UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State’s Harold and Inge Marcus Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering (IME) is co-sponsoring the Outstanding Innovation in Service Systems Engineering Award competition during the annual spring Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) Conference and Expo. Individuals and teams from academia and industry are invited to submit applications by the April 16 deadline.
The award evaluation committee seeks applicants that showcase the implementation of effective industrial and systems engineering principles, tools and techniques that address real process problems for service sector industries such as health care, finance, entertainment, insurance, logistics, transportation and more.
Award finalists will receive two complimentary registrations to the virtual IISE Conference and Expo from May 22 to 25, worth $599 each for IISE members.
The Outstanding Innovation in Service Systems Engineering Award is closely tied to the goals of the Penn State Service Enterprise Engineering Initiative (SEE 360). Vittal Prabhu, professor of industrial engineering and Charles and Enid Schneider Faculty Chair in Service Enterprise Engineering, said that the winners of the 2020 awards further highlight the presence and need for expansion of the service systems engineering discipline.
“We had an amazing turnout for our 2020 award cycle, with some very large-name organizations being represented via novel projects,” Prabhu said. “From academia to industry, our 2020 cycle showed the best of the best for service systems engineering in modern society.”
The winners of the 2020 awards were: David Reid, Chick-fil-A, for "From Lean Modules to Lean Mindset;” Aly Megahed and Mark Smith, IBM Corporation, for "Analytics for IBM’s IT Services Tendering Processes;" Kathryn Zavaleta, Mayo Clinic, for "Service Innovation, Opioid Stewardship & the Value of Systems Engineering;" and Xiaolei Xie, Tsinghua University, for "Continuous Improvement on Ophthalmology Outpatient Department Service."
More information on the winners can be read here. For more information about the award or to apply as an engineering-focused individual, team or organization in academia or industry, visit the IISE website.