[AISWorld] Postdoc position on Manufacturing Process Management and Industry 4.0

[Vanderfeesten, I.T.P.]

PostDoc/Researcher position in the area of Information Systems/Business Process Management

School of Industrial Engineering, Department of Industrial Engineering and Innovation Sciences, Eindhoven University of Technology

Vacancy ID: V39.4131

Intended starting date: 1 February 2020

The School of Industrial Engineering of Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) has a vacancy for a PostDoc in Information Systems/Business Process Management for a cutting-edge international research project on Manufacturing Process Management and Industry 4.0 in collaboration with industry.

Organization
Eindhoven University of Technology is one of the world’s leading research universities (ranked by the Times Higher Education Supplement). It is in particular well‐known for its joint research with industry (ranked number one worldwide by the Centre for Science and Technology Studies). The Information Systems Group in the School of Industrial Engineering performs advanced research in the area of business process engineering, focusing on business process management (BPM) and business process intelligence (BPI). The group has a strong national and international reputation for both basic research in the academic community and applied research with industry. The successful applicant will have the opportunity to profit from the benefits that such an environment has to offer and to contribute to the ongoing research.

The research will be conducted at Eindhoven University of Technology, at the Department of Industrial Engineering and Innovation Sciences (IE&IS), embedded within the Research Group of Information Systems. The position is funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 Programme, as part of the ‘SHOP4CF’ project and builds on the developments from the ‘HORSE’ project (http://www.horse-project.eu). The ‘SHOP4CF’ project involves twenty partners, of which four universities, six centers for applied research, six technical companies and another four application companies, from ten different European countries. During the project several other application companies will be recruited. Therefore, the project has a strong link with practice – we aim at a strong foundation in science too, however.

Job description
You, as a successful applicant, will perform the research project outlined below in an international research team. You will report research findings at international conferences and workshops and in research journals. The European project that forms the context for this position also involves intensive collaboration with an international group of research institutes and companies on the topic of business process management for the high-tech manufacturing industry. Your concrete tasks include but are not limited to: conducting the requirements analysis (analyzing the pilot companies involved in the project), applying and maturing the supporting method for manufacturing process analysis, contributing to the overall framework architecture, day-to-day project management, and further developing the manufacturing process management system by extending the agent allocation mechanism with human factors. The project will be supervised by dr.ir. Irene Vanderfeesten and prof.dr.ir. Paul Grefen (who are also senior researchers in the ‘SHOP4CF’ project).

Research project
The position is part the ‘SHOP4CF’ project, a large, prestigious and innovative, European project in the area of smart factories. It focuses on integrating the results from the HORSE project on Manufacturing Process Management (i.e. the application of business process management concepts and theories in high-tech manufacturing settings including advanced technologies such as robotics and augmented reality) in a larger body of technological advancement with a special focus on human factors.
The specific research goal of the PostDoc project is to develop a dynamic agent allocation mechanism that takes into account human factors when (re-)allocating production tasks to the various (teams of) agents (e.g. human operators, robots, autonomous guided vehicles, and smart machinery) in high-tech manufacturing processes. It involves the design of a modeling method and tool for high-tech manufacturing processes and their various types of actors, and the development of an execution environment in which an advanced process engine flexibly assigns tasks to the right actors and dynamically handles exceptions in process execution, such as safety warnings, occupational risks and unavailability of resources.

The objective of the overall project is to integrate and standardize several new technologies to realize industrial tasks in an efficient, safe and healthy manner. The project fosters technology deployment towards SMEs by developing a methodological and technical framework for easy adaptation of robotic solutions, by using as much as possible open source software, and by setting up infrastructures and environments that will act as clustering points for selected application areas in manufacturing and for product life cycle management. It involves academic as well as industrial developments.

Requirements
You, as a successful applicant, have a PhD degree in Industrial Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems, Business Science or a similar field of study. You have a strong affinity with interdisciplinary research that involves both Computer Science and Business Science, and with collaboration with industry. You are able to work independently on a challenging topic that has both basic and applied research aspects. Your communication skills are excellent as is your proficiency in English and your ability to collaborate in an international setting.

Appointment and salary

We offer:

·         A challenging job in a dynamic and ambitious university;

·         a PostDoc appointment for a period of 24 months with target start date early 2020;

·         gross monthly salary is 2709,- in the first year up to  €4274,- (gross) (on a full-time basis),

·         A yearly holiday allowance of 8% and 8.3% end of year allowance;

·         A broad package of fringe benefits (including an excellent technical infrastructure, moving expenses, savings schemes, coverage of costs of publishing the dissertation and excellent sports facilities).



Application

Your application must contain the following documents (all in English):

·         Cover letter (1 page max), which includes a motivation of your interest in the vacancy and an explanation of why you would fit well for the project;

·         a detailed curriculum vitae; including your publication list;

·         name and contact information of two references.

Additional Information

More information about the IS group can be found at http://is.ieis.tue.nl. Questions about this position should be addressed to dr.ir. Irene Vanderfeesten (i.t.p.vanderfeesten at tue.nl<mailto:i.t.p.vanderfeesten at tue.nl>).



Information about terms of employment can be obtained from Susan Opgenoorth, personnel officer (pz.ieis at tue.nl<mailto:pz.ieis at tue.nl>). Further information about the Eindhoven University of Technology can be found at www.tue.nl<http://www.tue.nl>.



You can apply by pressing the ‘apply now’ button for this vacancy on the TU/e web-site or click here<https://jobs.tue.nl/nl/vacature/postdoc-researcher-in-the-area-information-systems-business-process-management-827257.html>. The deadline for applications is 1 December 2019. We don’t accept applications sent by e-mail. You can only upload a maximum of 5 documents. If you have more than 5 documents you will need to combine them.