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Industrial Engineer Improves the Manufacturing Processes

to Lower Cost of Production – Kunal Sethi, an Industrial


Engineer
JULY 23, 2018

Insights
1. This job involves painstaking work of acquiring data from the shop-floor, analyze it
and then recommend changes.
2. As it is difficult to measure the impact of our work, it becomes difficult to show your
performance to higher management.
3. As an industrial engineer, one has to be updated with the latest manufacturing and
automation tools and technologies to do a good job.
4. I don’t pay a lot of emphasis on the college, as what matters more is exposure,
creativity, and attitude.
5. The work-life balance and salary are good.
6. Unlike several other manufacturing jobs, industrial engineer isn’t usually expected to
work in night-shifts.

Profile Details
Name – Kunal Sethi
Profession – Industrial Engineer
Age – 29 years
Gender – Male
City – Delhi
Industry – ​Manufacturing

Where have you been born and raised?


I have been living in Delhi since birth. I did my schooling from DL DAV Model School,
Shalimar Bagh, and B.Tech. in Mechanical and Automation from Guru Gobind Singh
Indraprastha University, Delhi.
My father retired from State Bank of India and my mother is a homemaker. I have one elder
brother, who is working as a Commercial Accountant in DTIIDC.

Who all had the most influence on you and how?


I belong to a middle-class family. We would all keep busy in our day to day life having a
normal standard of living. That influenced me to do something different and technical.
Moreover, since childhood, I had a passion for playing and working with Gadgets.
Please give us a summary of your career.
I have overall 9 years of work experience in the manufacturing industry.
I started working with ​Motherson Sumi Systems Limited​ as a Graduate Engineer Trainee in
Production Engineering Centre with a monthly salary of 12,500 INR. Below is the summary
of my work profile

Which institutes are best for the education/training of this


profession?
I think, in the end, the institution doesn’t matter the most, it’s all about your learning,
exposure, creativity, and mindset.
But, if I really have to name a few, I would definitely suggest IITs and NITs.

What are the costs associated with the education/training of this


profession?
It varies from thousands to lakhs INR per year (4 years course) depending upon the
college/university and with infrastructure and faculty they have.

What are the typical entry-level jobs in this profession?


After graduation, you become part of a methodology called ​Lean Six –Sigma​ which is a
collective teamwork. Then you start getting promotions.

What is the range of remuneration one can expect when starting


out in your line of career & industry?
5 years’ experience – 6 to 12 lakhs INR per annum
10 years’ experience – 12 to 20 lakhs INR per annum
20+ years’ experience – 30 lakhs+ INR per annum

Please describe your work.


Apart from a few routine activities, most of my activities are dependent on the phase of the
project I am working on. These phases are Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and
Control.
It can be related to documentation, follow-ups, technical discussion, analytical working.
I work for 8–10 hours daily for 5–6 days a week.
I am not required to do night shifts, although some of my colleagues have occasionally done
it.

What are some of the positives, which would encourage


someone to consider industrial engineer as a profession?
1. It’s a creative job, which keeps you motivated throughout the job.
2. The work is agreeable and the work hours are well balanced making it easier to
create a good work-life balance.
3. The work environment is pretty good and you get to work with numerous people of
varying talents which helps you improve your efficiency.
4. The pay is substantial to support a fairly decent lifestyle.

What are some of the challenges that you would want someone
to be aware of when considering this career/job?
1. Difficult to measure and show your performance to management as in most of the
cases, the outcome is intangible.
2. The industrial engineer job profile is related to improvements in the manufacturing
process. Therefore, a lot of time needs to be spent on the shop floor for data
collection before making a conclusive statement. The work requires a lot of patience
and hard work.
3. The work is Time-consuming and may not have the positive results always, as you
have to map the processes, right from input to the final output.
4. Most of the time, the changes I suggest involves cost. It is a challenge to convince
the management when high cost involves.

What are the relevant trends/skills/technologies that are currently


commanding a premium in your job profile?
It’s been low-cost automation projects involving mechatronics and PC based systems which
may be used with Vision or Sensor Applications.
You must know different types of tools for effective production monitoring and its
calculation. Different types of Time & Motion Study techniques based upon Value-added
and non-value added activities.
Knowledge of Process Mapping and Lean manufacturing tools is essential. Working and
implementation of Smart boxes to get more Productive and Accurate results are also
necessary.

What kind of person would be happy in your career?


I think the person who is creative and keen to learn, has patience, and more importantly
having time management skills will be happy.

Given another choice, what would you do differently as far as


your professional selections are concerned?
Rather, I will become an entrepreneur having a lead in Smart box manufacturing as far as
the technical side is concerned.
On to the non-technical side I wish to run a food outlet having different kinds of dishes.

What would be your advice to students or professionals who are


just starting their journey on a path similar to yours?
Just be yourself. Be creative, focus on your job, learn new things and try to implement them
in your day to day life, welcome inputs and be a good listener, also try to manage time and
gaps between personal and professional scenarios.
Contributing Writer - ​Surabhi Sanghi

Liked this article? You may also like to check ​our conversation with Mrs. Neha Shah
(Director at ‘​Yugh Impex India Pvt Ltd​)

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