The Institute

Keeping pace with IIE in the March 2016 issue of Industrial Engineer 

New name for an evolving era

Members voted in new officers and added 'systems' to moniker
Starting April 1, the Institute of Industrial Engineers will have new officers and, more significantly, a new name. Based on a membership vote, IIE is becoming IISE – the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers. 

The name change is the institute’s first since 1981, when it dropped “American” from the American Institute of Industrial Engineers to reflect the growing international range of its membership.

Joseph C. Hartman, dean of the James B. Francis College of Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, is IIE’s new president-elect. He will transition to president his second year and then immediate past president his third year. Also serving three-year terms on the board of trustees are Rick Wilkinson, the new senior vice president-at large, industry, and Eileen Van Aken, the new senior vice president, international.

Wilkinson is the senior director of engineering services for Walmart Inc., while Van Aken is professor and associate department head of the Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech.

Members selected Iris Rivero, associate professor in the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering at Iowa State, and Michele Dekelbaum, senior manager, lean optimization for Ricoh Americas Corp., as vice presidents of technical operations.

In addition, six IIE regions picked new region vice presidents: Kerri Beiswenger in the Northeast Region, Robert Kantor in the Southeast, Ray Doctora in the Western, George Huang in Asia, Diogenes Alvarez in Central and South America, and Margarita Ponce in Mexico.

Possibly sparked by the vote on the name change, this year’s election saw a 26 percent increase in member participation rate.

The name change aligns IIE with the changing scope of the profession that, while keeping its industrial base, has seen more industrial and systems engineers (ISEs) working with large-scale, integrated systems in a variety of sectors. The change also is consistent with department names in many universities, as two-thirds of the top 65 schools ranked in U.S. News & World Report have incorporated systems into their department names.

ISEs and Disneyland: A perfect fit

Keynote speakers include engineers from world of Disney, academia and consulting

For the first time ever, the IIE Annual Conference & Expo will descend on the sprawling Disneyland resort that encompasses all things Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Pluto and pals.

It’s only appropriate, as industrial and systems engineers are often in the business of turning executive wishes and fantasies into operational reality.

And it’s also appropriate that the first keynote speaker on May 22 will be Brian Betts, vice president of operations planning and insights with Walt Disney Parks & Resorts. He will be followed May 23 by Phil Kaminsky, professor and chair of industrial engineering and operations research at the University of California, Berkeley. Jack ReVelle of ReVelle Solutions LLC, an IIE member for 50 years, is the final keynote speaker on May 24. The conference is scheduled for May 21-24 at Disneyland Resort Hotel in Anaheim, California.

In his day job, Betts leads a global team of analytics professionals that includes more than 100 full-time industrial engineers. The North Carolina State University graduate has spent more than 19 years with Disney and has helped open multiple Disney Parks worldwide. He also helped develop the Disney Cruise Line and create Disney’s MyMagic+, including FastPass+ and MagicBands.

Betts and his team plan and provide analytical support for 12 theme parks, two water parks, 43 resort hotels and four cruise ships. His team tackles three primary functions: industrial engineering, experience planning and experience insights and analytics. He also has served on the Council of Industrial and Systems Engineers.

Kaminsky is faculty director of the Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology, which offers undergraduate, graduate and executive courses in entrepreneurship and innovation. The center is a hub of interaction between northern California entrepreneurs and UC Berkeley engineers. He also directs the Initiative for Research in Biopharmaceutical Operations.

Kaminsky’s current research in supply chain management and healthcare systems has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, BioMarin, Bayer, Genentech, Navis and FICO. He earned his Ph.D in industrial engineering and management science from Northwestern University.

ReVelle currently serves as a consulting statistician to manufacturing, service and residential construction organizations throughout North America, Europe, Australia and China. He previously was the director of the Center for Process Improvement for GenCorp Aerojet in Azusa and Sacramento, leader of continuous improvement for Hughes Missile Systems Co., founding dean of the School of Business and Management at Chapman University and founding chairman of the decision sciences department at the University of Nebraska.

A U.S. Air Force veteran, ReVelle earned the Bronze Star, has written several books, and is a fellow of IIE, ASQ and the Institute for the Advancement of Engineering. His B.S. in chemical engineering is from Purdue University; his M.S. and Ph.D. in industrial engineering and management are from Oklahoma State University (OSU).

Read interviews with these speakers, where they share their conference presentation themes and their views on the industrial and systems engineering field, at www.iienet.org/annual/Betts, www.iienet.org/annual/Kaminsky and www.iienet.org/annual/ReVelle.

For conference information and registration, visit www.iienet.org/annual.

