VIRTUAL FACTORY NEWS

VFL PAPER SELECTED AS BEST PAPER IN FACILITIES PLANNING AND DESIGN FOR 2004 IERC

The planning committee for the 2004 Industrial Engineering Research Conference has announced its best paper awards for the conference, and the best paper in Facilities Planning and Design goes to a paper authored by VFL Ph.D. candidate Yen-Tai Wan. The paper, titled "Material Transport System Design in Manufacturing," addresses the problem of selecting material transport technologies when designing material handling systems in a general manufacturing setting. This work is distinguished from other work in this area, as it also considers design of the flow network. Prior research has treated these two problems separately, when they are, in fact, inter-related. This work is based on Wan's dissertation project. Co-authors include his advisor, Prof. Gunter P. Sharp, as well as Prof. Leon F. McGinnis and Dr. Douglas A. Bodner. The award will be presented at the conference's awards banquet. The conference, sponsored by the Institute of Industrial Engineers, is being held May 15-19 in Houston.