Offices, Classrooms, and Laboratories
Since its establishment in 1975,
the Department of Industrial Engineering occupied a 3-story building that had
a basement as well. After 2007, a fourth floor was added to the building
to ease up space problem. Due to the devastating flood in Dec 2009, the expected
increase in student enrollment and the corresponding increase in faculty
hiring, the University planned and constructed a new building for the Faculty
of Engineering. This federally funded newly constructed building provides
much more space for offices, classrooms, laboratories, and facilities than it
was available in the old building. In April 2014, the Department of
Industrial Engineering moved to the new building where the fourth floor (Section
4200 and Section 4600, about 7000 m2) were allocated to the
department, as well as another area in the second floor (Section 4200.) Female
Section is segregated in a separate building G064 in the main campus.
i.
Offices
The fourth floor area
houses 37 faculty offices, Chairman Office (Room 44G29), secretarial and
staff offices. Faculty offices are equipped with internet connections (both
wired and wireless), telephone extension and AC control, along with necessary
furniture. On both floors, an adequate number of toilets and kitchenettes are
also provided. The Department Council meeting room (44G26), that is adjacent
to the Chairman Office, has a capacity of 40 attendees. Department Council
meeting room is equipped with a projector data show and video conferencing
facilities to facilitate the participation of female faculty members in the
meeting. Among many others, the following facilities also exist on the fourth
floor: Department Documentation Room (44G42), faculty refreshment and catering
room (44G39), IE Students Club (44G20/21/36) and a prayer room (44G13).
The Department of
Industrial Engineering of the female section is located on the female main-campus,
the second floor at building number G064, which houses 15 faculty member offices,
Supervisor and secretarial office (room 201A). All rooms are equipped with
internet connections (both wired and wireless), telephone extension and AC
control, along with necessary furniture. A meeting room provided with data
show projector and video conference facility is located on the second floor
along with the faculty offices (room 215). The Department Council meeting
room (226) has a capacity of 40 attendees. It is equipped with a projector
data show and video conferencing facilities to facilitate the participation
of female faculty members in the department council meeting. On all floors,
an adequate number of toilets are also provided.
Among
many others, the following facilities also exist in building G064: faculty
refreshment and catering rooms) for both students and faculty members, IE
Students Club (building G064, G floor, room 16) and a prayer room (building
G064, First floor)
ii.
Classrooms
and Associated Equipment
Department of Industrial
Engineering has six conventional classrooms (one on the second floor and five
on the fourth floor) with an average capacity of 40 students. In addition,
there are three active learning classrooms (two on the second floor and one
on the fourth floor) equipped with round tables (up to four students per
table) with a total capacity up to 40 students. All classrooms in both the
second and fourth floors are equipped with a projector, screen, whiteboard,
instructor PC and internet connection (both wired and wireless).
Building G064 (female
section) has 14 conventional classrooms with capacity up to 100 students.
Four active learning classrooms, two of which equipped with round tables (up
to eight students per table) with a
capacity of 42 students). There are four large halls (capacity 160 students)
and two large halls equipped with video conference facility (capacity up to
240 students). Classrooms and halls are used by Department of Industrial Engineering and
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
iii.
Laboratory
Facilities
Lab facilities of the Department of
Industrial Engineering are spread over the fourth floor of section 4600 (most
of the labs) and the second floor of section 4200 (two computer labs).
Educational
Laboratories
a. Computer Application Laboratories:
i.
Computer Application
Laboratories – Male Section
ii.
Computer Application Laboratories
– Female Section
b. Work Study Laboratories
i.
Work Study Laboratory – Male
Section
ii.
Work Study Laboratory – Female
Section
c. Human Factors Engineering Laboratories
i.
Human Factors Engineering
Laboratory – Male Section
ii.
Human Factors Engineering
Laboratory – Female Section
A.
Computer Applications Laboratories:
The Department of Industrial
Engineering has extensive facilities for imparting education and training in the
field of computer skills based on software systems. The Department of
Industrial Engineering has planned four computer labs out of which three are
ready, whereas one is in the process of completion. The female section has
six computer labs that are being shared by the Department of Industrial
Engineering and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Also,
there is a big lab under refurbishment that can accommodate 40 students. These
laboratories are mainly used to support student instructions in computer
usage and computer-related courses. Students also use computer
laboratories and facilities to prepare their assignments, projects, and
presentations for the different Industrial Engineering classes.
