Production Engineering, also known as manufacturing engineering, is a domain that has originated from the amalgamation of professional disciplines such as mechanical engineering, system engineering, and industrial engineering. Production engineering integrates principles of physics and mathematical solutions to create new and improved technologies and production processes that can smoothly and efficiently transform unprocessed material into the final product, which is ready to deliver to the users or consumers.

It is a wide domain that considers the design, development, and management of products. The generation of new tools and technology or improvement of existing technology and process is possible only with the help of production engineering. Production engineering has given birth to modern disciplines such as Kinematics, Drafting, Machine Tools and Metal Fabrication, Computer Integrated Manufacturing, Mechatronics, Textile Engineering, and Advanced Composite Materials.

History takes the origin of production engineering to the UK and the USA. Factories in the UK used it to improve their production process. Soho Manufactory in Birmingham is considered the first to use manufacturing engineering and is considered the first modern factory. However, the title became a controversy when other factories in Derby and Cromford made similar claims. However, Potosi is also considered as the town to be the first to have a modern factory. This claim has been supported by Jack Weatherford, former Professor of anthropology at Macalester College in Minnesota.

• Production Engineering involves the efficient production using improved technologies and processes.
• Industrialization in India has made it one of the fastest-growing fields in India.
• In the education sector, demand courses in manufacturing engineering are on the rise.
• Production engineers are responsible for handling the responsibilities related to this field.
• It has resulted in products like robotic equipment, engines, airplanes, and many more.

What is Production Engineering?

Production Engineering is the field of engineering that focuses on the development of machines and processes that simplifies and improves production quality. The generation of new tools and technology or improvement of existing technology and process is possible only with the help of production engineering. This focuses on quality control and producing high-quality products.

Production engineering integrates principles of physics and mathematical solutions to create new and improved technologies and production processes that can smoothly and efficiently transform unprocessed material into the final product, which is ready to deliver to the users or consumers. With the advancement of software technology, engineers now use various software to design, analyze, automate, and program.

• Industrial engineering has pushed science to come up with production engineering.
• It is aimed at improving the efficiency of tools and processes used in the production process.
• From semiconductors to robots, it has been used to produce several machines and tools.
• It has revolutionized the production and services as various processes became automated.
• Production engineering is now resulting in the origin of new disciplines like computer integrated manufacturing.

Jobs in Production Engineering

In today’s world, efficiency and high-quality products are considered as the backbone of any business to survive. Manufacturing firms use production engineering to thrive and produce products that cannot be replaced by other firms. This war of being the best has created too many job profiles, which all come under the umbrella ‘Production Engineer.’ A production engineer is appointed for the following roles in the industry.

• Production Engineer
• Manufacturing Engineer
• Engineering Plant Production Manager
• Management Engineer
• Quality Manager
• Industrial Engineer
• Operation Analyst
• Management Analyst
• Process Engineer
• Health and Safety Engineer
• Occupational Health and Safety Specialist

Production Engineering Resume

A production engineer is responsible for handling all the production-related processes for the smooth functioning of the production process. The jobs are available in every manufacturing firm from FMCG firms like HUL and Nestle to automobile manufacturers like Toyota, Hyundai, or Maruti. Skills and education required for all kinds of manufacturing firms are generally the same: an analytical approach, technical handling, and problem-solving skills, to name a few.

A sample resume for production engineering is shown below.

Ashish Kumar Contact: 99xxxxxxxx Email: [email protected]

Profile

A skilled production engineer with an academic and professional background in production engineering aiming to assist with experience and productivity-oriented morale. Aimed at increasing the profitability of the organization and becoming an irreplaceable asset for the organization.

Education

Bachelor of Technology, Mechanical Engineering – ABC University 2010-2014 CGPA 8.35

Skills

Project Management | Quality Engineering | Lean Engineering | Excel | Analytical Skills | Problem-solving | Time Management

Work Experience

Junior Manufacturing Engineer, X Engineering Company 2015-2017

Contributed to the successful scheduling, completion, and shipment of INR 20 lakh orders per month second in command manufacturing engineer for leading life science manufacturer.

Collaborated with the engineering department in the design and production factors for new products.

Assisted in scheduling, assembly, and packaging to ensure the optimal timing of all orders.

