Focus

Keeping pace with IIE in the July 2012 issue of Industrial Engineer

The thrill of victory

Scholarships, fellowships, competitions pave the way for dreams
Dozens of competitors earned scholarships, fellowships and other honors at the IIE Annual Conference and Expo 2012 in May. The winners enjoyed the successful feeling that comes with besting your peers and colleagues in rigorous competitions. And scholarships and fellowships certainly help pay the higher learning bills throughout the year. Listed below are this year’s scholarship and fellowship winners as well as other competition winners. Other honors and awards were published in the June edition of Industrial Engineer. To see a complete list of winners, go to www.iienet.org/2012honors.

A.O. Putnam Memorial Scholarship

Ethan Boyle, University of Pittsburgh

C.B. Gambrell Undergraduate Scholarship

James Malone, Virginia Tech

Dwight D. Gardner Scholarships

Stephanie Bagiardi, University of Florida
Spencer Brown, Milwaukee School of Engineering
Jonathan Fako, University of Pittsburgh
Emily Krause, University of Oklahoma
Bradford McKeon, University of Central Florida
Kali Williams, University of Miami

E.J. Sierleja Memorial Fellowship

Ridvan Gedik, University of Arkansas

Gilbreth Memorial Fellowships

Serina Al-Haddad, University of Central Florida
Homero Hector Contreras, UPAEP
Kaibo Liu, Georgia Tech
Christina Rusnock, University of Central Florida
Akkarapol Sa-Ngasoongsong, Oklahoma State University
Jingjing Tong, University of Arkansas

Harold and Inge Marcus Scholarships

Elizabeth Gillett, University of Florida
Noah Tilzer, University of Miami
Xuanya Zhang, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

IIE Council of Fellows Scholarships

Daniel Schra, University of Florida
Donald Meier, Virginia Tech
Brent Wiles, University of Arkansas

John L. Imhoff Scholarships

Sandra Carrasco, University of Arkansas
Amy Goodnite, Ohio University

Lisa Zaken Award for Excellence

Megan Peters, University of Arkansas

Marvin Mundel Memorial Scholarship

Jennifer Badylak-Reals, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Presidents Scholarship

Adam Van Handel, Milwaukee School of Engineering
Society for Health Systems Scholarship
Kendall Sanderson, Northeastern University

UPS Scholarship for Female Students

Dunia Villaverde, University of Central Florida

UPS Scholarship for Minority Students

Tatiana Viecco, University of Central Florida

Innovations in Curriculum Competition

First place: Joel Sokol and Steve Hackman, Georgia Tech, “An Effective Approach to Integrated Learning in Capstone Design”

IIE/Rockwell Automation Student Simulation

First place: Kyonggi University, “Super Awesome”
Team members: Younghwa Kang, Minho Kim and Hyunseok Shin; Faculty advisor: Myeonsig Cho

IIE Undergraduate Student Technical Paper

First place: Austin Buchanan (South Central Region), Oklahoma State University, “An Investigation into Instructor Staffing at Oklahoma State University Fire Service Training”

Lean Division Best Practice Award

First place: Ron Phipps, MD Anderson Cancer Center

Outstanding Faculty Advisor Awards

Global Level Honoree
Saeed Zolfaghari (Canadian Region), Ryerson University

Regional Level Honorees
Central and South American Region: Gonzalo Mejia, Universidad de los Andes
Great Lakes Region: James Barany, Purdue University (Awarded Posthumously)
Mexican Region: Jose Antonio Vazquez Ibarra, Universidad Politecnica de Aguascaliente
Mid-Atlantic Region: Anita Vila-Parrish, North Carolina State University
North Central Region: Elodie Adida Goodman, University of Illinois

Society and Division Honors

CIS Division Student Paper Competition
Chaoyue Zhao, University of Florida, “Two-stage Robust Optimization for Power Grid with Uncertain Demand Response”

Construction Division Student Paper Competition
John Gresh, Drexel University, “Application of Lean Principles and Practices in Construction Management”

Lean Division Student Paper Competition
Pu-Yuan Chang, Tunghai University, “Enhancing the Service Efficiency of Non-profit Organizations through Lean Thinking and VSM Analysis: A Case Study of Assistive Device Resource Centers”

Lean Division Teaching Awards
Beth Cudney, Missouri University of Science and Technology
Toni Doolen, Oregon State University

Logistics and Supply Chain Division Teaching Award
Ismail Capar, Texas A&M University

