Industrial Engineering Comes into Its Own

On July 1, 1955, a new School of Industrial Engineering and Management was established with Dean G.A. Hawkins as acting head. The school consisted of two departments: Industrial Engineering, headed by Harold T. Amrine, and Industrial Management and Tra nsportation, headed by Emanuel T. Weller. Weller, who was also head of Department of Economics, continued as head of that department. From the beginning, it was evident to Amrine and Weller that the new school violated certain principles of organization. Weller was to report to Dean Hawkins on curricular matters in Industrial Management and Transportation, for example, and to Dean W.L. Ayres (Science, Education and Humanities) on all fiscal matters and on matters pertaining to the Economics Department. De spite the lack of clear-cut lines of authority, Amrine and Weller resolved to try to make the new school a success.

In organizing the school, Hawkins and Ayres had appointed an advisory committee consisting of Weller (chairman), Amrine, H.C. Lawshe (professor of industrial psychology and subsequently vice president of regional campus administration), and L.S. Hardin (head of Agricultural Economics). The committee was to study the ways and means to integrate the programs; consider staff, courses, and coordination of facilities; and make recommendations to the respective deans for new courses and new areas of instruct ion and research.

In the establishment of the school, several important decisions were made. The air transportation program in the School of Aeronautical Engineering was to be discontinued and the "management type" courses and staff were to be transferred to the Departm ent of Industrial Management and Transportation. (one of the people affected by the change was Professor Mart I. Fowler, who later played an important role in the future School of Industrial Management). There was also a question about whether the machine tool laboratory should be located in the School of Mechanical Engineering or in the Department of Industrial Engineering. Hawkins made the decision to place the laboratory in Industrial Engineering and assigned Professor O.D. Lascoe and other staff membe rs (Paul J. Panlener, Anthony J. Vellinger, and others) in that laboratory to Industrial Engineering. Another significant dicision was to place the industrial arts-type laboratories (woodworking, general metals, electricity) and staff in Industrial Engine ering of an Interim basis.

As soon as the new school was formally established, Amrine and Weller began to work on a host of problems involving faculty, office space, laboratories, equipment, and so forth. The main Industrial Engineering office was located in the old General Engi neering office in Michael Golden. The existing laboratory and office space in Michael Golden and the rear of old Heavilon Hall was retained. Industrial Management and Transportation was housed in the rear of Stanley Coulter Annex. Some of the laboratory s pave in old Heavilon Hall would eventually be remodeled to make room for a library, more office space, and new laboratories.

As soon as the department was established, it was decided that a new curriculum in industrial engineering should be limited with a limit number of sophomore students in the fall of 1957 and that the industrial engineer option in Mechanical Engineering should be discontinued in 1959. In keeping with its high professional standards, Hawkins was insisted that a thorough study of industrial engineering education and practice precede the planning of the new curriculum, and that the program be established at a high level, have a strong engineering flavor, and lead industry.

professor H.H. Young, who was to become assistant head of Industrial Engineering in 1966, was made chairman of the Curriculum Committee. Young entered into hos new assignment with enthusiasm, and he and his committee did a thorough job of investigating the current status and future needs of the industrial engineering profession. They surveyed approximately 75 outstanding industrial engineers in business, government, and education for their impressions of what industrial engineering practice would be li ke in 20 or 25 years, but unfortunately, the results of the survey proved of the little value (there was too much disparity in the opinions). The committee concluded that it was up to the faculty to plan a program that was soung and far sighted. Because o f the increasing complexity of industry, it was envisioned that the industrial engineer of the future should be capable of designing production systems and operational-control systems in the same way that other engineers design machines, aircraft, bridges , or computers. Industrial engineers should not be limited solely to manufacturing organizations but should and could be of equal value to the government, to transportation, and to service industries. It was evident to the curriculum committee that course s currently included in the industrial engineering option of mechanical engineering were inadequate and that there was need to establish goals and criteria on which a new program could be based. Some of the criteria established at the time provided a soli d foundation for industrial engineering at Purdue and are worthy of note:

After months of intensive effort, the Industrial Engineering faculty finalized a curriculum. The program was a rigorous one. It was presented to the engineering faculty and approved in the fall of 1956.

It is not surprising that the inclusion of the Machine Tool Laboratory in the Industrial Engineering Department and the industrial orientation of the faculty gave the new curriculum a strong production flavor. It also follows that the Machine Tool Labo ratory remained a very important instructional and adult education center.

Amrine, meanwhile, continued to try to implement the new program and to find space and places for a library, suitable laboratories, and adequate offices. Some makeshift facilities were achieved in old Heavilon Hall in space formerly used for welding laboratories and in space resulting from partitioning of the Motion and Time Study Laboratory. Fortunately, Lascoe had completed the extensive remodelling of the Machine Tool Laboratory (later renamed the Industrial Engineering Laboratory).

An unfortunate rift developed in the department in its early days from a decision to renumber all courses with an IE prefix, including those in Industrial Arts. Criticism from a few of the engineers prompted changing some of the courses to IES (Industrial Engineering Services) prefixes. This seemed to appease those who had voiced objection. Final healing of any old wounds took place in 1961 when the Board of Trustees granted Industrial Engineering School status and established within it a new Department of Technical and Applied Arts (healed by Denver Sams). This department became a part of the School of Technology in 1964.

At the same time that the undergraduate program was being planned, significant changes were being made in the graduate program. Perhaps ont of the most notable achievements was the development of a graduate faculty. There were, for example, no Ph.D.'s on the faculty when the Department was organized in 1955. As time passed however, several members of the staff (George H. Brooks, James, H. Greene, John A. Ritchey, Hewitt H. Young) felt the need to earn Ph.D.'s and took leaves of absence from Purdue, at great personal sacrifice, to secure their degrees from other universities. In addition, every attempt was made to hire staff members who had already earned doctorates.

Activities and improvements were simultaneously under way in the Department of Industrial Management and Transportation. One of their goals was the establishment of a Master of Science program, which was to be based on the philosophy of broad management training and to give students an understanding of all the major areas and elements of administration from the top management point of view. A proposal from the School of Industrial Engineering and Management for a new graduate program in Industrial Management was approved by the Graduate Council, and the first students were admitted to the program in 1956. In addition to Jay W. Wiley, who was on the staff in economics, and John Y.D. Tse, who was on the staff in accounting, Weller had added several new staff members (John S. Day, George Horwich, Paul V. Johnson, Donald C. King) to assit in establishing the new program in 1956. John Day eventually suceeded Weller as dean of the School of Management and later become vice president for development and then Herman C. Krannert Professor of Management.

The fall of 1957 marked a milestone in the history of industrial engineering at Purdue: twenty sophomore students were admitted to the new undergraduate program. The number in the entering class was kept purposely small until the industrial engineering option in Mechanical Engineering could be phased out in 1959.

Faculty members hired after the department was established in 1955 included: Thomas E. Bartlett, who had had valuable experience at Hughes Aircraft Company and Bank of America; Paul H. Randolph, who had been on the faculty at the Illinois Institute of Technology; and Charles Hicks from the Department of Statistics, who was transferred part time to Industrial Engineering. These three faculty members were the forerunners of persons hired to teach in the statistics, operations research, stochastics, and simulation areas.

By fall 1957, the full-time Industrial Engineering staff consisted of the following: