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Since it has been established that supply chain management has traditionally been a process-oriented field with not much focus on innovation, in a post-pandemic world, engineering managers have realized that research is needed to identify which aspects of global supply chain management have the greatest need for transformation and could benefit most through the application of entrepreneurial competencies. Along those lines, the authors of this paper have earlier proposed a research model, which includes a mapping between supply chain management process steps and entrepreneurial competencies along with proposed training and organizational changes to facilitate the implementation of a more entrepreneurial approach to supply chain management processes. Using a qualitative, grounded theory approach based on two case studies, the authors focus on two industries. The differences and similarities between the two industries will be compared in this paper; thus, showing engineering managers how the model could be applied to the two different industries considered in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the face of changing customer and competitor conditions in a post-pandemic world, and the impact these changes have on their supply chains, engineering firms must incorporate supply chain management along with strategic management efforts. In order to remain competitive and meet changing customer and competitor conditions, engineering managers should envision the functioning of their organization, from an operational perspective as well as from a strategic perspective. It is for this purpose that engineering managers must know how to tie in thinking strategically as well as operationally, when managing the supply chains/networks associated with their project(s) or organization. The above phenomenon is now affecting the German automotive industry, as the industry is moving towards solely producing electric vehicles in the next decade. This shift has caused engineering managers in the industry to examine their supply chain, and understand it from a long-term strategic perspective as well as from an operational perspective. This enables them to understand the structural changes that would occur in the supply chain, due to the herculean change of moving to producing electric cars. In this paper, the authors will examine the current status of the German Automotive Industry, as well as Porter's Five Forces Model and its application to the automotive industry and compare it to an operational perspective in the global supply chain; thus, demonstrating how an engineering manager must think both strategically and tactically, while understanding how the business environment could affect both the strategic as well as tactical approaches to be implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current coronavirus pandemic has had an enormous impact on the demands and consumption of and thereby the trends associated with renewable energy industries. The increasing serious environmental problems caused by consumption of fossil fuels make a strong case for transitioning to clean energy sources, which are less harmful to the environment. In this paper, the authors will conduct an overview of the literature related to changes in renewable energy (RE) demands and risk factors such as market, policy, technology and public acceptance as a result of COVID- 19 pandemic, and the emerging opportunities for clean energy transitions under the new policies being implemented, which support RE improvements. This study, by virtue of creating an overview of opportunities for renewable energy in a post-COVID world, could help build confidence and establish a knowledge base among decision makers for deployment of low-carbon technologies and fuels (renewable energy), as part of the recovery plans for a post COVID economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While Supply Chain Management (SCM) is a well-established field within the engineering management domain, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed problems and uncertainties for manufacturers that source materials and components globally. Such pandemic related disruptions and unpredictable demand patterns are rendering pre-pandemic best practices of SCM obsolete due to the volatile and complex interconnections between suppliers and the logistics of goods movements. The authors of this article propose that SCM and demand management be viewed through an entrepreneurial lens. Therefore, research is needed to identify which aspects of global supply chain management have the greatest need for transformation and that could benefit most through the application of entrepreneurial competencies. This proposed research model includes a mapping between SCM process steps and entrepreneurial competencies along with proposed training and organizational changes to facilitate the implementation of such changes. Additionally, the authors propose entrepreneurial training for supply chain managers, since these individuals are in the best position to innovate the SCM practices that are most susceptible to volatility and uncertainty in the post-pandemic era. Particularly since most current SCM training is process-based versus instilling an entrepreneurial mindset, this shift will help supply chain managers to think in ways that are more adaptive and innovative in the face of a turbulent environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Competitive advantages are necessary and inevitable for the economic viability and sustainability of enterprises, as well as for them to enable value creation. New technologies open strategic windows and provide possibilities to create such advantages. The digital twin is one such revolutionary technology that helps companies create a competitive advantage for themselves, particularly in the areas of product management. This article presents the digital twin as a means to optimize the value creation in product development and management. The paper will present how to integrate the concept of the digital twin into the process of technical product management (TPM). To start with, the importance as well as the basic concept of digital twins will be explained. Secondly different types of digital twins with their beneficial contributions will be discussed. Thirdly the digital twin will be applied to the technical product management process. In this context, a comprehensive framework will be developed to show the application possibilities in the different phases of the TPM process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a field of human interest since the 1950s. In recent years, it has gained widespread attention due to the needed underlying technologies now available. AI technology is based on neuronal networks that require large amounts of data and fast computation to process learning algorithms, which help organizations greatly in their decision-making processes. This paper explores AI applications in the automotive industry of the future with respect to the automotive value chain. The applications of AI are analyzed for all the subprocesses in the automotive value chain, which include: Research and Development, Procurement, Logistics, Operations, Marketing, Sales, and Connected Customer. The AI applications for each sector are investigated in terms of risk and impact on businesses in the automotive sector. This helps to identify, from an organizational perspective, the most applicable areas of AI technology in the future automotive industry. The recommendations made at the conclusion of this paper include explanations of how the AI application has to be made as part of the automotive value chain and the expected benefits of implementation. In addition, the findings are summarized in a table in the recommendations section, which shows the possible application areas of artificial intelligence in the automotive industry value chain along with the benefits and risks of the use-cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of climate change has attracted increasing attention from various industries in both the manufacturing and service domains in the past decade. Climate change is one of the main subjects in affecting the industry, with sustainability being one of the major challenges that top management personnel are concerned about. This is also true in the automotive sector where the amount of CO2 emitted from the automobile industry is about 20% of total carbon emissions. As a result, to reduce CO2 emissions and thus create a slowdown in global warming, reducing the amount of CO2 from the automotive industry is a crucial