Keynotes
9:30 am (Tuesday, April 11) – Welcome Address
Dr. Driss Ouaouicha, President of Al Akhawayn University, Ifrane, Morocco
10:00 am – 10:50 am (Tuesday, April 11) – Opening Keynote
Dr. Brian Denton
Professor
Industrial & Operations Engineering Department
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
and
President of INFORMS (The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences)
Brian Denton joined the faculty at University of Michigan in 2012. His primary research interests are in optimization under uncertainty with applications to medical decision making related to the detection, treatment, and prevention of chronic diseases. He is a member of the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation at University of Michigan and he holds a fellowship appointment at the Cecil Sheps Health Services Research Center at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Previously he has been a Senior Associate Consultant at Mayo Clinic, and a Senior Engineer at IBM. In 2009 he received the National Science Foundation Career Award. He has also won the INFORMS Service Section Prize (2010), the INFORMS Daniel H. Wagner Prize (2005), the Institute of Industrial Engineers Outstanding Publication Award (2005), and the Canadian Operations Research Society Best Paper Award (2000). He has co-authored more than fifty journal articles and conference proceedings, and has twenty five patents granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Currently he is serving as President-Elect of INFORMS.
1:00 pm – 1:45 pm (Tuesday, April 11) – Lunch Keynote
Othmane Benmoussa, Eng., M.Sc., SE, ACE, Ph.D.
Consultant in Transportation, Logistics, Supply Chain Management, and Business Sustainability
Part-Time Faculty in Logistics and Supply Chain Management
Al Akhawayn University, Ifrane, Morocco
Dr. Othmane Benmoussa joined Al Akhawayn University in August 2014 as a part-time faculty in logistics and supply chain management in parallel with his duty as an independent consultant in transportation, logistics, supply chain management, and business sustainability within several companies in Morocco and abroad. Dr. Benmoussa has over 15 years industry work experience. He has worked as an executive director in strategy, logistics, transportation, and purchasing for many organizations in real estate (Addoha Group), banking (CIH Bank), and transportation (M’dina Bus and “Groupe Métropolitain en Aménagement et Transport” – GMAT Canada). Within GMAT, he was in charge of organizational and strategic consultancy and economic studies linked to the development of large urban transportation systems as well as interurban ones, managing a portfolio of more than USD 1.5 billion.
Previously, Dr. Benmoussa worked for the Moroccan Airports Authority (ONDA) as the general manager’s chief of cabinet and later as the Mohammed V International Airport’s Director. In addition, he has led several consulting missions in Europe as the scientific collaborator of Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in logistics. Dr. Benmoussa holds an Advanced Certificate for Executives in Management, Innovation, and Technology from the MIT Sloan School of Management as well as a diploma in transportation economics and modeling from MIT (Cambridge – USA). He also earned an engineering degree (BSc. and MSc.) in civil engineering specialized in transportation and logistics from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Lausanne (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne / EPFL – Lausanne) as well as another engineering degree from Ecole Hassania des Travaux Publics (EHTP – Casablanca). Dr. Benmoussa holds a Ph.D in management of technology and entrepreneurship from EPFL Lausanne.
1:45 pm – 2:15 pm (Tuesday, April 11) – Lunch Keynote
Dr. Othmane Bouhali
Research Professor and Director of Research Computing
Texas A&M University at Qatar
Founder and Director of the Texas A&M Advanced Scientific computing (TASC) center
Islamic Golden Age of Science
Othmane Bouhali is a research professor and director of research computing at Texas A&M University at Qatar. He is the founder and director of the Texas A&M Advanced Scientific computing (TASC) center. He was the head of the computing group at the High Energy Physics (HEP) institute of Brussels. He took important computing and simulation responsibilities in HEP experiments, mainly in the area of scientific grid computing. Since 1994 he is a member of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). He was also a member of: the HERMES international collaboration at the Deutsche Electron Synchrotron DESY) in Hamburg and the Amanda/ICECUBE neutrino telescope at the South Pole. His research interests include: high performance computing, radiation detectors development, medical physics and 3D scientific visualization.
9:30 am – 10:15 am (Wednesday, April 12) - Morning Keynote
Mr. Bas van Dijk
Regional Channel Manager Africa
Siemens Industry Software B.V.