Assisted in problem-solving efforts to cut down on delinquent orders and overtime paid out.

Production Engineering Interview Questions

Whether the candidate is a fresher or experienced, to get on board, it is mandatory to cross the interview session. Technical interviews are tough to crack as these involve a series of questions related to the field. For production engineers, it is expected that they are well versed in basic theoretical aspects of the job and know how-to. Questions asked to a production engineer are mostly based on the industrial aspect of production engineering. The following are some of the frequently asked questions with appropriate answers.

Q 1. What is the difference between production engineering and industrial engineering?

A. Production Engineering is the field of engineering that focuses on the development of machines and processes that simplifies and improves production quality. Production engineering integrates principles of physics and mathematical solutions to create new and improved technologies and production processes

Industrial Engineering is the field of engineering that involves the design, creation, progress, improve, executing, and assessing the clustered composition of human resources, ideas, information, tools, machinery, fuel, electricity, and unprocessed material and process. It is based on the principles of engineering analysis and synthesis.

Q 2. What is the difference between production and manufacturing?

A. Production is a broader term that defines any process that involves the conversion of input into the output. Whereas, manufacturing involves transforming raw material into final goods by passing it through several processes.

Q 3. State any three ways of improving the quality during production?

A. The quality can be improved during production by timely inspection of the processing material, examining tools and machinery and raw material before initiating the production process, and maintaining a necessary communication with the workers on machines.

Q 4. How do you plan various shifts and daily production?

A. Various shifts can be planned by understanding the need for production and delivery of the product to customers. After getting the shift schedule approved the supervisor, can be presented on the common bulletin board and inform the workers that the new schedule has been dispatched. For daily production, keeping a check on the availability of raw material and the condition of the tools and machines helps in managing daily production. Getting daily target done by the workers individually also helps in managing daily production.

Q 5. What was the strength of your team?

A. It was a team of around 30 people who were my subordinates and taking my orders. The team or individual from the team reports to me every day with the progress they have made throughout the day or in the week. 

Q 6. What is QMS?

A. QMS is an acronym for Quality Management System. This system carries all the details and information related to the company’s design and operational control. The operational control information is used to improve the quality of the product and the processes used to produce and the delivery process.

Q 7. What is the challenge of manufacturing products?

A. The biggest challenge that I see in any manufacturing product is to reduce the cost without compromising the quality of the product. Apart from that, reducing the waste of human resources is important.

Q 8. What are some of the software in production engineering?

A. Thanks to the development of software engineering, it has helped a lot in production engineering. Software engineering has delivered useful software such as Manufacturing ERP. Some of the most frequently used software in production engineering is the manufacturing system by SAP, Oracle ERP System, and many more.

Q 9. How do you calculate manufacturing work in progress?

A. When a process gets started, and the manufacturing product does not get the final form, it is termed manufacturing work in progress. It is calculated by including the labor cost, raw material inventory cost, production cost, and ending work process for the accounting period.

Q 10. What is six-sigma?

A. Six-sigma is a set of management techniques that eliminates the probability of an error in the production process or routine business process and improves the organization’s production.

Production Engineering Average Salary

Considering the market situation, the demand for manufacturing products will only increase and nothing. Industrialization and globalization invite and force more and more organizations to try their luck in production. A production engineer can expect a decent salary from the industry. However, the salary varies from the type of organization, location of the organization, and job profile level. The average salary of production engineers at various levels can be read below.

• At average entry-level salary ranges from INR 2.5 lakhs to INR 5 lakhs.
• At mid-level average salary ranges from INR 5 lakhs to INR 7 lakhs.
• At experienced-level average salary ranges from INR 7 lakhs to INR 15 lakhs.

Production Engineering Job Description

Production in a factory or a plant goes smoothly without much hassle only because of the right decisions of the Production engineers. Production engineers are responsible for examining tools and machinery regularly and keep a check on the unprocessed material. They also keep an eye on every worker and guide them throughout the working hours whenever needed. They develop and delivers daily targets for each individual. They make policies for the welfare of their subordinates. A job description for Production Engineer generally carries the given information. 

