Department of Industrial Engineering: Research Groups Engineering - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Department of Industrial Engineering: Research Groups

• Engineering Management and Sustainable Systems
• Operations Management and Supply Chain Management
• Supply Chain Economics
• Operations Research
• Computer Simulation and Information Systems
• Simulation Modelling
• Value Capture Systems
• Asset Care
• PRASA Rail Research Chair
• Advanced Manufacturing
• Innovation for Inclusive Development
• Industrial Engineering for Financial Services
• Health Systems Engineering
• Operational Excellence
• Enterprise Engineering, Economics, Project- and Risk management
• Industrial Engineering for a South African Economy

Engineering Management and Sustainable Systems

Ø Research focus areas:

• Socio-technical transitions to a green economy
• Complex systems analyses:

– Energy-Water-Food nexus – Nexus technologies – Energy and the Economy

• Management interventions
• Developmental planning

– First and second economy

Ø Links to other research groups and funding opportunities:

Operations Management and Supply Chain Management

Ø Typical research topics

• Industry specific Supply Chain Performance Measurement Frameworks
• Developing a decision making tool for the re-use of glass bottles in the

wine industry

• Developing Supply Chain Planning Frameworks (S&OP, Demand

Planning, Distribution Planning, etc.)

• Supply Chain Strategy – how to select the appropriate strategy
• Operational Excellence Frameworks – development and application of

such frameworks

Ø Funding Opportunities

• Wine Supply Chain project ( Research for benefit of wine industry)

Supply Chain Economics

Smart factories & logistics Real-time visual management Remote factory control Ø International opportunities

• Exchange programs Germany, Netherlands

Ø Double Degree Master (US & Germany) Ø Internships – African logistics Ø Additional funding

• bursaries, international travel support

Ø Practical implementations: learning factory, smart factory

(Some) present topic areas include: Automation; games and learning; serious gaming; JSE; “smart” products, factories and logistics; visual management; real-time visualization and monitoring; remote factory control

Cost to serve & client profitability Gaming for learning

Operations Research: Stellenbosch Unit for Operations Research in Engineering

Traffic Simulation Vehicle Routing Maintenance Scheduling Other areas

Ø Weapon assignment scheduling Ø Placement of fire bases in Conservation Areas Ø Optimisation of water distribution systems Ø Sugarcane harvest scheduling Ø Threat detection in maritime surveillance Ø Water release strategies for large reservoirs

Computer Simulation and Information Systems: Unit for Systems Modelling and Analysis (USMA)

Ø Topics:

• Adding multi-objective optimisation capability to an electricity utility energy flow

simulator

• Real-time cloud-based stochastic scheduling incorporating mobile clients and a sensor

network

• The relationship between social media activities and identity fraud
• A new framework for multi-objective simulation optimisation
• Identifying Technical Inefficiencies and Quality Concerns in Institutional Pharmacies of

Private Hospital Groups using Data Envelopment Analysis

• A framework and methodology for evaluating e-commerce websites
• Multi-objective optimization in CO gas management at Tronox KZN Sands

Simulation Modelling

Ø Agent-based simulation modelling (modelling individual components)

• Insect infestations in sugarcane and determining strategies on how to

control them (Potential funding through South African Sugarcane Research Institute)

• Open to crafting projects around student’s interests and exposure

(Some internal funding available + NRF + Harry Crossley etc.)

• Current skripsie topics:

– Simulating the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV’s) to combat rhino poaching – Simulating a machine learning-inspired approach to maze solving – Decision-support in strategic airline fleet composition – Simulating the ant colony algorithm in the context of a travelling salesman problem – Alleviating traffic congestion on the N1 through dynamic speed limit imposition

Value Capture Systems (VCS)

Ø Our aim:

• Researching how developing countries can improve growth and attain

improved economic, social and environmental outcomes

Ø Our projects:

• Investigating how South Africa can do more with its mineral wealth
• Understanding the factors that make countries more competitive
• Investigating the impact of global production networks on host nations
• Developing models to assess the inclusiveness of innovation projects

Ø Possible funding (over and above our group incentive scheme):

• Mintek collaboration bursary investigating the ways South Africa can

strengthen its Steel and Manganese industry

• NRF bursary in support of an ongoing PhD on competitiveness levers

Ø Collaborators:

• University of Cambridge, KU Leuven, Mintek, UCT

Asset Care

Ø Research Topics:

• Big data analysis; smart asset management; asset whole life cycle modelling;

multi-variable decision making; risk modelling; value modelling

Ø Funding:

• Pragma “work while you study” bursaries
• ACRG/industry funding

PRASA Rail Research Chair

Ø Typical research topics:

• Rail Asset Management: Reliability improvement, asset care strategies.
• Energy Management in Rail: Energy saving strategies, “green” rail.
• Rail Business Process Re-engineering: Scheduling and Planning BPR.
• Productivity Improvement in Rail: Simulation studies, dynamic layout

planning.

