Industrial Technology
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Industrial Technology is a field of study designed to prepare technical and/or management oriented professionals for employment in business, industry, education, and government. Industrial Technology is primarily involved with the management, operation, and maintenance of complex technological systems while Engineering and Engineering Technology are primarily involved with the design and installation of these systems. It can be split up into careers for technicians and engineers. It consists of material handling, manufacturing processes, and the ability to handle issues as they arise. Industrial Technology is a new career field in the job force. This career may become popular in the upcoming years because of the mixture of management operation and engineering.
Planning and designing manufacturing processes and equipment is a main aspect of being an industrial technologist. An Industrial Technologist is the engineer's partner in implementing certain designs and processes. Industrial Technology involves management operation, and maintenance of complex operation systems. Engineering Technologists are involved with the design and installation of those certain operation systems.[1]
A common title that Industrial Technologist are characterized under the title of a Production Manager. The reason they are seen as a production manager because they work with a budget on behalf of what the company gives them to work with. Every cost of the materials they use must fit according to the budget that is given to them.
Since Industrial Technologist is not a common job title, the actual bachelor degree obtained by the individual is obscured by the job title. Typical job titles include industrial engineer, construction engineer, detail/fabrication engineer, production supervisor, manufacturing engineer, and variations of these titles.
Industrial Technology program graduates obtain a majority of positions which are engineering and manager oriented. Based on the number of graduates from many Industrial Technology Programs throughout the nation, the next time you meet a manager or engineer you may well be talking to an Industrial Technologist.
The Technologist term is an unknown commodity within the United States and it is not clearly understood by employers so Technologist are inappropriately placed in positions as technicians. Usually, a Technologist is required to have a Bachelors Degree. Employers and Engineers incorrectly determine that Technologists are inferior graduates because their training in design issues is shorter than most engineering degrees. A technologist curriculum may focus on other specialized issues such as technical management, service, processes, or production improvements. In many cases a technologist maybe better suited to fill a position than a design engineer. Industrial Technology is considered to be a career path that is separate from engineering technology and equal in stature to an engineer. The Council for Higher Education (CHEA) acknowledges the different accreditations in technology and engineering as independent career paths which cannot be compared, just as psychology cannot be compared to engineering.
NAIT currently accredits a total of 208 Baccalaureate level programs (83 Program Only), 125 program/options in 55 institutions and a total of 256 Associate level programs (62 Program Only), 194 program/options in 26 institutions. (Note: Indiana State University, Eastern Kentucky University, and Southeastern Louisiana University have NAIT accredited programs at both the Associate and Baccalaureate level. The actual total number of institutions with NAIT accredited programs is 78.)