• Job Title: The profile under the skin of which a candidate does all his tasks in the organization is known as the job title.
• Summary: It contains a brief description of the skills required to join the organization and a brief description of the organization’s structure and work environment. 
• Job Responsibilities: All the necessary details that an organization wants its candidates to carry out during their work tenure in the organization are mentioned under job responsibilities.
• Requirements: All the requirements and qualifications that an individual must apply for the job and get selected by the organization are mentioned under requirements. 
• Other details: It includes information such as contact of the organization, address of the organization, and other basic information.

Production Engineering Responsibilities

Production engineering is the branch of engineering that comprises multiple other fields like industrial engineering and system engineering. A Production Engineer is the one who looks after all the production processes and manages the flow of activities in the factory or the plant. They are expected to have a clear understanding of all the processes and problems that occur during production. With a quick problem-solving and analytical approach, the following are some of the key responsibilities of a production engineer.

• Manages documentation to ensure proper control in the document management system. Assist in the preparation of the project document list, periodically updates and issues document list, and updates progress report.
• Inspecting and supervising the production process and maintain the efficiency of the production process and high quality of the product.
• Living core values of safety and integrity means taking responsibility for your actions while caring for your colleagues and the business.
• Supports and communicates with other departments and people to improve and reorganize the production processes, control cost, improve the quality of the product, and avail skilled labor for production.
• Effectively communicates and provides relevant information to stakeholders and customers about the ongoing activities with the production plant.

Production Engineering Role

Production engineering is related to the design, development, control, and implementation of improved and efficient production processes and technologies that ultimately increase the production of high-quality goods from raw material. All this is done while keeping a cost-effective manner. Production engineering has been used in different industries, and it plays a significant role in the production and profit of the organization.

Production engineering opens several doors of opportunities for the mechanical engineering graduates as all the manufacturing firms – big or small, old or new, traditional or modern, require production engineers in various roles for the smooth functioning of the production process. Production engineers also bring new ideas to the table to improve the production process’s quality without making the production cost much higher.

Production Engineering Scope

In the automobile sector, an inspection of the automated production or assembling process and quality of automobiles produced is done through production engineering. In manufacturing industries, it is used for inspection, quality control, and production management. In food processing industries, it is used for quality control and production management, an inspection of raw material, and converting it into the final product.

In heavy electronics and mechanics industries, production engineering helps to organize the production in an orderly fashion to avoid discrepancies in the process. In pharmaceutical industries, the small and minute process from research and development to dispatching the product for delivery, everything is managed by production engineering. Apart from that, IT firms, government sectors also carry a huge scope for production engineering graduates.

Industrial Production Engineering

While production engineering mainly focuses on the design, development, and improvement of the existing and new processes and technologies, Industrial production engineering focuses on the larger spectrum by including development and improvement of human resources, finance, information, fuel, electricity. In short, it involves the complete industrial process instead of a small part.

India is still a new field for the young generation as the concept of a modern factory is still growing in India. However, it is a fast-growing field in both industries and the education sector. As the number of industries is growing, job profiles in this sector are also on the surge. However, only those who have good knowledge of finance, marketing, technologies, and energy are preferred.

• Several courses in industrial and production engineering are available like BTech and MTech in Industrial and production engineering.
• To apply for BTech in Industrial and Production engineering, it is mandatory to have cleared 12th grade with Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics.
• To get admission in MTech into IIT or other reputed colleges, a candidate is required to qualify GATE.
• The undergraduate program fees differ from college to college but range from INR 8.55 lakhs to INR 14.31 lakhs.
• After completing the course, candidates may get recruited for various job titles such as industrial designers, industrial engineers, quality control engineers, project engineers, and field engineers.

Books for Production Engineering

Production engineering is a technical field that finds its roots in mechanical engineering. Course content and information about production engineering can be found on the pages of mechanical engineering books. However, there are dedicated books on production engineering for those who pursue their BTech/BE or MTech/ME in core production or manufacturing engineering. Some of the useful books related to this field are listed below.

