Service systems engineering projects highlighted with international award

Penn State co-sponsors the Outstanding Innovation in Service Systems Engineering Award

June 9, 2022

By Ashley J. WennersHerron

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Four teams were recognized in the Outstanding Innovation in Service Systems Engineering Award competition during the annual Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineering Conference and Expo May 21-24 in Seattle, including one from Penn State.

The annual award is co-sponsored by IISE and Penn State’s Harold and Inge Marcus Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering (IME) and recognizes “organizations for the development of innovative techniques to improve the performance of service industries,” according to the IISE website.

“The world — and the systems it comprises — can be made more efficient through service systems engineering,” said Vittaldas Prabhu, Charles and Enid Schneider Faculty Chair in Service Systems Engineering and director of Penn State’s Service Systems Engineering initiative. “This year’s winners represent how streamlining and improving the processes by which industry and service systems operate can produce significant benefits across many different fields.”

The judging committee includes IISE members from the Society for Health Systems Board, the Society for Engineering Management Systems Board, the Council on Industrial and Systems Engineering (CISE) and the Industry Advisory Board. They consider the submissions for their innovative application of service engineering to a new or existing service system; measurable benefits in terms of process improvements relevant to the specific system; business impact substantiated by organizational leadership and other stakeholders; advancement of industrial and service engineering to represent a new best-in-class application; and clarity in communication.

The winners were recognized during the conference, and all four finalists will provide webinars, sponsored by CISE, on their projects for IISE members and customers.

The 2022 Outstanding Innovation in Service Systems Engineering Award winners are:

First place: “A scalable forecasting framework to predict COVID-19 hospital bed occupancy”
- Team members: Jakob Heins, doctoral student, University of Augsburg; Steffen Heider, researcher, UA; Jan Schoenfelder, post-doctoral researcher, UA; Jens O. Brunner, professor for health care operations management, UA; and Axel R. Heller, professor for anesthesiology, University Hospital Augsburg
Second place: “American Red Cross uses analytics-based methods to improve blood-collection operations”
- Team members: Turgay Ayer, professor, Georgia Tech; Can Zhang, assistant professor, Duke University; Chelsea White, professor, Georgia Tech; Zeynep Ozkaynak, director of operations, American Red Cross; Kevin Lee, engineer, American Red Cross; Mary Deck, chief of manufacturing, American Red Cross
Third place: “Increasing automotive dealership service retention”
- Team members: Michael Harbaugh, manager, General Motors Advanced Analytics Center of Expertise; Robert Inman, research fellow, GMAACE; and Jonathan Owen, director, GMAACE
Finalist: “Developing allocation strategy for opioid settlement in Pennsylvania”
- Team members: Qiushi Chen, assistant professor of industrial and manufacturing engineering, Penn State; Dennis Scanlon, Distinguished Professor of Health Policy and Administration and director, Center for Health Care and Policy Research, Penn State; Glenn Sterner, assistant professor of criminal justice, Penn State; Danielle Rhubart, assistant professor of biobehavioral health, Penn State; Rob Newton, graduate student, IME, Penn State; Bethany Shaw, researcher data analyst, CHCPR, Penn State