1. Interview an Industrial Engineer BY: GAVIN LAMBERTH

2. Ben Ragan  Where do you work?  Sonoco Products in Hartsville, SC  What is your current job title?  Process Engineer IV

3. Career Path  Industrial Engineer for 4 years with Armstrong World Ind.  Value Stream Owner (Lean Facilitator) for 1 year with Armstrong World Ind. In Lancaster, PA, and Macon, GA  Process Engineer for 2 year with Moen Inc. in New Bern, NC  Process Engineer IV for three years with Sonoco Products in Hartsville, SC.

4. Why did you pick ISE?  Not sure if he would have liked the other specialties  Thought Industrial Engineering would be a flexible/useful degree when it came time to get a job  He was right

5. Educational Information  Ben graduated from Mercer in 2006 with a BSE in ISE.  He expects to get his masters in ISE in May 2016  Ben says that a masters probably takes 2.5-3.5 years to complete on average  Believes his employer sees those with a masters as more valuable  Interned at a Wal-Mart distribution center to help solve cafeteria bottlenecking issues

6. What is your routine on a normal day at work?  Get to work around 7:00. Check emails and prepare for meetings  Pull production data and check in with production workers  No day is routine  May go to the corporate offices to present capital requests to upper management.

7. What skills would you say were essential to your job?  Communication is the biggest  Problem solving skills  MS Office, especially Excel.

8. How many hours on average do you work a week?  45-50 hours a week  However, every evening is free after 5 PM  Doesn’t work weekends  Goes home for lunch every day.

9. How often do you interact with people outside of the engineering world?  All day, every day!  Presentations often

10. How would you compare your job experience so far with what you expected?  It was pretty much as expected, but less technical

11. What is a stressful aspect of your job and what is satisfying?  It is stressful seeing a solution, but not having the authority to make others follow through  Solving issues that have existed for a long time

12. Mercer education experience  Mercer education prepared him very well for his career  Helpful classes:  Statistics, Engineering Economy, Ergonomics, Project Management  Least helpful classes:  Electrical Engineering

13. Where do you see yourself 5 to 10 years from now?  Sees himself as a Process Improvement Leader with his current company.  Similar to his current role but with broader responsibilities.