and Professions Code; 6700 - 6799; Chapter 7 Engineering legislation makes engineering a controlled activity and an engineering manager must know which statutes apply to their practice. Codes of ethics can be enshrined in law. Professional misconduct and negligence are defined in law. An engineering manager must be licensed as an engineer and may have engineers, technicians and natural scientists reporting to her or him. Understanding how licensed engineers supervise non-licensed technicians and natural scientists is critical to safe practice.Professional Engineers Ontario, Assuming Responsibility and Supervising Engineering Work Guideline, February 2018.
An engineering manager must always use engineering legislation to push back against schedule pressure or budget pressure to ensure public safety.Ontario, Regulation 941, Section 77(2)(i) and Section 72(2)(j).
Management of technology Introducing and utilizing new technology is a major route to cost reduction and quality improvement in production engineering.Engineering Firms: A Survey of Factors Affecting their Growth & Performance, ISR/Google Books, 2013, 2019. E-book ISBN 9780906321553. Chapter 4, "Technological development & product innovation in engineering"; Chapter 6, "Managerial, organizational & technological aspects of the growth & performance of engineering firms: 24 company case studies". The management of technology (MOT) theme builds on the foundation of management topics in accounting, finance, economics, organizational behavior and organizational design. Courses in this theme deal with operational and organizational issues related to managing innovation and technological change.
New product development and product engineering New product development (NPD) is the complete process of bringing a new product to market. Product engineering refers to the process of designing and developing a device, assembly, or system such that it be produced as an item for sale through some production manufacturing process. Product engineering usually entails activity dealing with issues of cost, producibility, quality, performance, reliability, serviceability, intended lifespan and user features. Project management techniques are used to manage the design and development progress using the phase-gate model in the product development process. Design for manufacturability (also sometimes known as design for manufacturing or DFM) is the general engineering art of designing products in such a way that they are easy to manufacture.
Systems engineering Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering and engineering management that focuses on how to design and manage complex systems over their life cycles.
Industrial engineering Industrial engineering is a branch of engineering which deals with the optimization of complex processes, systems or organizations. Industrial engineers work to eliminate waste of time, money, materials, man-hours, machine time, energy and other resources that do not generate value.
Management science Management science uses various scientific research-based principles, strategies, and analytical methods including mathematical modeling, statistics and numerical algorithms to improve an organization's ability to enact rational and meaningful management decisions by arriving at optimal or near optimal solutions to complex decision problems.
Engineering design management Engineering design management represents the adaptation and application of customary management practices, with the intention of achieving a productive engineering design process. Engineering design management is primarily applied in the context of engineering design teams, whereby the activities, outputs and influences of design teams are planned, guided, monitored and controlled.
Human factors safety culture