Industrial engineering and management is a combination of the physical, mathematical and social sciences to design efficient manufacturing and service systems that integrate people, equipment and the information. Advancements in the areas of automation, management information systems and the process quality over the past century have revolutionized the field of manufacturing. This has greatly improved the quality of life.
Trends towards globalization, increased complexity and rapid technological innovations create an even greater need for the discipline of industrial engineering and management. Some of the sub-specialties in this field are operations research, systems engineering, manufacturing engineering, supply chain management, ergonomics or human factors engineering, safety engineering and the management science etc.