Digital Factory Division, Product Lifecycle Management
Global Sales, Marketing & Services
's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
Bas van Dijk is the Regional Channel Manager for Siemens PLM software in Africa. Siemens PLM Software is a leading global provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) and manufacturing operations management (MOM) software. Siemens helps manufacturers optimize their Digital Enterprise and realize innovation. He started his Siemens career in 2006, prior to this he worked as Interim manager for franchise startups and he ran business as self-employed in program management. Bas is working for more than 20 years in business development and sales. Throughout his career Bas received several achievement awards for outstanding performances in business development and sales growth. Since 2013 Bas is working in MEA territory, in this role he is contributing to grow the African business with a special focus on academic/educational programs and the development of the distributor community of Siemens PLM Software. Bas is also key account manager for a customer in the Aerospace and Defense industry.
When he is not travelling he lives together with his family in Veldhoven. He is very passionate about playing drums, music, travelling and meeting people.
10:15 – 11:00 am (Wednesday, April 12) – Morning Keynote
Dr. Joe E. Amadi-Echendu
Professor, Engineering and Technology Management
University of Pretoria, South Africa
Director, Institute of Engineering Technology and Innovation Management, UNIPORT
Editor-in-Chief, Engineering Asset Management Review Series, Spring, UK
“Developments in Managing Engineered Assets: Before and Beyond ISO 55000”
Joe Amadi-Echendu earned BS and MS degrees in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from University of Wyoming, USA, and DPhil in Control Engineering from University of Sussex, UK. Dr Joe currently serves as a Professor of Engineering and Technology Management at University of Pretoria, Republic of South Africa. He is the founding Director of the Institute of Engineering, Technology and Innovation Management at University of Port Harcourt in Nigeria.
Prof Amadi-Echendu commenced his career as an apprentice maintenance technician at a tyre manufacturing plant, and his expertise is underpinned by his doctoral research in digital signal processing, condition monitoring and diagnostic engineering management of physical plants and processes. He has over 12 years industry work experience, as well as 20+ years academic experience in USA, UK, Nigeria and South Africa. His extensive experience and interests cover the broad fields of engineering and technology management with particular emphasis on the management of intellectual assets, engineering technologies, plant, equipment and infrastructure assets. While working in industry, Dr Joe primarily implemented “operational readiness” programmes for green field capital development projects in petrochemical and mining sectors.
His current teaching and research activities are focused on engineering asset management and technology commercialisation, as well as supervision, mentoring and coaching to all grades of students and technology-based business start-ups. Prof Amadi-Echendu has published over 150 articles in journals and accredited international conference proceedings. Joe’s involvement in community development, professional and scholarly activities has been recognised through many local, national and international awards such as best paper, distinguished service, excellence, and leadership awards.
Joe is registered as a professional engineer in both the UK and South Africa. He continues to provide consulting advice and training to both private business and public sector organisations. In addition to external examination of master and doctoral degree dissertations at local and overseas institutions, and review of manuscripts for a number of journals, Prof Amadi-Echendu’s concurrent roles and scholarly activities include; (i) editor-in-chief for Springer’s Engineering Asset Management Review Series, ii) founding fellow, board member and director of International Society of Engineering Asset Management (ISEAM), iii) member of board of directors of the International Association for the Management of Technology (IAMOT), iv) member of technical panels of long standing international conferences namely, COMADEM, IAMOT, PICMET, and WCEAM, and v) ‘Experienced Researcher’, EU grant funded H2020-MSCA-RISE Sustain Owner Project 645733.
1:00 – 2:00 pm (Wednesday, April 12) – Lunch Keynote
Dr. Suk-Hwan Suh
Professor and Director of Center for Ubiquitous Manufacturing
Founding Dean of Graduate School of Engineering Mastership
POSTECH: Pohang University of Science and Technology
Pohang, South Korea
Professor Suh earned his Ph. D in the area of Robotics and Manufacturing Engineering at The Ohio State University in 1986. After Ph. D he joined University of Michigan as a research engineer in the Center for Robots and Integrated Manufacturing (CRIM). Since 1987 he joined POSTECH, and he is now full Professor of Graduate School of Engineering Mastership. His research interests include Smart Factory and Industry 4.0, Cyber Physical Systems (CPS), and Smart Systems Engineering, and. He authored 4 books including Theory and Design of CNC Systems published by Springer in 2008, and received Government Medal for developing ISO Standards for Manufacturing Information Model (ISO 14649), Grand Prize in the 4th software competition in 2002. He has 15 best paper awards with publication over 250 papers in International Journal and International Conference, and 40 patents including 9 international patents.
