Intelligent Production and Industry 5.0 with Human Touch, Resilience, and Circular Economy Transactions of the 12th International Conference on Production Research – ICPR Americas 2024

Dr. Dušan N. Šormaz is the Professor Emeritus of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Ohio University, Athens, USA. Dr. Dušan N. Šormaz’s principal research interests are in the application of knowledge-based systems in manufacturing including Ontologies, Simulation, Additive Manufacturing, Process Planning, and Semantic Data Integration. He has been working on applying AI techniques in engineering problem areas such as cost estimation and oil corrosion prediction.

Dr. Šormaz has published over 40 refereed papers in scholarly journals and more than 150 conference papers. He also delivered 12 keynotes, workshops and tutorials and around 50 contributed presentations at international research events. Šormaz has organized several international conferences (GT/CM Symposium 2003, ASME APSP Symposium 2006, IISE Manufacturing and Design Track 2016 and 2017, IISE Modeling and Simulation Track 2019). He was the General Chair of the 28th International Conference on Flexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing, FAIM2018 in Columbus and Plenary speaker chair of International Conference on Production Research, ICPR25 in Chicago 2019. He is a member of the editorial board of International Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management (IJIEM), he edited a special issue of International Journal of Production Research, and a special issue of Robotics and Computer Integrated Manufacturing (RCIM) Journal. He serves as regular reviewer for several research journals in his area of expertise. He alsoregularly advises student teams who participate in Simio Student Simulation Competition. He is faculty advisor for Alpha Pi Mu - National Industrial Engineering Honor Society, OHIO Chapter. He is senior member of IIE, senior member of SME, and senior member of IEEE. He is a member of The International Foundation for Production Research (IFPR) Board from 2019. He is a member of the Industrial Ontology Foundry (IOF) and the Chair of its Production Planning and Scheduling working group.

Bopaya Bidanda is currently the Ernest E. Roth Professor at the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh.  He also serves as the Director of the Center for Industry Studies. He returned to the faculty in 2021 after 21+ years as Department Chair. He also served as Director of the Manufacturing Assistance Center that helped underserved communities develop manufacturing skills.  Recent books include the Business of Humanity (Routledge Press), Virtual Prototyping & Bio-manufacturing in Medical applications, 2nd Edition (Springer), The Evolution of Project Management (PMI Press), and the Maynard Industrial & Systems Engineering Handbook, Sixth Edition that serves as the definitive body of knowledge for industrial engineering. 

He is also the Immediate Past President of the Institute of Industrial & Systems Engineers (IISE) , the largest and oldest professional society representing the discipline.  He has previously served as the President of the Council of Industrial Engineering Academic Department Heads (CIEADH), the organization that represents all academic department heads globally. He has also served on the International Advisory Boards of universities in India and South America. He has had Visiting Professorships in Singapore and Turkey.

Dr. Bidanda is a Fellow of the Institute of Industrial & Systems Engineers and a member of the ABET Board (of Delegates).  He served on the Executive Committee of the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) of ABET for 3 years and was an EAC Commissioner for 6 years.  He has been an active accreditation visitor for the past 20+ years and has led ABET teams to many countries and universities. 

Omar Alhawari is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Ohio University. He has obtained his BS in Mechanical Engineering and MBA from Mutah University in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Additionally, he has acquired his MS in Industrial and Systems Engineering and later his Ph.D. in the Mechanical and Systems Engineering program with a specialty track in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Ohio University in the USA. He serves as the faculty advisor for both IISE (Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers) and Alpha Pi Mu at Ohio university. He worked as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Operations Management at the College of Business at Ohio University (2019- 2022). Earlier, he served in the military forces of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan for approximately 19 years as he held various positions of Officer Engineer in the Royal Maintenance Corps, Technical Detachment Commander, Transport and Mechanisms Development Officer, and Vehicle Chief of Branch. Throughout his work experience in the military, his responsibilities were pertaining to logistical, operational, and technical support through production planning, supply management, transport of personnel, inventory control and management, technical maintenance, ensuring on-time and complete deliveries, coordinating schedules, etc. His scholarly research is related to mathematical optimization (operation research tool) concerned with the pursuit of improved decision-making in scheduling in labor-intensive manufacturing systems and supply chains, production and distribution planning in supply chains, cellular manufacturing systems under deterministic and stochastic environments, insights from the literature on supply chain management, circular economy, and service quality. So far, he has published more than 17 papers in journals, edited books, conference proceedings, and two conference presentations. He received the best-emerging researcher award granted by the Department of Management at the College of Business at Ohio University for the 2020-2021 academic year.

Zhaohui Geng is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Ohio University. He was an assistant professor in the Department of Manufacturing and Industrial Engineeringat the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) and a core member of the UTRGV Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Cyber Systems, leading the Cyber Manufacturing and Smart, Connected Systems division. His major research interests are in the intersection of data science, artificial intelligence, and optimization, with applications in advanced manufacturing and healthcare systems. Zhaohui received his Ph.D. in Industrial engineering (2021), Master of Art in Statistics (2018), and Master of Science in Industrial Engineering (2016) from the University of Pittsburgh, and Bachelor of Engineering in Electronic Science and Technology from Nankai University, China.