IELM Newsletter, Issue No. 9

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IELM newsletter ISSUE No.9 PTC-G12219 Message from the Department Head 2 Faculty News 2 Hong Kong Six Sigma Forum 2007 3 Think Beyond the Book: CILT Student Day 2007 3 HKSTP Visit Opens Eyes 3 Awards for IELM Department 4 IAAI Applications Award for Journal-Ranking.com 4 We are the Champion 2007 HKSQ Company-Based Student Project Competition 5 Scholarships to Outstanding IELM Students 5 Scholarships Awardees 5 Upgrading Manufacturing Industry 6 Logistics Forum: Logistics and Supply Chain Management 7 IELM Student Ambassador Program 2006-07 8 In this Issue IELM Student Ambassador Program 2006-07 DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING AND LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT Stay Connected Has your contact information changed? Do you have any recent news that you would like to be included in our next newsletter? Send your information to us by the following means: Email: ieug@ust.hk Mail: IELM Newsletter Editor Department of Industrial Engineering and Logistics Management, HKUST, Clear Water Bay, Kln, HK The effectiveness of cross-border logistics can directly affect operating costs, and is closely tried to the competitiveness of the Hong Kong logistics industry. Professor Chung-yee Lee recently conducted Hong Kong's first study on the logistics of border crossing, which showed that the truck border crossing time can be greatly reduced by applying Electronic Product Code (EPC) and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology together. The study examined applying a 'Green Lane' concept a no stop truck border crossing at the boundary points of Hong Kong and Shenzhen. The adoption of Green Lane and EPC / RFID technology not only improves security and visibility of the border crossing process , but al so increases the speed of inspections, resulting in productivity gains. The recent study found that trucks took 55 minutes on average to cross from Hong Kong to Shenzhen, and 32 minutes from Shenzhen to Hong Kong. 'The Green Lane can much more accurately identify illegitimate trucks for inspection, thus allowing legitimate trucks to cross the border quickly. The model predicted that if EPC / RFID were used to improve the document processing by two minutes, the total time needed to cross the border would be reduced by more than 50 percent' said Professor Lee. 'With comprehensive data encrypted in the code, customs officials can correctly identify 'dirty trucks' with goods not formally cleared, so 'clean trucks' in the queue do not have to wait through the inspection.' 'Imagine ten thousand trucks carrying goods with an average value of HK$1 million each even a modest decrease of two percent in inspection time would yield inventory savings of HK$140 million, and we will attract more business to Hong Kong by reducing queuing time, saving manpower and cutting inventory costs' Professor Lee stated. IELM Student Ambassador Program 2006-07 Wong Wai Chung Alan Student Ambassador (2006-2007), IELM, UG Year 3 It really has been an honor to be selected as one of the student ambassadors to promote our department. During this year, I helped with many UG recruitment activities like outreach day, a school tour and communicating with high school students . This was definitely a worthwhile experience as it not only expanded my social network, but also increased my confidence. Shek Yau Shing David Student Ambassador (2006-2007), IELM, UG Year 3 'Take the attitude of a student, never be too big to ask questions, never knowing too much to learn something new.' From Og Mandino. During this year, I have seen so many students starting to plan for their future; all of them showing their eagerness to be well-rounded individuals who are ready to meet the challenges in life. I am proud of being the student ambassador of my department. It is a great opportunity to share the knowledge that has inspired me together with the feelings and experience of being a student of Industrial Engineering. Au Yim Lee Emily Student Ambassador (2006-2007), IELM, PG I am proud to represent IELM as the senior student ambassador. This has provided me with an exciting opportunity to share my knowledge and experience of both UG and PG studies with not only students from secondary schools, but also their parents. I hope that these sessions will act as an information exchange for all of us and that they will consider joining IELM. The Student Ambassadors were invited to join the Student Ambassadors Training Workshop , organized by the Dean's Office of Engineering. Prof. Edmond Ko, Senior Advisor to the Dean of Engineering , was the instructor. In the workshop, student ambassadors from different departments were randomly assigned to three person teams and went through a few rounds of a competition. During the competition, each team had to answer questions related to the history, strategic plan, admissions and academic regulations of HKUST. After some exciting rounds, Emily Au's team was named champion and each team member received a book called 'Mentoring Mentors' written by Prof. Edmond Ko. After the workshop, we learned the roles and responsibilities of student ambassadors and had a greater appreciation of HKUST. In addition, we become more aware of some basic business and professional etiquette which will be a definite advantage in the future. Outreach Day is one of the most important activities for our department; students actively participate in order to promote further understanding of IELM. On that day, we demonstrated a system called 'Ultrasonic Wave Positioning System' together with a routing game which many secondary school students found interesting. We also conducted tours to several different labs, for example, the Information System Lab, the Human Performance Lab and the RFID Lab where we demonstrated the application of knowledge learned from our programs. Apart from the demonstrations and lab tours, we answered many questions from secondary school students as well as from their parents. Most of their questions were about the differences between two programs (IEEM & IELM) offered in our Department. 