Research and Facilities
Western's Department of Industrial and Entrepreneurial Engineering and Engineering Management is involved in a variety of research and training activities. The following is an overview of the areas that research teams work in, with some faculty members participating in more than one research area.
- Ergonomic evaluation, analysis and design includes product comparison, workstation evaluation and design, and training (reduction of injuries or lost time). Analysis is available through pressure mapping, kinematics, energy, and biomechanics. Work analysis develops performance measurements, time standards and utilizations: time study analysis, work sampling and video sampling.
- Organizational system performance improvement uses measurement of organizational variables and processes targeted toward outcomes of improved working conditions and organizational culture change.
- Engineering economy and capital budgeting principles are used to achieve optimum allocation and deployment of resources.
- Stochastic Discrete Event Simulation is used to look at a manufacturing, scheduling, or materials handling system and ask "what-if": What if there were changes in the number of lines, operators, types of equipment or delivery schedule? What impact do changes have on throughput or on resource utilization?
- Reliability engineering employs estimation from design, field and test data includes: Writing and analyzing failure scoring documents used to evaluate the Reliability and Maintainability of military equipment, test planning and analysis; and participation in design reviews for R&M improvement. Industrial short courses are also available.