Professor Suh established several education systems including: 1) Graduate School of Engineering Mastership (GEM) in 2011, 2) POSTECH Systems Engineering (PSE) Education Program in 2011, 3) Graduate School of Eco-design in 2009. He served as the president of Korean Society of Systems Engineering (KOSSE) in 2015, and Convener of ISO TC184/SC1 between 2004 and 2008. Since 2005 he is leading Center for Ubiquitous Manufacturing with worldwide research network including DFKI (German Institute of Artificial Intelligence) for collaborative research on Smart Factory and Industry since 2010.
7:00 pm (Wednesday, April 12) – Award Opening Speaker
Dr. Pr. Saaid Amzazi, President of Mohamed V University, Rabat, Morocco
7:00 pm (Wednesday, April 12) – Award Keynote
Hulas King
Director, Diversity, Professional Affiliations & Global Community Relations
Siemens PLM Software
St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Hulas is responsible for the strategy and operational leadership of Siemens PLM Software Global Diversity Council. He also leads Professional Affiliations & Global Community Relations Teams, driving innovation and digitalization value for youth, displaced workers, strategic customers and business partners. Mr. King is a decorated Vietnam veteran, a Certified Manufacturing Engineer and a Certified NC Manager. He was inducted into the African-American Biographies Hall of Fame for outstanding contributions in Business and Engineering. He represents SIEMENS on several professional boards including the Institute of Industrial Engineers, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, Advancing Minorities’ Interest in Engineering, the Stone Soup Foundation, the Accreditation Board for Engineering & Technology (ABET), the International Federation of Engineering Education Societies (IFEES) and the Professional Business Leadership Council. He travels extensively within the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific, speaking at various technical seminars in support of Global Opportunities in PLM.
Hulas managed the GO PLM (Global Opportunities in Product Lifecycle Management) program, nurturing strategic partnerships that provide significant added value for academic institutions, youth development programs and our global communities. These partnerships exemplify SIEMENS as the PLM Industry Leader and are successful in developing technology environments where underutilized citizens of the world can work together to improve their economic conditions and promote peace. He served as McDonnell-Douglas’ Program Manager for Enterprise Life-Cycle Processes for Team Columbus Engineering / Manufacturing in support of C-17 Production in Columbus, OH.
Education
◾Belleville Area College, 1970: AS, Data Processing
◾Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, 1972: BS, Management Science/Data Processing
◾Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, 1974: MBA, Marketing and Business Administration
◾Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, 1975: MS, Government/International Relations.
◾Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, 1978: MS, Management Science and Systems
◾Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, 1979: SPC, Health Care Management Systems
◾University of Missouri – Columbia, 1983: MS, Industrial Engineering
9:30 – 10:15 am (Thursday, April 13) – Morning Keynote
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Egon Müller
Director Institute of Industrial Sciences and Factory Systems
Chemnitz University of Technology
Chemnitz, Germany
e-Learning in Engineering Higher Education and the Learning Factory Concepts
Egon Müller is the Director of the Institute of Industrial Sciences and Factory Systems at Chemnitz University of Technology, where he also serves as the Head of and a professor for the Department of Factory Planning and Factory Management. More than 30 years of experience, expertise and theoretical background (including academic) in the field of higher education as lecturer and scientist at different universities. He is also invited Professor at some Universities in Asia.
He and his team of 30 staff members work on the research and development of future production structures and new factory concepts in mechanical and plant engineering and for the automotive industry and its suppliers. The department offers extensive expertise in the field of Industrial Engineering, computer based factory planning, modeling and simulation as well as in planning and operation of energy efficient factories.
The Department of Factory Planning and Factory Management, is one of the five most leading institutes in Germany within the research field of ‘Industrie 4.0’ and he is the leader of the Experimental and Digital Factory (EDF) in Technische Universität Chemnitz, which is famous from the researches in the scope of ‘Industrie 4.0’.
