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Opportunities & Barriers to Economic and Environmental Sustainability in Supply Chains

Dr. Gul E. Kremer
Professor & Joyce A. Therkildsen Chair
Department of Industrial & Manufacturing Systems Engineering
Iowa State University
Friday, January 24, 2020   2:30-3:30 pm
Tickle Room 410

Sustainable manufacturing efforts have been initiated, but are incomplete without simultaneous consideration of manufacturing process and the supply chain costs and environmental impacts during conceptual design of components. Currently, manufacturing and supply chain perspectives are primarily considered during detail design – the final phase of product design when much of the design flexibility has been removed. These shortcomings motivate an integration of cradle-to-gate life cycle decisions to optimize component production and supply chain alternatives early in design. A summary of lessons learned will be provided resulting from collaborative works that undertook: (1) Automated modular architecture generation and analysis, (2) Development of models of manufacturing and supply chain processes through industrial and experimental process investigations, and (3) Optimization to balance cost and environmental sustainability metrics from procurement through end of life.  Our results point to the importance of the product architecture as a customization platform to supply globally while optimizing different performance measures for different contexts.

 

Gül E. Kremer is a Professor and C.G. “Turk” and Joyce A. Therkildsen Chair of Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering at Iowa State University. Dr. Kremer has degrees in industrial engineering from Yildiz Technical University, an MBA from Istanbul University and a PhD in Engineering Management from Missouri University of Science and Technology. She has been a National Research Council-US AFRL Summer Faculty Fellow in the Human Effectiveness Directorate from 2002 to 2004, and a Fulbright Scholar (2010-2011). She served as a Program Director in the National Science Foundation’s Division of Undergraduate Education between 2013 and 2016. Dr. Kremer’s research interests include applied decision analysis to improve complex products and systems, and engineering education. The results of her research efforts have been presented in various publications including 3 books and more than 300 refereed publications. Nine of her papers have been recognized with Best Paper awards.