Industrial engineering and systems management

Global view of the ‘learning factory’ environment for advanced networked and service-based manufacturing systems and organisations

The main research focus of the Industrial Engineering and Management (IEM) research and development line is on modelling, organisation and management of industrial and services systems and technology. Research addresses decision making framework modelling for policy prescriptions, including social, environment and economic issues.

The main research and other related activities of the IEM research teams are as follows:

The research area of the Industrial and Systems Management (ISM) team is the design and improvement of production and service systems, particularly the development and performance evaluation of industrial and service systems, under agile and lean production environments. Its research work is now oriented to the development of solutions to improve systems organisation and management in areas of activity such as healthcare, offices and education. One important methodology developed by the ISM team – the waste identification diagram – is a tool that aims to characterise, diagnose and improve the performance of production units by evaluating non-adding value activities. This tool helps in evaluating non-adding value activities (Muda) as well as identifying other production problems and improving opportunities. It facilitates the communication between lean professionals with top management and other professionals with effective visual information.

The SLOTS team – Supply chain, Logistics and Transportation Systems Research – comprises a multidisciplinary and highly skilled research group which concentrates on developing and implementing innovative approaches to supply chain management, logistics and transportation systems, in highly competitive environments. The group focuses on a number of key research areas in order to cope with complex issues that arise both in industrial and transportation systems: supply chain management – integrated approaches based on supply chain quality management and supply chain cost management; logistics – warehousing and transportation; flexible industries – innovative production planning and control approaches; transportation systems – solutions for urban systems, integrated mobility and the promotion of interoperability of public transport modes and other services); and modelling, simulation and optimisation – the use and development of modelling approaches (e.g. heuristics and simulation) to improve the efficiency and flexibility of existing and innovative industrial and transportation systems.

Ongoing industrial projects:

‘Introduction of advanced materials technologies into new product development for the mobility industries – 2013’ call for test bed proposals under the MIT Portugal Program – Driving innovation through integrated test bed research

iFACTORY – Industry-University Collaboration – BOSCH Car Multimedia and University of Minho

Autonomous milk runs;
Smart internal supply chain; and
Supply chain quality management.

The research team on the Economics of Engineering Systems (EES) conducts basic and applied research on the economic and social dimensions of engineering and technological systems. The research team provides qualified skills to match technology foresight and companies’ competencies in spotting innovative products, market niches and growth opportunities. The research strategy is focused on the development of methods and tools that support project analysis and management, financial and risk analysis and cost management, on the analysis of complex systems resorting to planning and sustainable scenarios modelling, to participatory methodologies for social evaluation, to benchmarking tools and to the study of innovation systems and processes of science and technology management and policy.

European projects

Co-ordination of NETEP-European Brazilian Network on Energy Planning, FP7-PEOPLE-612263.

Participation on Partnership with Enterprises by Enhancement of Regional Quality Management Potentials Improvement, TEMPUS JP 543662-2013.

Participation on BATinLoko – Environmental Performance Indicators and their Relation with Economic Factors in Textile BAT Implementation, LIFE07 ENV/P/000625.

The Ergonomics and Human Factors (E&HF) research team develops its activities with the aim of understanding the interactions among humans and other elements of a system by addressing current research challenges and by applying theory, principles, data and other methods to design in order to optimise human wellbeing and the overall system performance.

Research is undertaken using an holistic approach by considering physical, cognitive, social, organisational, environmental and other relevant factors.

The E&HF team has been addressing several research topics, including physical ergonomics, occupational biomechanics, risk assessment, integration models for multimodal perception, assessment of the user’s behaviour and human performance, motor control and interaction, and analysis of human-machine interfacing.

The Distributed and Virtual Manufacturing Systems and Enterprises (DVMSE) team research is based on the premise that the increase in the complexity of the industrial environment thrives for the establishment of new organisational meta-enterprises, under large and complex networked and virtual environments, thus potentiating research to develop the introduction and attainment of new manufacturing systems paradigms.

International projects

EUREKA PROJECT E!4177 – PRO-FACTORY UES – “Ubiquitous Oriented Embedded Systems For Globally Distributed Factories Of Manufacturing Enterprises – UES”.

“Adaptive Distributed Manufacturing Systems – A Conceptual Framework for Collaborative Design and Operations of Manufacturing Work System”, Inter-Governmental Science and Technology Cooperation between Portugal and Slovenia, MCTES/GRICES (Ministério da Ciência e do Ensino Superior), University of Minho, University of Ljubljana.

“Normalization of the primitive manufacturing resources for dynamic integration of distributed, virtual and ubiquitous manufacturing systems”, Inter-Governmental Science and Technology Cooperation between Portugal and Slovenia, MCTES/GRICES (Ministério da Ciência e do Ensino Superior), University of Minho, University of Ljubljana.

“Innovative PROduction Machines and Systems Network of Excellence – I*PROMS NoE”, Network-of-Excellence, FP6, Contract Nº: 500273-2.

IEM’s researchers also deal with quality management and assurance, reliability and maintenance issues and their specific applications, namely performance indicators modelling and development, and quality engineering tools.

Contacts:

http://algoritmi.uminho.pt/

Madalena Araújo, IEM Coordinator: mmaraujo@dps.uminho.pt

Dinis Carvalho, ISM Leader: dinis@dps.uminho.pt

Sameiro Carvalho, SLOTS Leader: sameiro@dps.uminho.pt

Paula Ferreira, EES Leader: paulaf@dps.uminho.pt

Pedro Arezes, E&HF Leader: parezes@dps.uminho.pt

Goran Putnik, DVMSE Leader: putnikgd@dps.uminho.pt

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