SHS has new president-elect, board directors

13-year member Benedict takes step up from current role 

IIE’s Society for Health Systems has picked Ashley Benedict, systems redesign coordinator at VA Sunshine Healthcare Network, as its new president-elect.

Benedict is a current board member who has served SHS for 13 years. Her most recent board role has been as a liaison to the Student and Academic Committee.

Evelyn Brown and Lauren Todd joined the SHS board as directors. Brown is a professor at East Carolina University and SHS member for six years who co-chaired the Student Case Study competitions at the SHS Healthcare Systems Process Improvement Conference from 2013 to 2015. Todd is the SHS Newsletter editor whose first involvement with the society was quite successful – she won the SHS Student Paper Competition in 2006.

Also joining the board are Dean Athanassiades as secretary and Rudy Santacroce as treasurer. Board terms are three years and started at this year’s Healthcare Systems Process Improvement Conference in February. President-elect Benedict will transition to president her second year and immediate past president her third year.

Journey to the Far East

Abstract deadline is May 1 for IISE Asian Conference
Plenty of time remains to book a trip or submit an abstract for the fifth Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers Asian Conference (formerly IIE Asian Conference), organized by the University of Hong Kong.

The IISE Asian Conference will be held in conjunction with the seventh International Asia Conference on Industrial Engineering and Management Innovation (IEMI2016) July 21-22. The conference offers two options for paper submission at the same registration rate. Abstracts can be reviewed for presentation at the conference and would be considered only for the best presentation award. Full papers reviewed for presentation at the conference could be considered for all best paper awards.

The conference is sponsored by the Chinese Industrial Engineering Institute of CMES, the Taiwan Institute of Industrial Engineering and Chinese Industrial Engineering Department Heads. The conference’s international platform and theme is “The Opportunities and Challenges of Industrial Engineer Training in the New Era.”

The deadline for abstract/full paper submission is May 1. Notification of acceptance is May 30, and the deadline for submitting full papers for best paper awards is June 30. For more details, visit www.imse.hku.hk/IIEHK2016.

KUDOS

Celebrating member achievements 

	Amr Nounou is now the head of the research department at the American University of the Middle East (AUM). This role involves the design and implementation of the research infrastructure as well as promotion of the university’s academic research activities. Nounou, also a faculty member of the university’s industrial engineering department, previously was the research and faculty development team leader.
	Nagi Gebraeel of Georgia Tech’s Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering has been appointed to a five-year term as the school’s Georgia Power Associate Professor. Gebraeel also is director of Georgia Tech’s Analytics and Prognostics Systems laboratory and associate director of its Strategic Energy Institute.
	Hui Yang, the Harold and Inge Marcus Career Associate Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at Penn State, was recently awarded a National Science Foundation Early Career Development (CAREER) Award, which includes a grant for Yang’s project “Sensor-based Modeling and Control of Nonlinear Dynamics in Complex Systems for Quality Improvements in Manufacturing and Healthcare.”
	Rona Howenstine recently joined One America Financial Partners Inc. as vice president operational excellence and claims, with responsibility for deployment of the enterprise improvement strategy and management of the claim operations. She previously worked for 17 years at Rolls-Royce, most recently as the global head of improvement, defense sector.

SHARE YOUR ACHIEVEMENT
Let your peers know about hirings, promotions, awards, appointments and other notable accomplishments. Send Kudos items to Michael Hughes at  mhughes@iienet.org.

In ergonomics, experience counts

AEC 2016 keynoters bring expertise in safety, applied research
The keynote speakers for this month’s Applied Ergonomics Conference will draw from a wealth of experience on workplace safety and practitioner research.

Jordan Barab, OSHA deputy assistant secretary since April 2009, will speak at 9:45 a.m. March 22, while Liberty Mutual Research Institute research scientist Michelle M. Robertson will speak at 9:45 a.m. March 23. The conference is scheduled for March 21-24 at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando, Florida.

Barab has served as special assistant to the assistant secretary of labor for OSHA and as senior labor policy advisor for health and safety for the House Education and Labor Committee. He worked on workplace safety issues for the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board and as a health and safety specialist for the AFL-CIO. He also has directed the safety and health program for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

His master’s degree is from Johns Hopkins University and his undergraduate degree is from Claremont McKenna College.

Robertson, a certified professional ergonomist, has researched applied ergonomics and systems management for nearly 20 years, focusing on office environments, work organization, job demands, worksite interventions and training program design effectiveness. Before joining the Research Institute, she was a senior research manager in the product research group at Herman Miller, an office systems furniture company.

Her Ph.D. in instructional technology and M.S. in systems management are from the University of Southern California. Her bachelor’s degree in human factors is from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

She also has published more than 95 scientific papers.

Visit www.appliedergoconference.org for more information about the conference and to register.