Process Industries Division Student Paper Competition
Geoffrey Cheung, California State Polytechnic University – Pomona, “Coca-Cola Process Improvement”

SEMS Student Paper Competition
Akkarapol Sa-Ngasoongsong, Oklahoma State University, “Long-term Demand Prediction Using Long-run Equilibrium Relationship of Intrinsic Time-scale Decomposition Components”

Operational Research Division Teaching Award
Archis Ghate, University of Washington

SHS Student Paper Competition
Graduate Level: Shoshana Hahn-Goldberg, University of Toronto, “Dynamic Template Scheduling to Address Uncertainty in Complex Scheduling Problems: A Case Study on Chemotherapy Outpatient Scheduling”
Undergraduate Level: Eulisa Rivera, University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, “Consistent Detection of Cancer Biomarkers with Linear Models”

UPS Minority Advancement

Gloria Bender, TransSolutions

Heavy hitters

ELS conference-goers can tour UPS, Louisville Slugger and Toyota
This year’s Engineering Lean and Six Sigma Conference will give attendees the chance to examine something old and historic – baseball bats – along with a much newer vintage – Toyota vehicles. Along the way, the facility tours offered include ways to get both products to their customers – UPS.

The conference will be held Oct. 1-3 at the historic Seelbach Hilton in Louisville, Ky. It will feature more than 30 sessions that cover everything from production, manufacturing, outsourcing, supply chain and knowledge transfer.

The first facility tour is of the UPS Worldport from 10:30 p.m. Tuesday to 1:30 a.m. Wednesday. At the Worldport, more than 100 UPS aircraft converge on the site six nights a week between 11:30 p.m. and 2 a.m. About 5,000 UPS workers unload, sort and reload domestic and international air packages onto outgoing planes. The Worldport can process 1 million packages a night.

Even customers take nighttime visits just to see the spectacle, according to UPS. Worldport occupies 4 million square feet, four floors and three concourses and 43 aircraft docks, with plans to get even bigger.

For those who aren’t night owls, the second tour is scheduled for the daylight hours of 3:20 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Oct. 3. The Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory is one of the city’s most popular attractions. The site, also the company’s corporate headquarters, is easy to find – just look for the World’s Biggest Baseball Bat that casually leans against the side of the building.

The Louisville Slugger Museum is a museum and factory where Louisville Slugger baseball bats are created and baseball’s history is preserved. Louisville Slugger is the official bat of Major League Baseball. Tour-goers can watch how the legendary bats are made and examine the museum’s rotating exhibits.
The final tour, of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky Inc., is just the ticket for IEs. It is scheduled from 8 a.m. to noon Oct. 4.

TMMK in Georgetown, Ky., is Toyota’s first wholly owned manufacturing facility in the United States and the largest Toyota plant outside of Japan. Since its inception in 1988, the site has grown to nearly 7,000 team members who build approximately 2,000 vehicles each day.

Attendees can see what goes into manufacturing the Camry, Avalon and Venza vehicles on a trek that will include the stamping and body weld departments, along with a view overhead at the conveyors that take the cars from the paint shop to the final assembly line.

The guide will point out the foundations of the Toyota Production System and give insight into the line side processes of the local employees.

Note that for this tour, cell phones that take photos, cameras and handbags, book bags, briefcases, purses, bags and backpacks are not allowed. Visitors must also present a valid photo ID.

For more information about the facility tours and other conference events and registration, visit www.iienet.org/leansixsigma.

Mending operations

One-day event applies lean, Six Sigma to healthcare
You know the names – Wellstar, John C. Lincoln Health Network, Children’s Medical Center, Hoag Memorial Hospital and others. They’re the heavy hitters in healthcare who define what best practices are.

So in an era when everybody is screaming about how healthcare is in crisis, it probably is a good idea to learn from the experts.

Mend your healthcare operations with a visit to the IIE Best Practices in Lean & Six Sigma Applied to Healthcare event. The one-day conference features experienced operators who will help with efficiency and improvement without taking days away from attendees’ busy schedules. It is scheduled for Oct. 29 at the Georgia International Convention Center near the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

For more information and to register, visit www.iienet.org/lsshealthcare.

Tackling the economy

The Engineering Economist is looking for a new editor-in-chief
The IIE Board of Trustees and the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) is seeking nominations for the position of editor-in-chief of The Engineering Economist. The position is a fouryear, nonrenewable term beginning Jan. 1, 2013.

