6 essential skills for an Industrial Engineer

Industrial engineers can serve in a wide variety of positions. However, whatever their work area, companies always look for a series of skills that guarantee the integral performance of professionals. Experts in personnel selection highlight the importance of hiring engineers who have a humanistic outlook and a willingness to learn. We tell you about some skills necessary for a 21st-century industrial engineer.

Adaptability

Today, the speed at which technologies change is much faster. The cycles are shorter and what yesterday was the latest news today is not. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the industrial engineer to adapt to trends and constantly reinvent himself in accordance with changes.

Innovation

If an industry seeks to stay current and successful, it must constantly innovate. At present, every company seeks to evolve towards process automation , towards sustainability and care for the environment and towards the digital world, among other aspects, depending on the nature of the business. In this sense, industrial engineers must provide solutions so that each company takes the step towards progress.

Leadership and teamwork

The technical skills are no longer enough to be a comprehensive professional. An engineer must have skills to communicate and help others since he is almost always within a team with which he must interact and collaborate.

The smooth and clear communication is essential to provide solutions to streamline the work of his team and take it to the transformations you need.

Problem resolution

The agility and ingenuity to solve a problem quickly is indispensable. The problems that demand immediate and urgent response in the day to day of a company are many more than one could imagine. For this reason, it is so important that an industrial engineer has the high-resolution capacity and develops his instinct to find efficient and timely solutions.

Proactivity and self-learning

An Industrial Engineer is no longer expected to dedicate himself solely to fulfilling and following orders. On the contrary, they are expected to take proactive actions and propose alternatives to improve the processes that are carried out in the day-to-day of a company and the results.

But to achieve this, it is necessary for them to be in constant learning: knowing new technologies, looking for new ideas, reviewing how leaders are doing, certifying themselves in new skills and competencies, etc. As we mentioned in the first point, one of the most important skills for engineers is adaptability to change and evolution, therefore, being up-to-date and informed is a very important point to have an advantage over all their colleagues.

Responsibility and acknowledgment of errors

When an engineer proposes a solution, it may or may not work successfully. It is about knowing how to face your mistakes and being able to find quick solutions if you make them. It is clear that any new proposal can be a success, but it also represents a percentage of risk that the professional must be ready to assume.