VOLUNTEER SNAPSHOT: The saving grace of a true network

Calling on IIE’s ergo community led to professional and personal success for Tim McGlothlin
When life knocked Tim McGlothlin down, IIE was there to help pick him up.

McGlothlin, executive director of The Ergonomics Center at North Carolina State University, had been heavily involved with the Tri-Cities IIE chapter while working at Eastman Chemical Co. in Kingsport, Tenn. But then the company went through a downsizing – a move McGlothlin called appropriate.

“That’ll certainly set you on your rear end,” McGlothlin recalled.

But years of volunteering with the institute, primarily through the Applied Ergonomics Conference, paid off. McGlothlin was able to talk to his network about opportunities elsewhere. People know his skill set, talent and work ethic, and the network helped him land his current job at N.C. State.

“You know, you may have a pretty good resume somewhere, but when people work with you day in and day out on these committees and they know firsthand what your work ethic is, man that means a lot to people.”

That volunteering started out on his local IIE chapter’s honors and awards and community affairs committees in the late 1980s. With the genesis of the Applied Ergonomics Conference, McGlothlin served as AEC program committee co-chair, then chair, and then co-chair or chair for the entire conference for about four years. He was part of a strategic leadership team to help develop ideas for the conference’s future. He helped create and instructs IIE’s Principles of Ergonomics course, which is available as a three-day workshop or online from the IIE Training Center. And The Ergonomics Center has been the sole sponsor of AEC’s Ergo Cup since it started in 1999.

McGlothlin also served two terms on the IIE board of directors as senior vice president for technical networking. As one of a handful of people who have been to every Applied Ergonomics Conference, he is looking forward to chairing AEC’s 20-year celebration task force.

He is proud of how AEC, now in its 19th year, has grown from a small gathering to IIE’s second-largest conference - despite the fact that ergonomics is not the institute’s largest sub-discipline.

McGlothlin recommends that young ISEs do two things: Volunteer and don’t burn any bridges. For people who think they never could hold a leadership position, opportunities are everywhere. And the network you build today could come in handy tomorrow.

Often, the people you end up meeting become good friends, not just professional colleagues.

“We are fortunate in industrial engineering that the types of people we have are generally not only technically based, but they’re people-oriented – you know, by virtue of being IEs. And I think that’s equally true with people that are in ergonomics,” he said.

And while not burning bridges is a cliché, the tactic is especially important in the small, specialized world of ergonomics.

“Somebody you meet today may turn out to be your boss or an employee a couple of years from now,” McGlothlin said. “It’s always important to build that relationship, to build that trust factor.” 

UPS likes fruits of its generosity

Logistics company funds IIE female and minority award, scholarships
Kelli Franklin-Joyner was impressed with the caliber of students she met at the IIE Annual Conference and Expo 2015.

The conference allowed the region engineering manager in the corporate IE department of UPS to meet recipients of her company’s generosity to IIE for the first time. The $15,350 check she handed to IIE CEO Don Greene during her February visit to headquarters funds the UPS Excellence Award for Minority Advancement in Industrial Engineering and scholarships for female and minority industrial engineering students.

Joyner said she was astonished by their accomplishments, and their ability to be so personable matched their technical achievements.

“The impact that they will have on corporate America and on academia will elevate the ISE profession and make the world a healthier and safer place.”

Joyner and Greene agreed that the current cohort of young industrial and systems engineers have a wealth of international experience undreamed of by previous generations.

Greene said internships, travel and rubbing elbows with hundreds of professional academics and practitioners at the Annual Conference give them an additional boost as they enter the workforce.

Scholarship winners will be announced at the IIE Annual Conference Honors and Awards Dinner, scheduled for May 23. The conference will be held May 21-24 at the Disneyland Resort Hotel in Anaheim, California.

The UPS Foundation that supports the IIE scholarships drives philanthropic programs for the logistics company. In 2014, UPS and its employees invested more than $104.2 million in charitable giving worldwide.

Abstract deadline nears for ELSS 2016

The deadline to submit an abstract to the Engineering Lean and Six Sigma Conference is March 22.

The conference, scheduled for Sept. 14-16 in San Antonio, is held in collaboration with the Lean Educator Conference. Planned tracks include:

• Lean Six Sigma Applications: Manufacturing, healthcare, logistics and supply chains, government and nonprofit, and service systems and retail
• Lean Six Sigma Research: Process improvement, product and service design/development, creating and sustaining a lean Six Sigma culture, and emerging topics and the future of lean Six Sigma
• Lean Six Sigma Education: Education in industry, experiential games and simulations, lean Six Sigma in the classroom, and administrative lean in academia

For more information and to submit an abstract, visit www.iienet.org/leansixsigma.