Advancing Service Operations: The Changing Role of Industrial Engineering

Abstract

Service operations are currently at the hub of economic activities in some parts of the world. Although indicators seem to suggest the existence and future dominance of service economies, such economies will only be sustainable if appropriate use of scientific and engineering methods are applied to the complete spectrum of service operations; i.e. the engineering aspects and the business side (management) of operating systems. The challenge, therefore, lies in selecting appropriate scientific and engineering tools, techniques, methods and technologies for implementation in those critical areas that can leverage dynamics in service operations as they are known today. Of all engineering disciplines currently available today, industrial engineering and its related equivalence or variants is among the most multifaceted disciplines that can face up to the challenge of advancing service operations to higher dimensions. Such advancement requires appropriate demonstrable, practical and transferable research results as well as suitable case studies on service operations. In light of the quest to advance service operations, this paper discusses the changing roles of industrial engineering and its crucial input in advancing service operations towards growth, development and perhaps global dominance of service economies.