Research


Manufacturing

Global competition and rising customer expectations have elevated standards for performance in cost, quality, speed and flexibility to unprecedented heights in the manufacturing sector. To remain competitive, firms must find new ways to use people, technology and practices to continually improve efficiency. Because the best practice norm has advanced beyond the point that can be achieved through elementary techniques from lean, six sigma and IT, further advances

OPEM researchers have played a major role in the development of the science of manufacturing. The Factory Physics Book, by Wallace Hopp and Mark Spearman, was the first major attempt to lay out the key principles that underlie the behavior of manufacturing systems and show how these can be used to develop more effective practices. The OPEM group has continued to advance the science of factory physics by characterizing the behavior of manufacturing systems with automated equipment, cross-trained workers, and cellular layouts. Recent developments by the group include an innovative way to measure flexibility and a real-time, data driven method for quoting customer lead times in manufacturing systems.

Supply Chain

Shrinking product life cycles and fragmentation of consumer markets are forcing producers to adapt their supply chains rapidly to changing conditions. At the same time, concerns about natural and man-made disasters (e.g., terrorism) have heightened interest in the need to harden supply chains against disruptions.

To address these growing needs, the OPEM group is developing methods for measuring and enhancing supply chain flexibility and robustness. Researchers in the OPEM group have also investigated the more traditional issues of coordination and inventory management within supply chains and continue to be interested in these topics as they relate to other functions such as product design and marketing.

Research Insights

• Achieving Operational Flexibility through Effective Transshipment Network Design
• Quality Cost Sharing Contracts: Whose Fault Was It? Who is Going to Pay for It?

Graduate Students

• Bora Kofal


• Gary Chao


• Taylan Ilhan


• Rob Lien


• Zigeng Yin


• Jie Xu


• Wendy Lu Xu

Published Papers (Manufacturing)

Published Papers (Supply Chain)

Working Papers (Manufacturing)

Working Papers (Supply Chain)