Charles O. Gordon Professor and Department Head
Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
and
Past IIE President

G. Don Taylor is the Charles O. Gordon Professor and Department Head in the Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech. He is a Fellow and a Past-President and Member of the Board of Trustees of the Institute of Industrial Engineers.  He is currently Chairperson of the Board of IIE Solutions, Inc.  He is also a Fellow of the World Academy of Productivity Science and is a registered Professional Engineer.

Dr. Taylor’s research interests focus on the simulation of complex systems and the logistics of material flow and freight transportation.  He has served as Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator on more than 60 externally funded projects. His research has led to the publication of 10 edited books, more than 75 journal articles and book chapters, and more than 120 conference papers and technical reports.  Prof. Taylor has made more than 200 formal presentations at conferences or seminars and has had research relationships with more than 50 different companies.

Prior to his arrival at Virginia Tech, Taylor held the Mary Lee and George F. Duthie Endowed Chair in Engineering Logistics and was the director of the Center for Engineering Logistics and Distribution at the University of Louisville.

Taylor earned his doctorate in industrial engineering and operations research from the University of Massachusetts in 1990. His earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in industrial engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1983 and in 1985.

Tuesday Lunch Keynote, March 3, 2015, 1:00 – 2:00 pm

Moraya S. AlGahtani

Division Head
Operational Excellence Department
Saudi Aramco

Moraya S. AlGahtani is a Division Head at the Saudi Aramco Operational Excellence Department. He holds a Master Degree from Ohio State University in engineering. Mr. AlGahtani has 25 years of experience with Saudi Aramco. Most of his career was with Engineering Services, Operations, and Project Management where he held various technical and managerial positions including acting Manager for the Inspection Department. He is one of the key members who developed the Saudi Aramco Operational Excellence Program since its inception. Mr. AlGahtani served on the board of King Abdulaziz National Quality Award, which is the Saudi national award for excellence and has recently contributed to the Kingdom Operational Excellence strategy. He is the ex-president of the Saudi Arabian Section of the American Society of Non Destructive Testing (ASNT-SAS) and was the Vice President of the Saudi Quality Council.

About the Operational Excellence Department at Saudi Aramco:
The Operational Excellence (OE) initiative at Saudi Aramco was kicked off in January 2012 to cultivate a strong culture for operational excellence across all corporate organizations. The OE initiative builds on Saudi Aramco’s long-standing pursuit of excellence in many areas such as safety and environment. OE encompasses these focus areas as well as others that are of central importance to the company’s success, such as reliability, efficiency, cost and profitability in addition to several enabling elements, including asset integrity, risk management, HR and others. As such, OE can be defined as the ability of the organization to achieve and sustain excellent performance in reliability and efficiency in a cost effective manner while adhering to the highest standards of HSE. Saudi Aramco OE has four main components. These are OE Model, OE Implementation Guide, Assessment and Governance. This presentation will cover the Saudi Aramco OE development journey including OE background, description of OE components, how OE is rolled out at Saudi Aramco.

Wednesday Morning Keynote, March 4, 2015, 8:30 – 9:30 am

Michael M. Kurth

Senior Vice President
Boeing Saudi Arabia
Defense, Space and Security

Mike Kurth is the Boeing Defense, Space and Security (BDS) Senior Vice President of Saudi Arabia responsible for overall BDS business activity in the Kingdom.

Prior to this he served as the Vice President and General Manager of Boeing Unmanned Systems preceded by a tour as Managing Director and chairman of the board of Boeing Defence UK (BDUK), Ltd., a Boeing wholly owned subsidiary from January 2008 until January 2013.

He has held executive positions in Boeing Integrated Defense Systems and the Boeing Space and Communications business. He began his Boeing career working Apache programs in Mesa, Arizona and was responsible for Apache Asia Pacific business.

Kurth is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and holds a master’s degree in National Security and Strategic Studies. He served with distinction for 24 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, retiring as a Colonel and was awarded the Navy Cross for actions during Operation Desert Storm.

Kurth is based in Riyadh. He is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, a Liveryman of the Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators, a Vice President of the British Museum of Army Flying, a trustee of the Royal United Services Institute, a member of the Legion of Valor and a “Golden Eagle.” He and Debbie like to travel, fish and white water raft.

Wednesday Lunch Keynote, March 4, 2015, 1:00 – 2:00 pm

Dr. Chris Backhouse

Professor of Product Innovation
School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
Loughborough University
Leicestershire, UK

Chris Backhouse is Professor of Product Innovation at Loughborough University, UK with extensive knowledge and experience of Higher Education in the Middle East and South East Asia. He is a regular international presenter in his field of innovation and entrepreneurship with extensive links with Universities in Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, and Egypt. He advises on research and enterprise strategy and on taught curriculum content. He is a mechanical engineer by background having obtained his PhD whilst employed by Unilever Plc. In 1990 he joined Loughborough University where he has held various senior positions including Dean of the Faculty of Engineering (150 Faculty, 5000 students) and as Director of Internationalisation Strategy – responsible for the University’s strategic international partnerships. He has consulted widely in industry and academe, especially in the Asia Pacific region. His research activities have focused on the human aspects of motivation, innovation and entrepreneurship within an industrial context. He has published widely in the academic press and presented at numerous international conferences.