Several software-oriented courses
are being conducted in these laboratories. Hence, all the computers in these
two computer application laboratories are installed with software such as
Oracle for Database programming, Design Expert for the Design of Experiments
course, MS Visual Studio, QM for Windows and ARENA and SIMIO for simulation course.
a.
Computer Applications Laboratories – Male Section
i.
Computer Applications Laboratory 1
·
Location: Building 4600,
Room 44E67.
·
Floor area: 90 square
meters
·
Capabilities: 31 computers,
a digital display, whiteboard and the instructor’s table and dais.
·
Student’s capacity per
session: 30 students.
ii.
Computer Applications
Laboratory 2
·
Location: Building 4200, Room 24G16.
·
Floor area: 70 square meters
·
Capabilities: 31 computers, a
digital display, whiteboard and the instructor’s table and dais.
·
Student’s capacity per session:
30 students
iii.
Computer Applications Laboratory 3
·
Location: Building 4200, Room 24G14.
·
Floor area: 70 square meters
·
Capabilities: 31 computers, a
digital display, whiteboard and the instructor’s table and dais.
·
Student’s capacity per session:
30 students
b.
Computer Applications Laboratory – Female Section
i.
Computer Applications Laboratory 1
·
Location: Building 064,
Room 109. (currently closed and it will be open next semester)
·
Floor area: 95 square
meters
·
Capabilities: 32
computers, a digital display, whiteboard and the instructor’s table and dais.
·
Student’s capacity per
session: 30 students.
ii.
Computer Applications Laboratory 2
·
Location: Building 064,
Room 106.
·
Floor area: 95 square
meters
·
Capabilities: 32 computers,
a digital display, whiteboard and the instructor’s table and dais.
·
Student’s capacity per
session: 30 students.
iii.
Computer Applications Laboratory 3
·
Location: Building 064,
Room 117.
·
Floor area: 95 square
meters
·
Capabilities: 32 computers,
a digital display, whiteboard and the instructor’s table and dais.
·
Student’s capacity per
session: 30 students.
iv.
Computer Applications Laboratory 4
·
Location: Building 064,
Room 120.
·
Floor area: 95 square
meters
·
Capabilities: 32
computers, a digital display, whiteboard and the instructor’s table and dais.
·
Student’s capacity per
session: 30 students.
v.
Computer Applications Laboratory 5
·
Location: Building 064,
Room 206.
·
Floor area: 95 square
meters
·
Capabilities: 32
computers, a digital display, whiteboard and the instructor’s table and dais.
·
Student’s capacity per
session: 30 students.
vi.
Computer Applications Laboratory 6
·
Location: Building 064,
Room 209.
·
Floor area: 95 square
meters
·
Capabilities: 32
computers, a digital display, whiteboard and the instructor’s table and dais.
·
Student’s capacity per
session: 30 students.
Courses served: Mainly IE 321
(Fundamentals of Computer Systems), IE322 (Computer Applications in
Industrial Engineering I), IE 323 (Computer Applications in Industrial
Engineering II), IE 421 (Industrial Information Systems) and IE 422
(Industrial Systems Simulation). Other courses such as IE 352 (System
Analysis and Design), IE 411 (Operations Research II), IE 332 (Engineering
Statistics), IE 432 (Design of Industrial Experiments), IE 413 (Network
Analysis), etc. are also served by the labs.
Supervisor: Dr. Waqar Ahmad Gulzar.
B. Work
Study Laboratories:
The Work Study laboratories have been
designed for the study of human work in all its contexts. Specifically, the
laboratory facilitates Method Study and Work Measurement techniques where
students can systematically investigate all factors affecting efficiency and
work economy in certain setups. Students can also review situations to effect
improvements.
i.
Work Study Laboratory – Male
Section
·
Location: Building 4600,
Room 44E89
·
Floor area: 80 square
meters
·
Capabilities: see
Appendix C.