issue. Growing environmental concern in automotive industries motivates automotive sectors to search for sustainable solutions. Automotive manufacturers have focused on achieving their goal of sustainability with an enhanced concentrate on the environmental aspect of sustainability. This is shown by investments made in vehicle technology and intelligent transport programs which play a vital role in lowering waste, increasing safety, making an improvement in environmental performance, and reducing emissions. The aim of this paper is to review the impact of current carbon emissions of actual vehicles from American, European and Japanese automotive companies that are currently available on the market and also to evaluate the measures that each of these companies have undertaken to reduce the CO2 emissions in the downstream part of the product lifecycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Operations Management (OM) is a multi-disciplinary domain that emphasizes administering all facets of an organization's operations (Product, Process, Quality Improvement and tools). Previously, it had been primarily alluded to the manufacturing industry and was originally known as production management. However, over the last two decades, organizations have applied principles of Operations Management to areas such as marketing, logistics, supply chain, information technology as well as human resources. Due to technical advancements, gone are the days where human resources are required for information to flow. The development in communication systems has changed the work environment in private and public sectors, and is a key factor in the emergence of internet based technologies. This provided a new platform for Operations Management to fulfill the supply and demand of their customers seamlessly. With these technological furtherance, new tools and concepts have been created, which enhance organizational operations in the areas of supply chain and customer relationship managements. These developments also help in the evolution of new key performance indicators (KPIs) for organizations. In this paper, the authors focus on how the internet and information technology have revolutionized traditional approaches to Operations Management in the e-commerce domain, and caused a shift towards a holistic vision of business models. This vision has implications for supply chain management, production planning and scheduling, product Lean operation, lean six-sigma methodology, information-based strategy, Information technology system, risk and environmental management. The paper will investigate in future trends mentioned above by providing observations, a cause and effect model, and a predictive framework of future developments in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate Social Responsibility and Suitability reporting has become increasingly important in recent years, especially in Automotive industries. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is firmly connected with the principles of Sustainable Development which help organization to make a decision based on Economic, Social, and Environmental aspects. On the other hand, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is a leading organization in the sustainability field, which produces guidelines on how organizations should report their environmental, social, and economic performance as well as sustainability initiatives. One of the essential reasons that Organizations are progressively undertaking activities that they hope would result in better social, financial, and environmental benefits as this is being increasingly demanded by the customer, particularly by the millennials. By overseeing and looking to enhance natural, social, and financial execution and good governance throughout their supply chain, organizations are likely to ensure the largest impact, which is critical when trying to incorporate any aspect of sustainability. In this paper, the authors have done a comparison of corporate social responsibility based on GRI standards. This includes analyzing sustainability reports of American and European Industries.This analysis has enabled the authors to identify whether the environmental and social aspects of CSR in both American and European Automotive companies, are accordance with the G4 version of GRI guidelines. The authors have also made recommendations on how both the environmental as well as the social aspect of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) can be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the digital age advances, it is perhaps not surprising that the growth rate for students corresponding electronically is increasing greatly. This includes students who are working on projects in their classes. However, team dynamics is always a significant issue for students when working on teams and continues to be an even bigger source of concern for them once they graduate and go out into the work force. In this paper, the authors talk about the process of initializing a study to study the functioning of partially distributed teams and developing a framework for incorporating projects into engineering courses where students are required to work on projects virtually (with student project members located at two or more universities) and hence be better prepared for 'real world work scenarios,' when they graduate and go into industry. This course curriculum design and research will include mapping engineering management courses between the Engineering Management Departments at Texas Tech University and California State University, Northridge and creating distributed project teams, by virtue of which the students would be compelled to work both traditionally (intra-university) and virtually (inter-university) and learn about managing partially distributed teams. Pedagogically, the researchers/professors will also be compiling information and lessons learned in coordination of this inter-university educational endeavor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

University X has a newly introduced undergraduate program in Engineering Management (EM) which will be going up for ABET accreditation in Fall 2015. In this paper, the authors have discussed the efforts that are being carried out as part of the continuous improvement initiative required for ABET accreditation. As part of this work, the authors have researched undergraduate EM programs across the country and then have identified patterns which can be used as one of the guiding factors to decide on potential course offerings that the program at university X could have. These will be used for benchmarking purposes and will help carry out future research in order to continue working on program improvements. This paper is thus, a first step in a series of initiatives that will be carried out at university X as part of our continuous improvement efforts for the newly introduced undergraduate EM program. The results of this first step in continuous improvement will be presented in this paper and the later steps will continue to be published as a series of papers in both local as well as future annual ASEE conferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entrepreneurship is increasingly being recognized as an important part of engineering education. However, it is also seen that establishing of a traditional business plan that was taught to engineers, is not considered as "the cutting edge" of doing entrepreneurship. Despite the business plan being a core element of most engineering entrepreneurship curricula, there are new concepts in entrepreneurship such as "The Lean Startup" which are being increasingly talked about. Along these lines, the faculty in The College of Engineering and Computer Science at California State University, Northridge are working with industry leaders and professionals to continuously improve the entrepreneurship curriculum being taught to the engineers of today & tomorrow. One of the challenges that engineers have is to think outside the box and be innovative. As part of this effort to instill innovation and creative thinking in engineers as well as update the entrepreneurship curriculum, the authors have implemented various topics on innovative thinking into the curriculum. These topics include Lateral Thinking as well as 6 Thinking Hats Applications. These topics were included in the Fall 2013 entrepreneurship syllabus and have received positive feedback from the students. In this paper, the authors will talk about what aspects were included in the curriculum and how they can provide value by being included in the curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]