Dr. Leyuan Shi, a professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at University of Wisconsin-Madison, has taken over as the new Director of the Center for Quick Response Manufacturing.

Dr. Shi is a leading international expert and brings strong research experience as well as extensive industry interaction to her new role. “I am excited and honored to take over the leadership of the QRM Center. For the past twenty-five years, the QRM Center has been a role model for high-impact collaborations between faculty, students and industry. I look forward to continuing the strong legacy and growing the Center’s activities to enhance manufacturing competitiveness,” said Shi.

Professor Shi received her Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University in 1992.  Her research interests include simulation modeling and large-scale optimization with applications to operational planning, scheduling, and digital supply chain management. She has developed a novel optimization framework that has been extensively applied to scheduling and optimization of job shops manufacturing high-mix, low-volume products. Her research work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Office of Naval Research, and the State of Wisconsin.

Professor Shi has been on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin-Madison for over twenty years and has worked with several companies including John Deere, Rockwell Automation, National Oilwell Varco, Fisher Barton and R&B Grinding. She is also one of the inventors of a set of digital tools including Manufacturing Execution Optimization (MEO), Maintenance Repair & Overhaul Optimization (MRO2), and Dynamic Manufacturing Critical-Path Time (DMCT).

Dr. Shi has published 3 books and more than 130 papers. She currently serves as Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering and served on the editorial board for Manufacturing & Service Operations Management and INFORMS Journal on Computing. She has been the General Chair, co-Chair, and program committee member for many national and international conferences. Professor Shi is an IEEE Fellow.

• For a more detailed overview of Prof. Shi's research, please visit her website at the College of Engineering.

Charlene A. Yauch, Ph.D., P.E., has been an engineering educator for over 18 years at Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) and Oklahoma State University. Her notable honors include five teaching awards and a National Science Foundation Career grant. As the Industrial Engineering program director at MSOE, she expanded elective course offerings, upgraded lab facilities and equipment, and helped the IISE student chapter host a regional conference. She has taught a wide variety of classes, including Contemporary Manufacturing Systems, Materials & Manufacturing Processes, Computer Numerical Control Machining, Automation Technologies, and Engineering Economy. 

Her professional interests relate to the implementation of manufacturing system improvements, such as Quick Response, Lean, and Agile Manufacturing, with emphasis on the human, social, and organizational aspects. Prior to her doctoral degree, she worked in industry for six years, performing a wide variety of tasks for manufacturing firms, including simulation modeling, facility layout, and process improvement. Dr. Yauch has a multi-disciplinary educational background with a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Purdue University, and graduate degrees in sociology (M.S.), manufacturing systems engineering (M.S.), and industrial engineering (Ph.D.) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

Rajan Suri served as Professor of Industrial Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1985-2008. He earned his bachelor's degree from Cambridge University (England) and his M.S. and Ph.D. from Harvard University. Suri founded the Center for Quick Response Manufacturing in 1993, envisioning a consortium of companies that would work in partnership with the university and with each other to understand and implement lead time reduction strategies.

He is internationally regarded as an expert on the analysis of manufacturing systems, and he wrote the book Quick Response Manufacturing: A Companywide Approach to Reducing Lead Times (Productivity Press). Suri has consulted for leading firms including Alcoa, Danfoss, IBM, John Deere, National Oilwell Varco, Pratt & Whitney, Rockwell Automation and Trek Bicycle. Consulting assignments in Europe and the Far East, along with projects for the World Bank, have given him an international perspective on manufacturing competitiveness.

Suri has received awards from the American Automatic Control Council, The Institute of Management Sciences and the IEEE. In 1999, Suri was made a Fellow of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), and in 2006 he received SMEs Albert M. Sargent Progress Award for the creation and implementation of the Quick Response Manufacturing philosophy.

• For a more detailed overview of Prof. Suri's research, please visit his website at the College of Engineering.