Industrial Engineers Australia (IEA) had its beginnings in the Australian Methods Engineers Association which was founded when a group of Australian Industrial Engineers got together in 1954. In 1959 this Association was incorporated as the Institute of Industrial Engineers and later as Institute of Industrial Engineers Australia. IEA is the name under which the organisation transacts.
Since December 1997, following a three-year trial, IEA also became a Society of the Engineers Australia. Since then the Institute has also operated as the Industrial Engineering Society (IES) of the Engineers Australia(EA).
In December 2020, a Memorandum of Understanding(MOU) was signed with EA.
The Institute is a registered company limited by guarantee, owned by its members, and managed by a Board composed of elected delegates from each division.