Career Trends: Industrial Engineering Technologists and Technicians

Industrial engineering technicians help industrial engineers implement designs to use personnel, materials, and machines effectively in factories, stores, healthcare organizations, repair shops, and offices. They prepare machinery and equipment layouts, plan workflows, conduct statistical production studies, and analyze production costs.

Most industrial engineering technicians work in manufacturing industries. Most work full time.

Industrial engineering technicians typically need an associate’s degree or a postsecondary certificate. Community colleges or technical institutes typically offer associate’s degree programs, and vocational–technical schools offer certificate programs.

Employment of industrial engineering technicians is projected to decline 5 percent from 2014 to 2024. This is due in large part to projected declines in the manufacturing industries that employ them.

This occupation supported 68,000 jobs in 2012 and 66,500 jobs in 2014, reflecting a decline of 2.2%. In 2012, this occupation was projected to decrease by 3.2% in 2022 to 65,800 jobs. As of 2014, to keep pace with prediction, the expected number of jobs was 67,500, compared with an observed value of 66,500, 1.5% lower than expected. This indicates current employment trends are about on track with the 2012 trend within this occupation. In 2014, this occupation was projected to decrease by 4.4% in 2024 to 63,500 jobs. Linear extrapolation of the 2012 projection for 2022 results in an expected number of 65,300 jobs for 2024, 2.8% higher than the 2014 projection for 2024. This indicates expectations for future employment trends are worse than the 2012 trend within this occupation.