# What is the name of the profession of creating factories/production lines? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 14, 2020, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-the-profession-of-creating-factories-production-lines/922944 "2020-10-14T16:34:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2020, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-the-profession-of-creating-factories-production-lines/922944/41 "2020-10-17T18:38:08Z")
> [@PoppaSan](#): > > Or to implement a better idea to make it more idiot proof, no matter the advancements in idiocy education. As Murphy said, “if there’s a right way and a wrong way to do something, some fool will invariably choose the wrong way.”. Yes, Murphy was a real person, an engineer on Col. Stapp’s acceleration project. And yes, that was the original form of Muphy’s Law. The point isn’t that something will always go wrong; it’s that you should design things so that there isn’t a wrong way, so that fool will never have the opportunity to make the wrong choice. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-the-profession-of-creating-factories-production-lines/922944/42 "2020-10-21T15:37:47Z")
I have a CPIM (Certified in Production and Inventory Management) certification from APICS (American Production and Inventory Control Society) that took about a year to get. The field of study, supply chain management, is vast and multifaceted. From engineers to demand management to master planners, materials planning, lean systems, quality systems, maintenance, etc. etc. My current niche is managing a $4million spare parts inventory for all the lines in our facility but I work with dozens of people in all these fields. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2020, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-the-profession-of-creating-factories-production-lines/922944/43 "2020-10-24T22:34:32Z")
Since the original question focused on a line of toys, if you’re using plastic/rubber extruding machines you can change the mold and do other modifications so that you can do one toy on Monday, another on Tuesday, etc. ---
**Author:** ![MrMrmrmr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrmrmrmr/32/5828_2.png) [@MrMrmrmr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrMrmrmr)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2020, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-the-profession-of-creating-factories-production-lines/922944/44 "2020-10-24T22:48:51Z")
If you are interested in quick changeovers, I suggest you look into SMED, single minute exchange of dies. Master Unit Dies makes mold inserts that can be changed with loosening four bolts, sliding the mold inserts out of the base, slide the next one in, slide the clamps over and retightened. Add four waterlines with quick disconnects like the ones made by DME, Detroit Mold Engineering, and you can switch from one part to another in a single minute ( less than ten minutes). That is assuming same material, same color, if you need to purge the screw and barrel, changeovers take longer. World class manufacturers measure changeover time from good part to good part. ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2020, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-the-profession-of-creating-factories-production-lines/922944/45 "2020-10-25T22:21:28Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > In college we called them “imaginary engineers”. Fairly common next stop for those who discover that their original choice (electrical, mechanical, or chemical engineering) wasn’t working out - intro courses in the other fields could also be applied towards industrial engineering course requirements. Getting my bachelor’s and master’s in ME and Aerospace, respectively, I too knew IE’s as “imaginary engineers.” So cocky was I. And totally wrong, at least, at the PhD level. I’ve had to learn a lot from IE techniques in discrete optimization and its underlying math in order to advance my own Aerospace PhD. Totally different stuff from the typical Aerospace department math, but not trivial by a longshot! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-the-profession-of-creating-factories-production-lines/922944.md?page=2)