He is actively involved in HAB (Scientific Society of Industrial Management Germany), the European Academy for Industrial Management (AIM), GfSE (Society for Systems Engineering), refereeing activities on Production and Industrial Engineering Research – (DFG – German Research Foundation / Austrian Research Association / Croatian Research Association) and VDI (Association of German Engineers) - Technical Division “Factory Planning”, as a Member of the EU Joint Research Centre Automotive Expert Team, invited expert for the Technical Working Group of the European Commission on the Best Environmental Management Practice for the Car Manufacturing Sector. He is also a reviewer for international journals, conferences, and serves as a member of several scientific advisory panels (Taylor & Francis, ICPR, FAIM, CARV...). He is the author and co-author of a large number of scientific books, reviewed international publications and conference contributions.
In addition, Müller supervises a large number of PhD candidates in the different fields of Industrial Engineering and Management. He has experience in development and implementation of competitiveness improvements projects for regions, regional networks and clusters, companies and other institutions since 2002. His expertise in managing complex and intricate projects in SMEs and large scale enterprises, management of complex cooperation’s is relevant to successful regional and business development. Internationally proven skills in facilitation and innovation fostering techniques that can enhance the cooperation of all of the players involved in the development of a selected region and/or regional cluster.
A number of references and practices in all phases of technical assistance and other international projects, i.e. project development, preparation of relevant proposals and reports, implementation, expert selection, management and monitoring in a way that all required goals are achieved and procedures are followed. He was and is responsible as project leader for a large number of basic-, applied- and industrial research projects.
Under his guidance the student training takes place in Bachelor and Master courses studies in the following disciplines: Basics of Industrial Management and Engineering, Systems Engineering Methods, Production System Planning, Production Planning and Control, Material Flow and Logistics, Computer Aided Factory Planning, Case Study in Factory Planning, Simulation of Production and Logistics Systems, Applied Logistics Systems, Factory Ecology, Project Management, Automotive Factory Management, Quality and Environmental Management, Process-oriented Quality Management and Quality Techniques.
10:15 – 11:00 am (Thursday, April 13) – Morning Keynote
Professor Mohamed Essaaidi
Director (Dean)
ENSIAS College of Engineering
Mohamed 5 University
Rabat, Morocco
and
IEEE Morocco Section Past Chair & Founder (2004)
Engineering Education Accreditation Initiative for Africa and Global Partnership
Mohamed Essaaidi, Prof. Dr., IEEE Senior Member has been the Dean of ENSIAS College of Engineering of Mohammed V University, Rabat, Morocco since December 2011 and he was a Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering at Abdelmalek Essaadi University, Morocco from 1993 till 2011. He is the founder and past Chairman of the IEEE Morocco Section (2005-2015), co-founder of IEEE Computer & Communication Societies Joint Morocco Chapter, IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society and Microwave Theory and Techniques Society Morocco Joint Chapter and EEE Education Society Morocco Chapter. He has been also the founding Director of the Morocco Office of Arab Science and Technology Foundation, ASTF (2006-2009) and the Coordinator of ASTF RD&I Network of Electro-Technology since 2006. He has also founded several IEEE Student Branches in different Moroccan universities and engineering schools. Furthermore, he has been a nonvoting member of IEEE Global Committee on Accreditation activities since 2015.
He has authored and co-authored 5 books and more than 200 papers in international refereed journals and conferences in the field of Electrical and Information and Communication Technologies. He has been the Editor-in-Chief of International Journal on Information and Communication Technologies, Serial Publications, India (2007-2011). He is also an active member of the editorial boards of several IEEE and other indexed international journals in the field of information and communication technologies.
Prof. Essaaidi is the founder and the General Chair of several IEEE technically sponsored international conferences, including Mediterranean Microwave Symposium (since 2000), Information and Communication Technologies International Symposium (2005, 2007), International Conference on Multimedia Systems and Computing i(2009, 2011, 2012, 2014) International Renewable and Sustainable Energy Conference (2011, 2013, 2015) and International Conference on Complex Systems (2012, 2013, 2015). He has also been involved in the Organizing and Scientific Committees of several other international conferences held worldwide.
He holds 10 patents in the field of Information and Communication Technologies. He was also a member of the IEEE 802.16 Sponsor Ballot Pool of IEEE Standard Association that defined the technical specifications for WiMAX. Prof. Essaaidi supervised several Ph.D. and Masters Theses and has been the principal investigator and the project manager for several international research projects.
1:00 pm (Thursday, April 13) – Lunch Keynote
Mr. Hakim Abdelmoumen
President
Association Marocaine pour l´Industrie et le Commerce Automobile (AMICA)
Moroccan Association for Automotive Industry and Trade
Casablanca, Morocco