·
Student’s capacity per
session: 25 students.
·
Courses served: IE341
(Work Study)
·
Supervisor: Dr.
Abdulrahman Basahel
ii.
Work Study Laboratory – Female
Section
·
Location: Building G064,
Room G5A (female section)
·
Floor area: 95 square
meters
·
Capabilities: see
Appendix C.
·
Student’s capacity per
session: 25 students.
·
Courses served: IE341 (Work
Study)
·
Supervisor: Dr. Farheen
Bano.
C. Human
Factors Engineering Laboratories:
The Human Factors Engineering
Laboratories have been designed and developed for the study of the role of
the human element in the system performance, including task-related stress
and strain, and task performance.
i.
Human Factors Engineering Laboratory – Male Section
· Location: Building 4600, Rooms 44E58 & 44E66
· Floor area: 190 square meters
· Capabilities: see Appendix C.
· Student’s capacity per session: 25 students.
· Courses served: IE342 (Human Factors Engineering) and IE 444
(Occupational Biomechanics)
· Supervisor: Dr. Abdulrahman Basahel
ii.
Human Factors Engineering Laboratory – Female Section
· Location: Building G064, Room G8A
· Floor area: 95 square meters.
· Capabilities: see Appendix C.
· Student’s capacity per session: 25 students.
· Courses served: IE342 (Human Factors Engineering) and IE 444
(Occupational Biomechanics)
· Supervisor: Dr. Farheen Bano
Research
Laboratories
The following laboratories support
the research activities of faculty members and a few elective courses.
a.
Environmental
Engineering Laboratory.
b.
CAD/
CAM Laboratory: equipped with six CNC machines.
Future Plans
To
improve the attainment of SOs and provide better academic and research lab
facilities to the student as well as faculty, the Department of Industrial
Engineering has plans to establish the following laboratories:
Computer
Applications Laboratory 4: Planned to be ready by Spring 2021.
Computing Resources
Students of the IE Program can use the Computer Applications
Laboratories during or outside the courses supported by these labs. The
instructors use the software related to their courses as instructional aids
as well as for demonstration of solution techniques. Also, the female section
has an Open Computer Laboratory which
can be accessed during college working hours.
The students must use the software
during the tutorial classes. Hence all the computers in the computer
application lab are installed with software such as Oracle for Database
programming, Design Expert for the Design of Experiments course, MS Visual
Studio, QM for Windows, SIMIO and ARENA for simulation course.
Industrial Engineering Student Club: The club has several computers free for use
by the students. Several laser printers and a 3D printer are available for
use.
Central Library: All students have access to the computers
in the central library between the hours of 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM on weekdays (Sunday to
Thursday). The computers are equipped with a wired Internet connection,
wireless Internet connection, basic word processing, and other computing
applications. The computers allow free access to most of the international
literature databases. However, the students are not allowed to install their
own software applications on these computers, and they cannot save files on
the computer’s hard disk. Nevertheless, they are allowed to save files on
their external hard disk or flash memory stick.
Central Support Unit at the Deanship of Information Technology: The
services provided by this unit and that are available to students and faculty
members are as follows:
- Wired
Internet connection
- Wireless
Internet connection
- Internet
security for university computers
- Information
storage for educational and research activities
- Shared
software library that contains the most used software within the
University:
ü
Microsoft Office 365
ü
Microsoft Project Professional 2016
ü
Microsoft Visio Professional 2016
ü
Microsoft Visual Studio 2010
ü
SPSS
Guidance
Faculty members and the students
frequently use computers and software for course delivery and hands-on
training. The students make use of laboratory facilities for solving
assignment problems individually and in groups. The students make use of the
data show projectors for their term projects and senior projects
presentations too.
In all labs, safety instructions
and standard procedures are shown for all equipment and set of experiment.
Also, emergencies and relevant actions are explained in the first session of
the lab each semester.
The Department of Industrial
Engineering has technicians guiding the students regarding the use of the
tools, equipment, computing resources etc. in tutorial classes and laboratories.
Faculty members also guide the students regarding the proper use of lab
equipment.