• A Text Book on Production Engineering by Dr. Swadesh Kumar Singh
• A Textbook of Production Engineering by Dr. P C Sharma
• A Textbook of Production Technology by Dr. O P Khanna
• Design of Machine Elements by HG Patil, Ravindra R Malagi, M S Patil and S C Pilli
• Industrial Motion Control by Hakan Gurocak
• Production Technology by K L Narayana, Swarna Venkata Ramana, and P Vamsi Krishna
• Materials Science and Engineering by Kaushik Kumar, Nehal Dash, and Apurba Kumar Roy
• Automobile Engineering by Devendra Vashist and Mukhtar Ahmad
• Operation Research by C B Gupta, SR Yadav, and PK Dwivedi
• Metal Casting by Jagadeesha T
• Engineering Thermodynamics by Anil K Berwal

Production Engineering Courses

With the increase in demand of the individuals from a production engineering background in the industry, the demand for the production engineering course has also increased. The majority of the institutes in India offer Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering, where production engineering is a subpart of the course. Some of the institutes offer a full-time bachelor of technology in production engineering. Some of the popular courses related to production engineering are:

• Diploma in Production Engineering
• Diploma in Industrial & Production Engineering
• Bachelor of Technology/Bachelor of Engineering in Production Engineering
• Bachelor of Technology/Bachelor of Engineering in Industrial & Production Engineering
• MTech/ME in Production Engineering
• MTech/ME in Production Management
• MTech in Design and Production Engineering
• MTech in Product Design & Manufacturing
• Ph.D. in Production Engineering

Global Production Engineering

Global Production Engineering is a master’s program offered by the Technical University Berlin, Germany. It is a full-time Master of Science program offered at the campus of the university. The program is recognized all over the globe and has been critically acclaimed for its research-oriented curriculum. This program develops the skills which are expected in a production engineering disciple. 

During their tenure in Master of Science in Global Production Engineering at Technical University Berlin, students acquire major skills that make them competent to the industrial need. These skills include intercultural communication, knowledge about regeneration, and management of renewable energy and problem-solving ability in the global engineering domain. The course focuses on developing managerial skills along with the delivery of technical knowledge.

• It is a Master of Science degree of 2 years divided into four semesters.
• Candidates are selected from production, engineering, management, intercultural communication modules, or similar group.
• The course involves a mandatory internship of 9 months and three months of master thesis.
• The fees for the entire program is approx. INR 13,78,000, which is payable in four installments.
• A bachelor of engineering or bachelor of technology is mandatory, along with a valid TOEFL score. Professional experience of one year is also a requirement for admission.

BTech Production Engineering

Bachelor of Technology in Production Engineering is a core production engineering course that prepares students for various industry roles. Production engineering deals with the formulation of design and processes that efficiently increases the quality of the product. Though the program is a core technology at its heart, it prepares the students to develop managerial skills as well because a production engineer is required to manage the people, machines, and processes in the organization.

The course introduces students to new concepts such as casting, joining, metrology, and operation research. After completing the course, students are expected to get recruited by the major manufacturing organization like NTPC, TATA, ONGC, BHEL, and L&T, to name a few. These organizations’ most commonly offered roles are production engineer, quality control manager, operation analyst, etc.

• The duration of this course is four years and is divided into eight semesters.
• Admission depends on the qualifying entrance exams like JEE, UPSEE, MHT CET, etc. Many private institutes give admission based on 12th marks only or conduct their entrance exam.
• Tuition fees in government institutions range from INR 50,000 to INR 1,00,000 for the entire course. The same for the private institutions ranges from INR 2,00,000 to INR 6,00,000 or more for the entire course.
• The average salary after completing the course ranges from INR 3,00,000 to INR 5,00,000.
• The course is offered by institutes like IIT Kharagpur, IIT Madras, BITS Hyderabad, Chandigarh University, and many more.

Production Engineering in Petroleum

Petroleum Production Engineering is a subpart of production engineering. It is said to be a complete amalgamation of production engineering with chemical engineering. Petroleum production engineering deals with the design and development of methods that can be used to extract natural gases and oil from the depositories below the surface of the earth. The people who perform all the tasks related to petroleum engineering are known as petroleum engineers.

Petroleum engineers perform other duties like evaluation and surveys of surfaces of extraction sites and examine and look after all the required equipment and material used in the process. Petroleum engineers are expected to be tech-savvy towards both hardware and software. They use these technologies in coordination to control drilling and connecting depositories to a well. They help in the research as well, which helps to make the process cost-effective.

