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                                                     Seminar

             Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management
                                  The Chinese University of Hong Kong

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Title

:

Optimal Design and Control of Agile Automated Production Systems

　

　

　

Speaker

:

Dr. Biying Shou

　

　

  

　

　

  

　

　

　

Date

:

October 8th, 2007 (Monday)

　

　

　

Time

:

4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

　

　

　

Venue

:

Room 513

　

　

William M.W. Mong Engineering Building

　

　

(Engineering Building Complex Phase 2)

　

　

CUHK

　

　

　

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Abstract:
　

Today's manufacturers face fierce competitions in the global economy. To stay highly efficient and responsive, many of them have been actively adopting flexible production facilities featuring components such as automated machinery and cross-trained operators. In contrast to their wide deployment in industry, such production systems have received relatively little attention in the literature. Our research attempts to fill the gap by investigating the planning, design, and control principles of such systems.

In this talk, we address the following important research questions: (1) System design: what is the most effective way of allocating automated machineries? (2) System control: how should a cross-trained operator best handle multiple jobs in a dynamic system?  Despite the complexity of the problems, we are able to prove the structure of the optimal policies using Markov Decision Process models. Extensive s imulation results demonstrate that manufacturers can achieve significantly higher efficiency and responsiveness by using optimal automation allocation and operator policies.


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Biography:
　

Dr. Biying Shou received the B.E degree in Management Information Systems from Tsinghua University in 2000, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degree in Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences from Northwestern University (USA) in 2002 and 2004, respectively. Her main research interest lies in the area of operations and supply chain management, especially optimal design and control of modern production systems and profit maximization for retailers with short-life-cycle products.

Dr. Shou has various industry experiences with companies including General Motors, Motorola, and 4R Systems (a leading supply chain solution provider founded by Prof. Marshall Fisher at Wharton and Prof. Ananth Raman at Harvard). She served as President of INFORMS Northwestern student chapter and as organizing committee member of the Managing Risk in an Uncertain World Symposium in Chicago.


************************* ALL ARE WELCOME ************************

　

　

　

Host

:

Prof. Sean X. Zhou

Tel

:

(852) 2609-8336

Email

:

zhoux@se.cuhk.edu.hk    

　

　

　

Enquiries

:

Prof. Nan Chen or Prof. Sean X. Zhou

　

:

Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management

　

　

CUHK

Website

:

http://www.se.cuhk.edu.hk/~seg5810

Email

:

seg5810@se.cuhk.edu.hk

　

　

　

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