Industrial Engineering

Research focus

The Peer review has evaluated this group as Average

The research area of Industrial Engineering deals with the modelling, planning, automation, operation and improvement of industrial plants and production systems (both in the process and the manufacturing industry). Primary perspectives are: - the integration and management of all the engineering issues during the overall system life cycle, including the product and the process levels; - a multi-objective assessment and optimization, e.g. productivity, life-cycle cost, quality, risk, safety, environment; - a wide adoption of computer aided techniques (e.g. simulation, soft computing, etc.) and computer aided systems (e.g. CAx information systems) as useful tools for research and development in the field. The competences of the researchers belonging to this area are on the strategic, tactical and operational issues of plants and systems engineering from the technical, economical, organizational, point of view. Within this framework, the research activity has been dealing special attention to the following aspects: - the technological and organizational aspects related to the innovation of products, processes and production systems; - the growing importance of safety and environmental performances in industrial systems, - the innovation of production systems allowed by the deployment of advanced ICT systems and components; - the effect of globalization on production systems planning and management. The main topics that have been studied are the following. Planning of manufacturing systems and plant facilities This topic addresses the modelling, the planning and the performance measurement of manufacturing systems using modelling and simulation tools. Analysis of factory physics and behaviour of production flow are considered from the point of view of integration level and lean manufacturing approach. Integrated product/process design and product lifecycle management Product process integration is addressed from a managerial point of view, analysing the impact of decisions taken at the product design level on production system design, supply chain management (e.g. differentiation postponement) and disassembly / recycling. A global view, from concept, to production, distribution, after sale servicing and product end-of-life planning and management is fostered. The extended product concept is considered, together whit the support of PLM software systems on the overall topic. 27 Quality management Including research aiming at analysing the application of the quality management principles and approaches to the various manufacturing and service contexts, with a particular emphasis on the Six Sigma methodology. Manufacturing automation and ICT for manufacturing It addresses the application of enabling Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for improving product quality, business agility, flexibility, automation and productivity of manufacturing. Best practices and the exploitation of ICT for manufacturing along the product and services supply network are considered. Industrial Eco-efficiency An integrated ecological and economical perspective is assumed, focusing on: a) profitability assessment of industrial programmes for the adoption of innovative cleaner technologies and practices; b) development of models and methods for loss reduction and accounting (e.g. waste minimization and energy savings); c) Product Recovery Network (PRN) planning and technology assessment for WEEE management and treatment systems. Maintenance and facility management Maintenance engineering approaches are studied from the technological and organizational point of view. Role and contents of maintenance engineering in company activity and in maintenance services are studied, together with competences for facility management and Global Service solutions and contracts. Also research is related to the development of integrated maintenance systems, using advanced ICT tools, embedded systems and new prognostic and maintenance policy planning methods. Project Risk Analysis and management Risk based approach to project management is considered, taking into account project stakeholders, overall project life cycle and portfolio. Techniques (like risk cube, risk chain, project value at risk, etc.) are studied for both analytic and synthetic assessment of project risks. Extension of the, risk based, project management approach from the engineering & contracting sector to the service and manufacturing industries is performed, also including procurement planning and management. Human Factors and Technical Ergonomics New methods for improving the safety performance of complex socio-technical systems are investigated, such as risk assessment methods and techniques covering technical, human and organizational risk factors (cognitive simulation for human reliability studies, clinical risk assessment, accident investigation, …), quantitative models for the assessment of safety culture and safe behaviours. Also safety management and technical ergonomics issues in production systems (e.g. statistical assessment of occupational noise exposure and manual materials handling) are addressed. 28 Training and educational games for manufacturing It addresses research and development of methodologies/tools to improve the learning and training process of undergraduate, post-graduate and executive level students based on technology-enhanced learning techniques such as business games, case based learning, serious games, e-learning and remote evaluation activities.

Departments

Dipartimento di Ingegneria Gestionale (DIG)

Professors

Full Professors
Di Giulio Augusto
Garetti Marco
Portioli Staudacher Alberto
Pozzetti Alessandro
Wegner Renato
Associate Professors
Calabrese Antonio
Caron Franco
Cigolini Roberto
Taisch Marco
Trucco Paolo
Assistant Professors
Brun Alessandro
Cagno Enrico
Macchi Marco
Mancini Mauro