• The four types of petroleum engineers are Completion engineers, Drilling engineers, Production engineers, and Reservoir engineers.
• At entry-level, candidates are required to have an engineering degree, preferably in Petroleum Engineering.
• The Accreditation Board accredits all Petroleum Production Engineering courses for Engineering and Technology.
• Important skills needed to become petroleum engineers are analytical skills, creativity, interpersonal skills, problem-solving skills, and mathematical skills for analysis.
• Petroleum engineering is a high paying job with an average salary ranging from INR 10,00,000 to INR 20,00,000 per annum.

Advancement in Production Engineering & Management

Advances in Production Engineering & Management (APEM) are manufacturing engineering and production management that publish research papers on various applications related to the same domain. Not only original research papers, but this journal also reviews and publishes various professional articles. The journal is available for the global audience to increase the journal’s reach and help learners with the latest findings.

APEM is published by Chair of Production Engineering (CPE), which is operated by the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maribor. Though the journal publishes research papers and articles about project management, the publisher has informed that these are not solely dedicated to the core management domains like business, finance, or economics. The journal publishes content on artificial intelligence in production, big data production, and many more.

• It is published quarterly by Chair of Production Engineering, University of Maribor.
• It is published in the English language for a global audience.
• The journal is published in print and online on the website of the University of Maribor.
• The journal started in the year 2006 and is subsidized by the Slovenian Research Agency.
• The journal is cited by leading bibliographic databases like Web of Science.

Is Production Engineering a Good Branch?

Production Engineering is the field of engineering that focuses on the development of machines and processes that simplifies and improves production quality. It is a wide domain that considers the design, development, and management of products. The generation of new tools and technology or improvement of existing technology and process is possible only with the help of production engineering.

Manufacturing firms use production engineering to thrive and produce products that cannot be replaced by other firms. A Production Engineer is the one who looks after all the production processes and manages the flow of activities in the factory or the plant. A production engineer is appointed for the following roles in the industry – Production Engineer, Manufacturing Engineer, Engineering Plant Production Manager, Management Engineer, and Quality Manager.

• It is a fast-growing field in both industries and the education sector.
• The average salary after completing production engineering ranges from INR 3,00,000 to INR 5,00,000.
• Production engineering opens several doors of opportunities for mechanical engineering graduates as all the manufacturing firms.
• A production engineer is responsible for handling all the production-related processes for the smooth functioning of the production process.
• In heavy electronics and mechanics industries, production engineering helps to organize the production in an orderly fashion to avoid discrepancies in the process.

A career in Production Engineering

Production Engineering is a branch of engineering that is concerned with improving technologies and processes to make the production process more efficient and product quality better than before. A Production engineer performs the job of production engineering. The production engineer designs and develops solutions to boost the production and manages the overall production in the plant or factory. Career prospect in production engineering is wide as there are many manufacturing organizations.

• Government organizations like BHEL, SAIL, NTPC, Ordinance Factory have various roles for production engineers.
• Production Engineers also have various roles in private organizations.
• All manufacturing firms need a production engineer for various tasks like operation analyst, quality control engineers, and process engineer.
• Production engineers find jobs in other sectors like health, communication, sports, and information technology.
• Organizations like Hyundai, Ashok Leyland, L&T, Aditya Birla Group, Reliance Industries are the frequent recruiters of production engineers.

Production Engineering Salary in the USA

The United States of America is undoubtedly one of the most powerful countries in terms of GDP and business. The top 5 most valuable companies in the world have originated in the USA. Organizations like Apple, Google, and Microsoft are involved in producing some kind of products, from smartphones to tablets to personal computers. All of these require production engineers to perform tasks like designing improved models to improve the quality of the products.

• The average salary of Production Engineers in the USA is $83,000 per year, which equals approximately INR 62,00,000.
• The salary of Production Engineer in the USA ranges from $28,000 to $168,000 per annum.
• Additionally, they get paid an average compensation of $4,000 per year.

Production Engineering Jobs in Canada

Production Engineering is one of the most popular jobs in Canada. Canada is famous for its sustainable growth and people-friendly policies that provide an ample amount of opportunities. Production engineers have similar job titles in Canada as in India, including Production Engineer, Industrial Manager, Operational Analyst, Health and Safety Engineers, Management Analysts, Architectural and Engineering Managers. Production engineer salary in Canada ranges from $40,000 to $120,000 per annum.

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