2 Message from the Department Head Time passes so quickly: it is the start of Fall Semester. I am happy to say that the last Fall and Spring Semesters were a rewarding and fruitful academic year for our department. I am glad that our department has continued to receive different kinds of awards, such as the National Natural Science Award, Dissertation Proposal Awards, Certified Six Sigma Green Belt, IAAI Applications Award and Championship of HKSQ Student Project Competition. This is jointly due to the contributions and hard work of our faculty members and students. As educators, it is good to spread our latest research findings to the public. We recently conducted Hong Kong's first study on RFID cross border feasibility. This demonstrates the important contribution to this new technology made by our department. With the support from different industries, we have successfully organized and participated in different industry forums, such as Hong Kong Six Sigma Forum 2007 and Nansha Science & Technology Forum in China. I am impressed by the quality of our students and the effectiveness of our programs. Our students have continuously received different kinds of scholarships like the Autotoll Scholarship, the 20th IIE (HK) Scholarship, Chen Hsong Industrial Scholarship and Louie Industrial Co. Ltd. Scholarship. Our students also actively participate in different enrichment programs such as Student Ambassador Program, various competitions and site visits to better equip themselves with soft skills and raise their sights beyond the university and even outside Hong Kong. All of the above have been a great boost for our Department. I look forward to working with my colleagues and students to make our Department even better. Prof. Chung-yee LEE Head and Chair Professor Faculty News Professor Chung-yee LEE Prof . Chung-yee Lee , Chair Professor and Head of Department of Industrial Engineering and Logistics Management, has recently been appointed by the Production and Operations Management Society (POMS) as the Regional Vice President Australasia. POMS is the most authoritative source of developments in the production and operations management field. He also has been appointed by the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE) as the Regional Vice President (Asia). IIE is the world's largest professional society dedicated solely to the support of the industrial engineering profession and individuals involved with improving quality and productivity. Professor Richard SO Professor Richard So has been invited to join the Technical Committee TC1-67 of the International Commission on Illumination/Commission Internationale de L'eclairage (CIE). CIE is a scientific non-profit organization responsible for developing standards in the field of light and lighting. Members of the Technical Committee are invited by virtue of their academic contributions in the field of lighting and display. Professor So is also on the drafting committee of the International Standard Organization (ISO) International Workshop Agreement 3 on image safety. Professor Fugee TSUNG Professor Fugee Tsung has been elected as a member of the International Statistical Institute (ISI). Elected members (so far there are 8 in China and 32 in Hong Kong) are elected by virtue of their distinguished contributions to the development or application o f statistical methods . Established in 1885, ISI is one of the oldest scientific associations operating in the world. The ISI is composed of elected members who are internationally recognized as the definitive leaders in the field of statistics. Professor Fugee Tsung has been invited to be the advisor of the Chartered Institute of Transport & Logistics in the Hong Kong Young Membership Committee (CILTHK YMC) for the new term from 2006 to 2008. Professor Fugee Tsung 's research on detecting telecommunications fraud was highlighted in Industrial Engineer Magazine of June 2007 issue (Vol. 39, No. 6). 3 Think Beyond the Book: HKSTP Visit Opens Eyes CILT Student Day 2007 The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) and the Hong Kong Community College of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University organized the CILT Student Day 2007 on March 10, 2007. Four of our students, Ip Hei Yan, Lai Chi Hei, Lam Luk, Li Kin Sang and Wong Ka Ho, participated in the Student Essay Competition of the CILT Student Day 2007. The competition is in the form of case studies on topics of logistics and transportation. Its objective is to train students to develop the ability to formulate solutions for a topical problem in a defined time .This competition helps our students to learn more about the real world and apply what they have learned in school to social issues. Hong Kong Six Sigma Forum 2007 Professor Fugee Tsung was invited to be one of the distinguished speakers of the Hong Kong Six Sigma Forum 2007 on April 21, 2007. The Forum was organized by the Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering Section of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) of Hong Kong. The Forum was a great opportunity for Six Sigma professionals to look at the past, present and future of Six Sigma with a particular emphasis on Hong Kong. Professor Tsung shared his insights of Six Sigma in Hong Kong and other countries, and valuable experiences of Six Sigma deployment in a wide spectrum of industries . In his presentation, 'Service Six Sigma in Hong Kong', he talked about the deployment of Six Sigma in the service industry in Hong Kong. He noted that Citibank first initiated the application of Six Sigma in defect reduction and cycle time reduction. All American merchant banks and financial institutions such as American Express, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan, then followed Citibank. All are now in various stages of Six Sigma deployment. The IELM Department organized a study tour to the newly opened Supply Chain Innovation Centre (SCIC) of the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks in Shatin. The SCIC is Asia's most comprehensive supply chain technology centre for showing Electronic Product CodeTM / Radio Frequency Identification (EPC/RFID) integrated solutions for the logistics, manufacturing, wholesale, distributing and retail industries. A group of undergraduate students participated in this activity. The tour gave students a sense of the operation of the development and application of EPC/RFID in Hong Kong. 'The tour was great! I learnt why technology is so important to improve the service efficiency in the logistics industry. It was also a good chance to see how EPC/RFID can be applied in the real supply chain environment and logistics development,' said Gary Chan, one of the participants.

