Industrial engineering study: What is it?
Industrial engineers working at the interface of business and technology: you need the designer's work and the production designer as well as understand the marketing and sales. They ensure that products work and sell well. "The industrial engineer does not need to know every technical detail, but he must be able to speed quickly and be able to recognize and solve" problems, says Uwe Dittmann, professor of industrial engineering at the University of Pforzheim.

How is the industrial engineering degree structured?
In the first semester, the budding industrial engineers learn the fundamentals of business management. They deal with accounting and learn to evaluate an investment. From the beginning, are also scientific and technical foundations of the program, especially physics, electrical engineering and computer science. "I think it's great to not only look at individual aspects of the manufacturing process, but to have a say everywhere, " says Arzu Herlemann, 21, undergraduate student in the second semester at FH Südwestfalen. Already in the Einführungswoche she and her fellow students have dealt with the production of a Autoschlüssels. "That was really interesting because it was about so many different questions: How do I program the KEY TO so that it only unlocks a car? What materials do I use in the production? How do I put it on the market later on? "Industrial engineering can be studied at more than 30 universities and 90 polytechnics, partly dual programs are offered. At the universities, the degree is more theory-based, application-oriented more to the polytechnics. Which subjects to appear explicitly in the curriculum depends on the university. Also the selection of priorities, which you can usually choose the higher semesters varies. Some universities are more economically oriented approximately in logistics or distribution, others focus more on technical subjects such as engineering. If you do not yet know at the beginning, in which direction they wanted to go later, was not that bad, says Uwe Dittmann: "Industrial engineers are primarily generalists. If someone only once deepened controlling, but then still decide for the production, nothing stands in the way. "However, he recommends that you search in the course of studying one or two areas of expertise. Konrad Wirmer, 21, is studying in the fourth semester at the University of Duisburg-Essen, industrial engineering specializing in energy technology. He did not want to make only energy technology: "The economics brings a communicative element into it, I like it very well, " The curriculum always be called integration courses that combine technology and business, for example, the production economy.. The aim is to make production processes more efficient. How to keep the cost low, reduced lead times and the capacities utilized in the best possible? In the first semester, the knowledge is taught mainly in lectures. Later, the theoretical contents are then often associated with case studies, exercises and practical projects. Then the students are investigating is how much a car manufacturer can save when he moved part of its production to Eastern Europe. Or they überprüfen in a case study, the friction losses at the interface of airline companies and airport operators. In some subjects, they also work in the laboratory, such as when they develop in electrical sensors. Many universities a commercial or technical internship is compulsory, sometimes both. Part of an internship is required prior to enrollment. At FH Südwestfalen approximately one must complete two internships until the third semester. Arzu Herlemann has made both immediately after graduating from high school in a spring production. "I was there through all the stations: in the office I have accepted offers, orders entered into the system and manages inventory. In manufacturing the product then I had myself in hand and have accompanied all manufacturing steps, "she says. In the master's program, the number of lectures decreases Darfur there are more seminars and projects in which the students play through a specific case, from product development to market entry. In addition to technical knowledge, it is also about soft skills. "The projects are carried out in small groups. Thus, students have the opportunity to expand their Teamführungsfähigkeiten "says Uwe Dittmann. Many universities offer such projects with industry partners. The company delivers a real problem here, at the end of the students present their results. The Master's programs, which are available at universities and about half of the FHs, differ depending on the focus of each other, although most simply called industrial engineering. In a few colleges like the RWTH Aachen, the focus appeared on behalf of the courses. There is, among other industrial engineering with mechanical engineering and electrical power engineering.