North Carolina State University
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Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
UPCOMING EVENTS & DEPARTMENTAL NEWS
Presentation Days were held on Monday, April 28 and Wednesday, April 30 in the Robert G. Carson Memorial Conference Room, 401 Daniels Hall, on the NCSU campus. 1st place awards were selected in three (3) project areas out of ten (10) project teams.
Full Story
Dr. Constance Lightner, a 2000 alumna of the Operations Research Program at NC State, was recently selected to receive the prestigious UNC Board of Governors Award for Teaching Excellence. She was supervised by NCSU ISE professor Dr. Shu-Cherng Fang.
More about Dr. Lightner
The department congratulates Clarence Smith, who was recently appointed by Governor Easley to the NC Board of Refrigeration Examiners. For the official news release click here.
Department is recognized in ISE student Jessica Jeppsson's debut piece in the "Emerging Technologies" section of IE Magazine. Click here to view a PDF version of the article.
Alumnus Dr. Rajendra Kumar Pachauri visits NCSU for the 2008 Emerging Issues Forum.
Pup's surgery could help humans
Professor Ola Harrysson works with the College of Veterinary Science to develop a titanium plate for "Pez" that may be a breakthrough in future surgery...for humans!
# 60
A gold medal in scheduling
When the Summer Olympics are held in Beijing in 2008, we’ll have played a role in the complex logistics via the efforts of Shu-Cherng Fang. After being appointed by Tsinghua University to the lofty position of Principal Advisor of Operations Research, Shu-Cherng provided consultant services to the government of the People's Republic of China and worked with the Kenan Institute of UNC and Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee to conduct the first International Symposium on Olympic Logistics and the first International Symposium on Crisis Management.
# 80
Who says curiosity kills the cat?
George Bailey, a pet cat, was born without the lower half of his hind legs. But the industrial and systems engineers in our department are an inquisitive lot, and soon they came up with a groundbreaking new approach to help – they created an artificial limb that would be permanently attached to the bone in the cat’s leg. Rapid prototyping technology was used to create a three-dimensional model of George Bailey’s deformed limbs, an all-new approach using osseointegration for prosthetic limbs for animals was developed, and the first-of-its-kind surgery went well. For George, this meant he could happily jump and play with his housemates.
# 81
Sawing wood
The crosscut operation in a wood processing rough mill is a labor-intensive proposition, with the potential for a lot of wasted effort and a lot of wasted wood – both precious commodities these days. With conveyor belts, positioning devices and wood chips flying, it would appear to be nigh impossible to design a method that’s automatic, controlled by software. Except that we’ve already made a whole lot of progress, and we fully expect that our research will soon pay off in reduced manufacturing costs and significantly less wood consumption.
# 83
How do industrial engineers make life better?
Let us count the ways. They make the workplace safer. They improve product quality. They streamline production and operations. They preserve resources. They improve product safety. They help bring new technologies to market. They increase worker and machine efficiency. They improve customer service. They increase productivity. They reduce waste. They help our day-to-day lives run more smoothly. They improve highway safety. They make new technologies more affordable. They improve product design. And the list goes on.
# 85
Smooth operators
Back in the early 20th century, two of the discipline's earliest practitioners applied their learning – and the beneficial effects are still being felt today. Frank and Lillian Gilbreth determined that doctors were wasting too much time (often while the patient was bleeding) searching for the right instrument. Believing that there must be a standardized way to operate in all hospitals, they went to work to develop it. The resulting training procedure for doctors, nurses, technicians and other healthcare professionals reduced operating times and increased survival rates.
Outreach
Across town, across the globe.
Outreach – specifically extension and economic development – are key components of the university’s mandate as one of the nation’s foremost land-grant universities. In the industrial and systems engineering department, our outreach efforts are intended to extend knowledge and discover new methodologies via collaboration with business, industry, government, and other universities.
The list of outreach programs, partnerships and collaborative efforts to which our department devotes time and effort is long – and immensely satisfying:
We were one of the first industrial engineering departments in the country to work with the Ergonomics Center of NC on product evaluations, process assessments and research projects to find new ways of keeping people safe, comfortable and productive while working.
We partner with the Furniture Manufacturing and Management Center , the American Home Furnishing Alliance to help find innovative ways for American furniture manufacturers remain competitive worldwide.
In our partnership with the National Textiles Center , a research consortium of eight universities, two members of our faculty have worked on developing a logistics system for the design and manufacturing of apparel products to optimize the mix of what is produced domestically versus offshore.
At our annual symposium, we join with co-sponsors to bring together experts in specific industries for presentations, panel discussions and more. The topic changes each year; the 2006 symposium was devoted to systems engineering in medical and bioscience applications.
Working with the University of Rostock in Germany, we are designing and developing automated control technologies in biochemical screening processes for the discovery and trial of new drug components.
Since 1975, long before it was required by ABET accreditation, our engineering students have been required to complete a capstone project, applying ISE principles to help improve the efficiency and profitability of companies. Many of these have fallen into the category of outreach; for example, a recent project saw a group of our seniors using their skills to help several Stop Hunger Now warehouses, a global food aid organization, to improve its inventory control and materials flow processes for preparing and shipping meals to more than 55 countries in crisis.
Through a Senior Design Project, students apply their technical knowledge to a firm’s actual engineering problem, using problem-solving tools to design a system or process and working as part of a three- to five-member team. Sponsor companies gain project support in business matters such as material flow and inventory reduction, quality assurance, cost and economic analysis, and more, along with deliverables such as designs, feasibility studies and computer programs.
In partnership with N.C. A&T University, members of our faculty members are working on supply chain and logistics engineering to improve manufacturing operations at the Naval Air Rework Facility at Cherry Point, NC.
Also in partnership with N.C. A&T, two of our faculty are researching how to most efficiently mobilize military units and equipment for the Department of Defense.
In short, the days of the ivory tower are long gone. Universities are no longer isolating and insulating themselves, but reaching out into the community and society. And that’s a very good thing.