For any hardware and network related problems, the Faculty
of Engineering Scientific Equipment Maintenance Center (SEMC) is requested to
handle and solve the problem.
a)
Guidance in
Instructional Laboratories:
Instructional laboratories are
essentially attached to specific courses. For this reason, course instructors
are responsible for the general supervision of the experiments done in these
labs. Every laboratory is also assigned an engineer responsible for
maintaining the lab and guiding the students during their lab session. In
particular, the lab engineer will:
·
Instruct the students on lab
safety
·
Explain how the experiment is to
be conducted and distributes the lab experiment sheets
·
Help the students in doing the
actual experiment
·
Guide the student in their report
writing
·
Collect
and grade lab reports under the supervision of the course instructor
·
Prepare
a lab binder
b)
Guidance in Computer laboratories:
The teaching
assistants are responsible for:
·
Helping the instructor during and
after the lecture
·
Supervising the tutorial sessions
·
Maintaining the PCs by updating
the hardware and the software
Maintenance and Upgrading of Facilities
The department consistently maintains
and updates the facilities allocated to its undergraduate program to ensure that
the instructional and learning environment is adequate and safe for the
intended purposes in accordance with ABET Accreditation Policy and Procedure
Manual (APPM) section II.G.6.b.(1) Facilities.
i)
Maintenance of Facilities
Routine maintenance is carried out
by lab technician of the Department. However, for major repairs, the
Department depends on Faculty of Engineering Scientific Equipment Maintenance
Center. If maintenance work is beyond the capabilities of SEMC, the supplier
of the equipment is called upon to get the equipment repaired. Maintenance of
buildings is handled by the University maintenance crew.
ii)
Upgrading of Facilities
The program is committed to the continuous upgrading and development
of its labs equipment. The Department has a Laboratory Committee pursuing and
specifying the future plans. This committee is composed of faculty members
and engineers from the Department.
The Laboratory Committee decides about the laboratory-specific needs
in terms of materials, software, and equipment for the instructional
laboratories. The Department faculty, engineers and technicians are
continuously encouraged to make suggestions and to submit requests for all
their needs related to equipment maintenance, course work, or facilities
upgrades. Facilities upgrade requests are first submitted to the chairman of
the department, then to the dean of the faculty of engineering. If approved,
they are forwarded to the Administration of Academic Services. This
administration has four departments to handle incoming requests:
- Department
of Classrooms and Teaching Aids
- Department
of Laboratories
- Department
of Educational Media
- Scientific
Equipment Maintenance Center (SEMC)
Library
Services
The central library of KAU is maintained by the
Deanship of Library Affairs and is available to all KAU students. The library
houses an extensive collection of engineering books, journals and databases.
Library material is shelved in open stacks using the Dewey Decimal
Classification Scheme. The Library collection is accessible to faculty and
students alike between the hours of 8:00 AM and 10:00 PM on weekdays.
Professional librarians are available during the working hours to provide
assistance.
The library contains more than one million titles
of books, reference materials, manuscripts, dissertations and reports in
different branches of knowledge. The central library subscribes to different
databases and has a wide range of periodicals, and books, related to
industrial engineering. Reference services are available to the students and
the faculty. The library general catalogue is accessible from anywhere at any
time through the library website. Faculty members may request the Deanship of
Library Affairs to purchase any textbook or reference material through the
library website.
The Deanship of Library Affairs has a digital
library that allows students and faculty to access all information resources
through the Internet and intranet. Examples of these resources include the
Saudi Digital Library (SDL), ScienceDirect, Web of Science (ISI), IEEE,
SpringerLink – Springer, Wiley, E-Journals, E-books and different databases
such as EBSCO, Cambridge Journals, and others. These resources may be
accessed through the web page of the Deanship of Library Affairs.
In summary: The facilities of
the program and the support the program has been receiving for their
maintenance and upgrading are adequate to support the attainment of the
student outcomes. In particular, the new buildings have improved the adequacy
of the facilities for the intended instruction and for the attainment of the
student outcomes. The larger space afforded by the program has also
contributed to foster faculty-student interaction and provide opportunities
to the students to use modern engineering tools and to the faculty to enhance
their research outcomes.
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