• Rail Supply Chain Management:

Improvements using lean principles.

• Human Resources:

Skills matrices, competency profiling.

Ø Funding opportunities:

• Full postgraduate bursaries available.

Advanced Manufacturing

Ø Resource Efficient Titanium Process Chains

• M and PhD Bursaries available

Ø Intelligent Bio-medical Implants

• M Bursaries available

Ø Additive Manufacturing of Carbides

• M and PhD Bursaries available

Ø Community Container Factories

• M Bursaries available

Innovation for Inclusive Development

Ø Innovation and ICTS for development:

• Innovation projects to help build industries of the future

Ø Technology platforms programme:

• Through this programme we explore how innovation and technology

development may contribute to improve the delivery and access to services across the sub-Saharan continent

Ø Innovation eco-systems and innovation systems in the developing world:

• How can we strengthen the capacity of the innovation system to

effectively develop, adopt and diffuse new technologies towards providing inclusive growth and development?

Ø Validation, feasibility and M&E :

• This programme will not only include independent evaluations, but to

help companies setup their intervention programmes

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Industrial Engineering for Financial Services

Ø The programme focuses on developing a capacity area around Mergers and Acquisitions Ø The programme objectives are to develop roadmaps and decision support

• tools. The major research objectives are:
• A M&A landscape review – what transactions are common and which deal

types need to be prioritized?

• Review types of frameworks and analysis that are conducted for each defined

phase of M&A and what processes / tools / data do they require to be concluded.

• Develop an overarching systemic approach to support M&A deals – specific to

particular transactions Ø A second focus area of the programme is to develop a capacity area in Fintech, Legaltech and block chain in the finance sector;

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Health Systems Engineering

Ø Research focus areas and themes:

• Supply and distribution: How can we improve the effectiveness and efficiency of supply

chains and distribution networks to get the necessary resources, medicines and treatments to healthcare facilities and people?

• Infrastructure and delivery network design: How can we ensure that the right kind of

infrastructure and delivery network design is put in place? How can we ensure that this is sustainable?

• Operations: How can we improve healthcare delivery operations to increase effectiveness

and efficiency with the ultimate goal of improved utilisation of finite resources to improve access?

• Technology transfer and innovation: How can we develop and utilise innovations and

adopt technologies to reduce costs of, facilitate and improve access to primary healthcare?

• Healthcare policy and finance: How can we consider the design of government policies and

support mechanisms to improve access to primary healthcare in Southern Africa?

Ø Collaboration: The research group has a strong network of local and international

collaborators from academia, the private sector and government.

Ø Funding: Numerous, competitive funding opportunities are available. 14

Operational Excellence

Ø Solving advanced management problems through the integration, exploitation and integration of innovative engineering concepts with contemporary management science

• An engineering approach to measuring the quality of strategy execution

in the insurance industry

• Quantification of the value contribution of management control systems

in service delivery organizations

• A multivariate regression model to correlate employee engagement and

strategic communication

• An optimized operating model for Emergency Care Units in Public

Hospitals developed through simulation

• Multivariate regression analysis to quantify the impact of the “killers of

strategy execution” on the share price of public companies

Ø Bursaries available Ø Collaboration with the University of Tennessee 15

Enterprise Engineering, Economics, Project- and Risk management

Ø Research focus areas:

• Building an Enterprise for the South African future
• Enterprises as living organisms:

– Antifragility – Design Structure Matrices – Organisation of functional units for adaptation

• Project Management in a start-up economy
• Risk and feasibility management, removing the straw that breaks the

camel’s back

Ø Key considerations for the field:

• Very inclusive of other fields of study
• Transdisciplinary problem solving
• Niche engineering skills development

Industrial Engineering for a South African Economy

Ø Research focus areas:

• Improving the delivery of functional outputs: The case for Industrial

Engineers (IEs) in:

– General Government Services – Personal Services/Healthcare, etc. – Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing – Electricity, Gas and Water

• The representation of IEs: Addressing the slow transformation in a

transformative discipline

• Bridging the employer expectancy divide: Raising the platform for

technical IEs

• The rise of females in IE: A look into the growth of female IEs
• IE academic admission requirements: Does stringent mean better?
• Industrial Engineering: Creating a Knowledge Base and Analysis

Mechanism

Contact us!

Ø Prof Alan Brent Postgraduate Coordinator Department of Industrial Engineering 021 808 9530 acb@sun.ac.za 18