What a Logistics Engineer Does
As an engineer, you generally choose your specialty after you have completed your bachelor’s degree. Engineers who work in logistics deal with the science of logistics. As a logistics engineer, you work in the transportation industry and deal with raw material warehousing, distribution, storage, transport, and purchase. You may figure out how to get raw materials, finished goods, goods that are partially complete, or those that are works in progress to the places they need to go in order to be finished and then sold.
Your job as a logistics engineer is to make sure these materials get where they need to go as efficiently and effectively as possible. This, in turn, helps keep costs down for the organizations that run these types of operations.
One of the things companies look for when they look for logistical engineering practices to be most efficient is that customer demand can be satisfied immediately with an immediate purchase. This means that customers are more satisfied and therefore a business does better because its products stay in demand. Logistics engineers figured out how to get goods where they need to go as quickly as possible. For example, if it will be more cost effective to have parts prepared at one site then shipped to another site to be put together with parts from another site to create the finished project, it is the logistical engineer’s job to do it as efficiently as possible. In other words, if it saves time to have the parts completed at separate sites and then brought together to be combined into the final product instead of having everything manufactured on one site, it is up to the logistical engineer to figure out how to make this work.
Logistics Engineering Is Part of System Engineering
The logistics engineer participates in the process that products and systems must have so as to ensure that a production system is reliable, can be maintained, and makes products readily available. It includes the supply chain, which begins with the procurement of the raw materials and goes all the way through to the final distribution of finished goods for customers to buy. The logistics engineer keeps track of everything that occurs in the system and modifies the system’s design so as to make it the most efficient. For example, a logistics engineer might be brought in if a particular supply system is only 50 percent reliable; he or she will improve that system’s reliability to a predetermined percentage, such as 95 percent.
Logistics engineers use complex mathematical models to determine which parts of the system are the least efficient and then figure out ways to make them more efficient.
Background and Education
Before you begin college to get your undergraduate in engineering, you will need to have a very good background in mathematics which includes such advanced mathematics as geometry, algebra, trigonometry, and calculus. You also need a solid scientific background in sciences like biology, chemistry, and physics. Usually, you will also take courses like English, humanities, and social studies at the bachelor’s level.
Once you complete your bachelor’s degree, you may want to move directly into an engineering position at the entry level. It is quite easy to do this. Your school can help you find positions or you can search the Internet for jobsites, many of which will list engineering jobs in various areas.
You will also need to be licensed as a professional engineer as long as you work with the public. Before you get your license, you will need to have four years of work experience in the engineering field and will have to undergo completion of the state exam in addition to graduating with your degree. Many states will allow you to take the first part of your exam immediately upon graduation and then the second part of your exam after you have had four years of relevant work experience. In general, you will also need to continue your education in order to be relicensed. Because technology and scientific developments continually change, you also need to continue your education simply as a matter of course so that you stay up on the latest developments.
Other Necessary Skills
When you work as a logistics engineer, you will be working with a variety of people to make sure the goods and raw materials in question get where they need to go. Because of that, you will be working with a team of people who may not all understand the complexities of engineering. You will need to be able to explain the necessary logistical requirements in everyday terms. You also need to be detail oriented so that you can keep track of these efficiencies.
Compensation and Outlook
Compensation for logistics engineer jobs depends upon where they work, but in general, engineers across all fields made approximately $75,000 to $108,000 as of 2007, on average. Because the transportation industry is taking a hit right now, in that consumer purchases are down across the board, those who work in logistics engineering may also suffer some job loss. However, as the economy picks up, these jobs should return in force, too.