Students of EEMT552: Certified Six Sigma Green Belt The EEMT522 'Six Sigma Quality Management' (instructor: Professor Fugee Tsung) has been accredited by the Hong Kong Society for Quality (HKSQ). Individuals, who have, in the previous 2 years, successfully completed the course EEMT522 can apply for registration as Certified Six Sigma Green Belt (HKSQ). Fu Qi: First Prize of Dissertation Proposal Award Fu Qi, IELM PhD student and advisee of Prof. Chung-yee Lee, has won the First Prize (US$2,000) in the 2006 Supply Chain and Logistics Engineering (SCALE) Dissertation Proposal Award sponsored by the SCALE Center of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering , University of Florida. We are the Champion! 2007 HKSQ Company-Based Student Project Competition Scholarships to Outstanding IELM Students Scholarships at HKUST are designed to encourage honor students with outstanding academic performance. There are many scholarships available at HKUST, especially to students in the IELM Department. This academic year, year one students with excellent academic performance in A-Level and HKCEE were awarded with IELM Scholarships. This scholarship is offered by the IELM Department and is only for students in our department. Moreover, Autotoll has also offered the Autotoll Scholarship specifically to our BEng IELM students. It aims at awarding students with good academic achievement in the field of logistics and completing a Final Year Project working with Autotoll. Besides the Autotol l Scholarship, the 20th I IE (HK) Scholarship, Chen Hsong Industrial Scholarship and Louie Industrial Co. Ltd. Scholarship are also particularly for the IELM students. Awards for IELM Department Professor Neville Lee won 2007 National Natural Science Award Professor Neville Lee was awarded a 2007 China Higher Education in National Natural Science Award, First Class. The National Natural Science Award is one of China's most prestigious honors for outstanding research in natural science. Prof. Lee was honored for his contribution to modeling, fabrication and characterizing of a poly crystal silicon thermal flexure actuator. Student Name Scholarship CHENG Hung Fai Industrial Engineering & Logistics Management Scholarship HUNG Ying Piu Industrial Engineering & Logistics Management Scholarship WONG Chiu Fai Industrial Engineering & Logistics Management Scholarship HU Hei Man 20th IIE (HK) Scholarship MOK Ka Leong 20th IIE (HK) Scholarship XU Zhou 20th IIE (HK) Scholarship SHEK Yau Shing Autotoll Scholarship TSE Ka Chun Autotoll Scholarship LI Uen Shan Chen Hsong Industrial Scholarships 2006/07 XU Wei Chiap Hua Cheng's Foundation Scholarships for Chinese Mainland UG Students; University Scholarship NIU Jie Lee & Man paper Mfg. Ltd. - Lee Wan Keung Scholarship SZE Hiu Wing Louie Industrial Co. Ltd. Scholarship YEOH Tan Aik Department of Industrial Engineering & Logistics Management Scholarship; School of Engineering Scholarship; Robin Y H Chan Scholarships for International Students NG Ka Yiu Simatelex Charitable Foundation Scholarships; Sir Edward Youde Memorial Scholarships 2006/07; W u Ti Hsien Science & Education Foundation Fund Scholarships KWOK Pui Sum The Joseph Lau Luen Hung Charitable Trust Scholarship GAN Yee Wei Anthea University Scholarship YANG Yang W. K. Lee Scholarship Scholarship Awardees A team from HKUST IELM beat all other nine teams from other local universities to become the champion team of the 2007 HKSQ Company-Based Student Project Competition, which was organized by the Hong Kong Society for Quality. In the competition, students formed teams to study real-world problems and propose solutions. The contesting teams presented the findings of their studies and their proposals. Their study case was called 'Wallet Notes Tray Insert', and involved the re-design of a wallet note tray insert for companies' use. The new tray insert addresses the current issues of occasional post - shipping disorganization as well as damage through customer use. With the new design, the insert will have a significantly longer lifespan and the product will no longer arrive disorganized with the display case. Complaints related to packaging will be eliminated, and companies will be able to resume their productive relationship with clients. Awards for IELM Department IAAI Applications Award for Journal-Ranking.com IELM professor and students awarded prestigious IAAI Applications Award for the deployment of 'Journal-Ranking.com: An Online Interactive Journal Ranking System'. B.C., Canada - IELM's professor, Andrew Lim, and IELM PhD students, Hong Ma, Qi Wen, Zhou Xu and Zhu Wenbin, have won an IAAI Deployed Application Award for their paper, 'Journal- Ranking.com: An Online Interactive Journal Ranking System', at the Nineteenth Annual Conference on Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence (IAAI-07). Sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, the event was held on July 22-26 of 2007 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. On July 23rd, Qi Wen presented the paper at IAAI, which received much attention from AI experts from all over the world. The paper documented a joint work between HKUST and Red Jasper Limited on the successful deployment of an online interactive journal ranking