Wednesday Conference Denier and Award Keynote, March 5, 2015, 7:00 pm

Hulas King

Director GO PLM & Global Community Relations
SIEMENS PLM Software

Hulas King manages the $4B 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 are successful in developing technology environments where underutilized citizens of the world can work together to improve their economic conditions and promote peace. Hulas serves as an executive partner for numerous youth development and regional productivity programs throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia Pacific including: Partners for the Advancement of Engineering Education, Focus: HOPE (Detroit, MI), The Manufacturing Partnership (Rochester, NY), Philadelphia Area Accelerated Manufacturing Education, Inc., Advantage SA (South Australia), and VIEWNET (Virtual Interactive East-West Network for Engineering and Technology) (Russia and Ukraine). 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 Worldwide Youth in Science & Engineering, the Institute of Industrial Engineers, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, the Society of Automotive Engineers, Advancing Minorities’ Interest in Engineering, the Stone Soup Foundation, Doyle Center for Manufacturing Technology, Virginia Biosciences Development Center, the Accreditation Board for Engineering & Technology, the International Federation of Engineering Education Societies and the Professional Business Leadership Council. He has authored numerous publications on Product Life-cycle Management (PLM), enterprise integration and artificial Intelligence. Mr. King is an Adjunct Professor at Southern Illinois University. He is often featured in international publications such as Ebony, PRISM and Black Engineer & Information Technology for his leadership in PLM Engineering and Technology Education. He has received many awards and honors, such as the 1988 Distinguished Alumni Award from Southern Illinois University for professional achievement, the St. Louis American 1989 “Salute to Excellence Award”for Science and Technology, the 1989 Engineering Person of the Year Award from the Gateway Engineers, the PBLC 1994 Outstanding Citizen Award, the 1997 Black Engineer of the Year Award for Corporate Promotion of Education (representing EDS), the 2010 Binghamton University Founders Award, the 2001 SHO ME State Business/Industry Leadership Award and the Auburn University 2011 Tower Award.. 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.  Mr. King received AS, Data Processing, Belleville Area College (1970), BS in Management Science (1972), MBA (1974), MS in Government/International Relations (1975),  MS in Management Science and Systems (1978) from Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, and MS in Industrial Engineering (1983) from University of Missouri – Columbia, USA.

Thursday Morning Keynote, March 5, 2015, 8:30 – 9:30 am

Syed Mohammed Aumir

Senior Executive Vice President
Digital Factory
Siemens Middle East

“Industrie 4.0”

Syed Mohammed Aumir is Senior Executive Vice President of Digital Factory for Siemens Middle East. Currently based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Aumir joined Siemens in 1991 in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as a project engineer on industrial projects. In 1997 Aumir joined the Siemens resident engineers’ office in UAE, supporting all GCC countries and Yemen and developing partners for the company’s automation business. After the formation of Siemens LLC UAE in 1999, in 2000 Aumir took over as Head of Automation and Drives in what was – at the time – the company’s Lower Gulf region, and in October 2014 was appointed Head, Digital Factory, Siemens Middle East. Aumir holds a degree in electrical engineering from Aligarh Muslim University, India.

Thursday Lunch Keynote, March 5, 2015, 1:00 – 2:00 pm

Dr. Leland Blank

Professor and Dean of Engineering
American University of Sharjah, UAE
and
Past IIE President

Lee Blank is dean and professor of industrial engineering with expertise in the areas of engineering economics, and international higher education development and assessment. He was dean of engineering at AUS from 2001-2005, after which he was awarded the title Dean Emeritus. He has returned to AUS to serve as dean to lead a period of major expansion for the engineering program. Additionally, Dr. Blank is Professor Emeritus of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Texas A&M University. He is the recipient of several awards throughout his career, including the Wellington Award for long-term contributions to the field of engineering economics.

Dr. Blank started his teaching career at the University of Texas-El Paso after earning his PhD and Master of Science in Industrial Engineering at Oklahoma State University. Undergraduate work was completed at St. Mary’s University in Texas. He has worked in leadership roles in continuous improvement of academic systems, research center development, and strategic planning facilitation. His industrial experience includes Southwestern Bell Telephone as a plant engineer, GTE Data Services as a management scientist, and San Antonio Public Service as a rate designer and economic analyst.

He is past international president of the Institute of Industrial Engineers and is a Fellow of the Institute. Previous service includes significant involvement with honors student programs at Texas A&M University and as president of Alpha Pi Mu, the honorary society for industrial engineering.

Dr. Blank served as a congressional appointee to the United States Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration’s advisory committee. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Texas, USA.

Besides technical journal and research articles, he has authored engineering textbooks for McGraw-Hill on the subjects of engineering economy and statistics. His latest texts are Engineering Economy, 7th edition (2013) and Basics of Engineering Economy, 2nd edition (2014). Full-range websites, including supporting podcasts, for these texts are available to students and faculty.

In addition to his work in the UAE, he has served higher education internationally in Qatar, Kuwait, Australia, China, Japan, Mexico and South Africa.

Closing Keynote, Thursday, March 5, 2015, 5:15 – 6:00 pm

Past Keynotes

IEOM 2010 – Dhaka

IEOM 2011 – Kuala Lumpur

IEOM 2012 – Istanbul

IEOM 2014 – Bali

 

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