1st Year Industrial engineer looking for advice 3

[Zaman91]

Good morning,
Im a recent graduate and got a job in a steel manufacturing which does heavy stuff (diesel tanks, frak tanks etc.) Its almost a year since i got the job but at first i have been veryyyy eager to learn the processes and implement what i have learned in real life. Nowadays i just want to go home coz i hate it, i think ive been stripped from my motivation.

- My managers do not understand what is industrial engineering is since im the only one.
- i had billion of ideas to save money or reduce costs but nobody seems interested since they do not want to change, plus as stated earlier they dont know what is industrial engineering.
- my work currently has nothing to do with IE and its driving me crazy, i did not spend years of my life and money to forget everything that i have learned.
- my goals are to improve, but seems im getting nowhere with that.

So any advice on what to do? Or what can i do?

Right now my current job is production so "i have control over the shop." I tried simple changes in layout but do not get backed up from management. I do not care which material to use coz i have no idea in materials or asme standards.
I feel like there is nothing for me to do, nor they are interested in new ideas from a different perspective. I dont think i can manage having a repetitive job. Even in the project itself the foremans have more experience and they dont want to change and will not unless the managers are on my side.

Am i doing something wrong? Is it too early to raise my voice with ideas?

Sorry if it sounds repetitive but any advice would be good.
My aim is to work on something i love, which is improvement. Wether its layout changes or reduction in overtime or customer satisfaction etc. Thats what i love thats what i will give 100%.

 

[ashtree]

Whilst enthusiasm is good, you may also be coming across as the smart young prick from university who has been here 5 minutes and thinks he knows everything(even if this is not actually the case).
So what i would suggest seeing as how you are in "production" why don't you learn about the processes that are currently in place. The why , the how , the ins and outs. Maybe there are opportunities for improvement but until the people in management and on the floor see that you know about what it is that they do, well they may not want to be co-operative. Likewise getting buy in is often more about taking the team or the business along the process rather than you just having a good idea.
Perhaps everyone is happy working a bit of overtime. The guys on the floor get a few extra dollars , the company can get by with fewer employees and management can adjust capacity by more or less overtime when conditions change. You really need to understand the business , the process , the people, the product and the customer.

Regards
Ashtree
"Any water can be made potable if you filter it through enough money"

 

[MacGyverS2000]

Write up a 1-page summary discussing the benefits of your proposed changes... how much money it will save them, reduced accident/workers comp claims, etc. Don't be pushy or arrogant, just give them an opportunity to warm up to your ideas... if they don't immediately shoot you down, ask if you can do a trial run.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[IRstuff]

"i had billion of ideas to save money or reduce costs"
"i have no idea in materials or asme standards. "

You have billions of ideas, yet you didn't even bother to learn the details about the process you're supposedly improving? You just got out of school, so LEARN to crawl BEFORE you walk or run.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

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[drawoh]

Good morning,
Im a recent graduate and got a job in a steel manufacturing which does heavy stuff (diesel tanks, frak tanks etc.) Its almost a year since i got the job but at first i have been veryyyy eager to learn the processes and implement what i have learned in real life. Nowadays i just want to go home coz i hate it, i think ive been stripped from my motivation.

- My managers do not understand what is industrial engineering is since im the only one.
...

Trial and error is not a good way to learn your job. This is the stage of your career you want someone experienced mentoring you. If your company wanted to add industrial engineering capability, they should have hired an experienced industrial engineer. I suggest you update your resume.

--
JHG

 

[MikeHalloran]

In less than a year, you have learned where the bathrooms are, and maybe how to make acceptable coffee. That's my perspective, now.

When I was your age, after a brief interview at a factory that made, basically, doorknobs, I told a recruiter "I can learn their business in three months, and beat them at it in six." I may have overstated my potential just a little.

As have you, I suspect, and probably as your management suspects.


I know of nothing more difficult than getting a manufacturing process going, except maybe keeping it quasi-stable. Little things go wrong every day, and everyone's attention is required to keep the little things from becoming big things, so as to keep the entire house of cards from collapsing.

What I suggest you do at this point is buttonhole each of the old timers you can find, and suck their brains dry. Don't take notes during the process; that will intimidate people and make them suspicious. Just talk to them, over a cup of coffee. Then go to a private space and write down what you find out.

Don't write down who is screwing whom, or stuff like that. You want to discover and record the stuff that they know about the factory and the product and the process. Especially the stuff that I call 'lore'; stuff that happens to be universally true, even if no one knows why, or misunderstands the physics underneath it.

Write down everything you find out, as factually and objectively as possible. With Notepad or similar, as simple text files. Hit F5 regularly to insert time/date stamps. Leave out impressions or opinions. Make measurements, or observe measurements that are being made for other reasons.

Then, for each bit of lore, try to analyze what's really going on, and find the real science behind it. You will then have a lot of disconnected bits of analysis, and a sparse data set to back it up.

Eventually, you will begin to understand what is really going on, and you will discover ways to make small improvements for little effort or cost. Rank those, and start with the low hanging fruit; make a brief presentation to your supervisor about just one. Knock it out of the park. Then repeat. You will stay busy, and your value will slowly become apparent to all.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[GregLocock]

Read "The Goal" by Goldratt.

Cheers

Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376

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[oldestguy]

Mike has some good advice. However, your statement "My aim is to work on something i love" may be a nice goal, but be prepared for a long road to that goal. It won't be in one year or even five. NO JOB IS PERFECT. You must have been hired for, something, what ever that is. Do that job and make it your current goal to do it the best you can and likely your ideas alone won't be sufficient. That's where bouncing off a few of them now and then to the folks on the floor doing the job. Is your PRACTICAL background superior to those working on the floor? I seriously doubt it. WARNING: Be very careful about making any major changes to the processes without checking with several, including the boss. I've had beginning engineers with big ideas and a "Know it all" approach make some major decisions without checking back in. They turned out to be serious from a production and cost standpoint. Some not my employees, but I had them fired just the same.

 

[CWB1]

I concur with drawoh, you need to learn through experience under a qualified mentor.

Something else to consider is whether or not youre limited to solving existing problems or simply limited to affecting improvements to the existing status quo. I would wager that most here have seen far too many "improvements" that per a wonderful powerpoint should've saved millions but ended up costly. Personally, I'm rather skeptical of fixing things that aren't broken unless they're cheap and easily reversible.

 

[ProEpro]

Start with what they want changed. When you learn how to implement something they want then you can apply that to what they don't understand.

As others have said you may in a situation that is not setup for your success.

 

[berkshire]

Zaman91 ,
From reading your post I get the idea that your current job description is not " Industrial engineering.", you say it is "Production.", are you working on the shop floor, are you planning, are you working as a team leader, or production manager, what exactly are you doing?
It may be, that the resistance to your ideas is that you are trying to work outside, of your job description.
You have to remember that in a lot of facilities, an industrial engineer is seen as a " Stopwatch guy.", who's job is to make people work faster. The making jobs easier, by removing obstacles to the people doing the job, still has not sunk in to the rank and file of a great many shops. So as soon as the term Industrial engineer is raised, defenses are put up. You have to prove, that you are on the side of the guy doing the job, before you will get any help.
B.E.


You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.

 

[vthomidis]

I would go as Mike's advice.

Try to first see/understand and document, what is done,how,why and by whom it is done
that way. That would provide you enough knowledge.

That knowledge combined with your university background will "get your goal" reached.
Don't worry about "forgeting everything that you have learned" - that will never happen.

It only takes some time....