Industrial Engineering and Management (minor)

Industrial engineering and management is a field of engineering that examines the development and management of the operations of production organisations as a system in which different areas must be managed as a whole. The construction, management and development of production systems requires the ability to combine technological expertise with the economics and management of production organizations.

In essence, the activities of a company arise from human interaction, although technical and rule-based systems also have a role to play. The development of technology affects the operating possibilities of both the company and its customers. The company is linked to its global operating environment and the changes taking place in it. The goals and actions of society, current and potential customers, competitors, partners and other stakeholders must be taken into account. Social value, shareholder value, customer value and efficient use of limited resources are interrelated goals that emphasise the importance of understanding operations as a whole.
 

Industrial Engineering and Management as a minor offers both the basics of industrial engineering and management and broader capabilities to combine more general economic and social perspectives with the student's own technical field and competence. The actual learning objective of the minor is that after completing the minor, the student recognizes the key concepts, phenomena, laws, models and methods of industrial engineering and management. They are familiar with the main principles related to group management and the effective functioning of the group and the organization, the main principles needed in project management and, more generally, in the control of production systems, the basic methods used in assessing the financial condition of the company and in economic decision-making, and the main principles used in the strategic development of the company. In this way, the student is able to critically evaluate the results, processes and methods of engineering work from an economic and organizational perspective. In addition, the student knows the key sources of information in industrial engineering and management and is able to search for information to support their own work. You must be able to search for information from both Finnish and English sources. For this reason, some courses may be in English and many courses use English-language learning materials. 

In addition to the primary learning objectives, the minor provides broader skills for understanding the economic activities of companies. Production systems and decisions concerning them are at the core of almost all organizations and, as such, are also broadly related to the management of organizations, especially the economy. The minor provides a view and the necessary background information on companies' finances from the point of view of engineering.
 

The minor in Industrial Engineering and Management is intended for students of the Bachelor's programmes of Aalto schools, and it is particularly suitable for students of Bachelor's programmes in Technology. In addition to industrial engineering and management, it provides an overview of the operations of companies and the economy more broadly, which is well linked to engineering studies.
The core courses of the minor are connected to the Master's degree majors in Industrial Engineering and Management and the research at the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management: operations management, organisational development and strategy. 

Individual industrial engineering and management courses completed elsewhere can only be included through credit transfer if they support the main learning objectives of the minor. Although the main content of the minor focuses on industrial engineering entities and systems, it has secondary learning objectives related to the basics of financial management. However, courses in financial management, economics or other general fields of business administration cannot be included in the minor. These overlap to some extent, e.g. with basic studies in business administration, and the minor is not recommended for business students.

The content of the minor described below within the scope of 25 ECTS credits is the predetermined minor subject that the student must complete in addition to the grade requirement in order to be accepted into the Master's Programme in Industrial Engineering and Management in the bachelor's and master's transition procedure.