system, a unique system inspired by the limitations of current journal ranking websites where audiences can only access the static reports with no right to change the structure of categories, or the criteria for ranking journals. The system allows users to interactively configure their ranking interests, as well as provide a more reasonable method to evaluate a journal's impact. The primary objective of the service is to attract university professors, research scholars, and students to evaluate journal impact based on their own interests. The evaluation results calculated by the system are closer to the perceptions of scholars compared with ISI's IF and yet, the ranking results are derived based on objective analyses over journals across citations. The IAAI committee described the successful deployment as a notable and impacting achievement, worthy of the award. 6 Upgrading Manufacturing Industry 7 Logistics and Supply Chain Management The Nansha Science & Technology Forum has always aimed at bringing together worldwide expertise for the discussion and exchange for new approaches and fostering further collaboration. Co-organized by the Fok Ying Tung Foundation, The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology and Guangzhou Science & Technology Bureau, and with support from the Department of Industrial Engineering and Logistics Management and HKUST Logistics & Supply Chain Management Institute (LSCMI), a two day forum on Logistics - Logistics and Supply Chain Management, was thus held on May 25-26, 2007. This Forum met with great success and approximately 1000 people participated. Professor Chung-yee Lee, Co-Chairman of the Forum, Head and Chair Professor of the Department of IELM and Director of LSCMI, gave his keynote speech on 'Sea and Air Logistics Management in Hong Kong and Pearl River Delta'. We also had Professor Fang-Ruo Chen, Dean of the School of Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (China), Professor Gang Yu, Vice President - Worldwide Procurement of Dell, Professor Gong-yu Chen, Director of the Department of Management, Lingnan College of Sun Yat-Sen University (Taiwan) and the Professor Jian Chen, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Management Science and Engineering , Tsinghua University (China), share their views and experiences on advancing the best practices in logistics and supply chain management in the region of Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta. In addition, a panel discussion on 'Positioning HK/PRD in Future Logistics and Global Supply Chain of China' was scheduled in the afternoon of the first day of the Forum. All the distinguished speakers had lively interactions on the subject. On the second day of the Forum, we also had industry leader Mr. Thomas Lam, President of Cisco Systems (China) Networking Technologies Co., Ltd. and Professor Jay Lee, Ohio Eminent Scholar and L. W. Scott Alter, Chair Professor in Advanced Manufacturing, University of Cincinnati (U.S.A.), share with us experiences, lessons, visions and creative ideas on logistics and supply chain management. A Nansha Science & Technology Forum on Advance Manufacturing, jointly organized by the Fok Ying Tung Foundation, The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology and Guangzhou Science & Technology Bureau, was held on March 30-31, 2007. With the support from the Department of Industrial Engineering and Logistics Management and Advanced Manufacturing Institute (AMI) of HKUST, the Forum was launched with great success. There were around 1000 participants , mainly professionals and executives from different companies, organizations and academic sectors in Hong Kong and China. We were honored to have distinguished experts and professors give their insight on recent Advanced Manufacturing in China. The theme of this Forum was 'Upgrading the Manufacturing Industry'. The first day of the Forum was divided into two sessions and started with an Opening Ceremony by Professor Mitchell Tseng, Co- Chairman of the Forum, Professor in the Department of IELM and Director of the AMI. The first session, which dealt with the advanced technology and innovation of Advanced Manufacturing, featured speakers such as Professor Way Kuo , University Distinguished Professor and Dean of Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (U.S.A.), Professor Richard Liu, Professor from Purdue University (U.S.A.), Professor Taiwei Jiang, Director of Department of Science & Technology, Zhejiang Province, China. The other session, which talked about the present and future of advanced manufacturing in China, particularly in the Pearl River Delta, was addressed by Professor Cheng Wu, Professor from Tsinghua University (China), Professor Yong-Sheng Han, Director of the Industrial Management and Design Engineering Centre, Software Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Science (China) and several other prominent speakers. A panel discussion followed on the second day, with 'Future Prospect of Manufacturing Industries in Pearl River Delta', as the theme of the discussion. The event provided a successful forum for exchange between educators , manufacturing specialists , business representatives, professional associations, government officials and economists.