The Engineering Economist is a refereed journal that publishes original, high-quality papers on a wide range of topics, including capital investment analysis, cost estimation and accounting, cost of capital, design economics, economic decision analysis, education, policy analysis, as well as research and development. It publishes articles, case studies, surveys, book and software reviews and readers’ comments that represent current research, practice, and teaching involving problems of capital investment. Four issues are published each year.

The editor-in-chief is responsible for the technical content and direction of The Engineering Economist, oversight of the publication process of the journal, management of the ASEE Eugene L. Grant best papers award, and enhancing the visibility and prestige of the journal. Responsibilities include overall coordination and processing of submissions, reviews and final copy for the journal; tracking of manuscripts from final copy to publication; and coordination and notification of the recipients of the Eugene L. Grant best papers award each year.

The editor-in-chief will be assisted by area editors, special-issue editors and department editors. The voluntary position does not include a salary, but the publisher provides a stipend to carry out editorial functions.

Qualifications for the editor-in-chief include:

• Membership in IIE
• A demonstrated interest in the broad topics covered by the focused issues
• A demonstrated record of research, scholarship and application in one or more of the topical areas covered by the journal
• Prior editorial experience, dedication and enthusiasm for IIE and its journals
• Ability to manage the editorial process effectively and efficiently

Obtain more details about the journal at http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/0013791x.asp.

Nominations should include a resume of individual qualifications with experience that includes industrial engineering research and research administration. Self-nominations are encouraged. Nominations will be accepted until Oct. 1.

Please send nominations to Donna Calvert, chief operating officer, Institute of Industrial Engineers, 3577 Parkway Lane, Suite 200, Norcross, GA 30092; or dcalvert@iienet.org.

Continually seeking chapter gold

If it’s all about continuous improvement, then local chapters have come through in soaring colors of gold, silver and bronze.

Eight chapters took home a gold medal award in the 2011 Professional Chapter Recognition competition, an increase of three from the year before. Gold medal chapters must do an outstanding job of providing content to members and the community through monthly meetings, plant tours and activities that go beyond the norm for the profession and their area.

Three chapters garnered silver awards and four took home bronze medals.

The following list includes the winning chapters and their presidents.

Gold

Costa Rica, Diógenes Alvarez Solórzano
Pittsburgh, Mike Caproni
Dallas-Fort Worth, Michael Foss
Detroit, John Preston
Greater Kansas City (Mo.), Jennifer Hedberg
National Capital (Washington, D.C.), Russell Wooten
South Jersey Delaware Valley, Thomas Fung
Twin Cities (Minn.), John Kline

Silver

Los Angeles, Theodore Mayeshiba
Rochester, N.Y., John Kaemmerlen
Wichita, Kan., Mike Stoller

Bronze

Chicago, Tom Barnstable
Long Island, N.Y., Tom Fiorella
Mississippi Valley, Sean Pondell
Richmond, Va., Mark Oakes

Dallas-Fort Worth was the most improved chapter, while the Syracuse, N.Y., chapter won the Phoenix Award.

Engineered editing

Four chapters win top newsletter honors
For 2011, the Institute of Industrial Engineers honored eight chapters in its newsletter competition. Four chapters took home the coveted platinum award, the top honor. The winners and their newsletter editors are listed below.

Platinum

National Capital (Washington, D.C.), Martin Franklin
Greater Kansas City (Mo.), Rachel Olson
South Jersey Delaware Valley, Thomas T. Fung
Twin Cities (Minn.), Jenna Weiland

Gold

Pittsburgh, Ron Coperich
Greater Detroit, Alex Bohn
Long Island, N.Y., Tom Fiorella

Silver

Central Connecticut, Jonna Gerken

PE Industrial exam has a new date

After October’s test, engineers will face updated specs in April 2013
The National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying is moving its PE Industrial exam to April after this year.

This year’s exam will be held in October as usual, but in 2013, the exam will be held in April. The 2013 exam also will have new specifications that indicate the knowledge areas to be tested and their relative weights of emphasis. As the developer of the exams used for engineering licensure in the United States, NCEES – in partnership with the Institute of Industrial Engineers – conducted a survey of licensed engineers working in industry, government, private practice and academia to gather information about the knowledge and skills required of professionals in industrial engineering. With support from IIE, NCEES used the results to update the exam specifications.

The new specifications are available online at www.ncees.org. Click “PE” under the Exams tab. Updated study materials will be published in October.

NCEES is a national nonprofit organization composed of engineering and surveying licensing boards representing all U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It develops, scores and administers the exams used for engineering and surveying licensure throughout the United States.