Society for Engineering & Management Systems Newsletter

September 2012

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Presidents' message

Dear SEMS members,

Whether we are still in school or have been out of school for years, for many of us, the new school year still summons up the excitement of learning something new - not to mention visions of new friends, fresh school supplies, and varsity sports. In this issue, we capitalize on that anticipation by sharing what SEMS is doing to provide opportunities for you to learn and grow as a student or a professional. Read more from the presidents

SEMS news

Learning and Leading with Technology: Beam me up Scotty!

Admit it: how many times did you wonder "If that would be possible!" when you heard Captain Kirk say these simple but futuristic words "Beam me up Scotty?" Today, SEMS is proud to offer you the next best available option to learn from the best at any place of your convenience. With just one click, we will beam you up on Nov. 14 for SEMS' first virtual conference on Best Practices in Managing Continuous Improvement. Find out about the details at our conference website, get impressed by our long list of featured speakers and ... register NOW at IIE Best Practices in Managing Continuous Improvement!

Finalists of the SEMS Best Paper Competition at the ISERC 2012 Engineering Management Track

The Society for Engineering and Management Systems for many years has organized a Best Paper Competition among all the accepted papers of the Engineering Management Track of the Industrial and Systems Engineering Research Conference (ISERC). Read more and read the winning paper

Member spotlight

In this section, we highlight a SEMS member for outstanding performance in the knowledge domains of engineering management and for exceptional service to the Society. This month, we honor Dr. Volker Grienitz!

Grienitz is an assistant professor for industrial engineering at the Institute of Production Technology at the University of Siegen. He holds an endowed chair of Muhr and Bender GmbH. He received his graduate degrees including Ph.D. in industrial engineering from University of Paderborn. His doctoral supervisor was Dr. Jürgen Gausemeier, and his focus was on technology scenarios. He is the author of more than 25 reviewed papers and book chapters with two primary topics: scenario technique in the area of complexity management and production system optimization with GraFem. In 2012, he earned the best paper award for the "Scenario based Service-Engineering" at the International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management (IEOM 2012) in Istanbul within the Service Systems Track.

More about Dr. Grienitz

Upcoming events

2013 IIE Solutions Conference - Call for Abstracts
We're looking for a few good practitioners from diverse fields willing to share their experiences and lessons learned in the application of engineering management tools, methods, and philosophies. Whether it's an approach that's never been done before or an effective execution of the basics, share what you've learned! The conference will be held May 18-22, 2013, at the Caribe Hilton in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Presenters will give 35- or 70-minute talks on how engineering management techniques are applied in a real-world environment. PowerPoint slides of your presentation are necessary; however, papers accompanying the presentation material are not required. IIE will begin accepting abstracts in mid-September. The abstract submission link will be found at http://www.iienet2.org/Annual2/Default.aspx.

Virtual Conference on Best Practices in Managing Continuous Improvement - Nov. 14

No traveling, no administration, no jetlag: let's practice what we preach and focus on value only. This is exactly what the first Virtual Conference of SEMS aims to accomplish.

Well-known authors such as Jeffrey Liker (The Toyota Way), Durward Sobek (A3-thinking) and Peter Hines (Staying Lean) will offer you their latest insights with regard to continuous improvement while you learn from them behind your own laptop.

Draw from the experience of leading companies such as The Boeing Company, UPS, Intel, IBM and Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian. Challenge captains of industry and global academic thought leaders with your questions and revisit their presentations when it suits you best. All presentations will be recorded and made available to attendees so that you can reap the full benefits from these unique testimonies.

More on the virtual conference

2013 ISERC Engineering Management Track Update

The 2012 ISERC Engineering Management (EM) Track was a huge success with over 40 total sessions that included both invited and contributed sessions. Topics spanned various areas of interest, including enterprise readiness for change, healthcare logistics management, organizational learning, lean product development, engineering manager productivity, performance management, sustainable operations engineering, and crisis and disaster management, among others. Read more

Student view

The third annual SEMS Student Best Paper Competition will recognize three highly qualified students from diverse universities and with diverse experiences. This is a student competition for papers and projects that demonstrate or describe the use of management and industrial engineering tools and techniques for achieving bold goals. The goal is to recognize student research and their papers which demonstrate or describe the use of techniques which improve productivity and quality through effective and economical managerial techniques and philosophies. Keep this opportunity in mind and think about what you'll submit! Information on the submittal process will be provided in the November newsletter.

Webinars

SEMS is proud to sponsor the following upcoming webinars:

Sept. 18 - 2 p.m. Eastern time

Transforming UPS through Technology - The Road to Optimization - Jack Levis, director of process management, UPS.

Click here for information and registration.

Oct. 9 - 2 p.m. Eastern time

Managing Successful Integrated Enterprises: Lessons Learned from Healthcare and Engineering Systems

Click here for information and registration.

Two exciting webinars were conducted in August:

Process Owner Responsibility and Accountability in a Senior Management Review - Kirk Knock, program manager, Medtronic

How to Publish Your Work - Dr. Ricardo Valerdi, associate professor, University of Arizona

Click here to view these webinars along with all previously recorded SEMS-sponsored webinars.