TheUniversity of Twente is the only campus university in the Netherlandsand located in a beautiful natural environment. The department ofOperational Methods for Production and Logistics (OMPL) is part of theFaculty of Business, Public Administration and Technology. The Facultyof Business, Public Administration and Technology (BBT Faculty) focuseson the programs of Public and Business Administration, IndustrialEngineering and Management and Health Sciences. The programs compriseinitial Bachelor and Master programs, post-experience programs andmultidisciplinary contract research on several societal themes. TheFaculty has about 370 employees and 1700 students.

Thedepartment Operational Methods for Production and Logistics contains atthis moment 13 employees, including PhD's. Our research activitiesfocus on optimization of business processes, particularly in internallogistics (production, warehousing), external logistics (transport anddistribution, purchasing, supply chain management) and the supportinglogistics processes (maintenance and service logistics). The group hasintensive co-operation with other universities and industry. Within theUniversity of Twente, OMPL is responsible for the track on Productionand Logistics Management within the master Industrial Engineering andManagement. The department has

Two PhD positions (4yr)

on service logistics modelling and analysis

Project 1: Decision support for life cycle based design of capital goods

Research topic

Forcapital goods, the after sales service costs for maintenance and sparepart provisioning is an important cost component during the systemlifetime. Examples are airplanes, medical equipment as MRI scanners,and wafer steppers for semiconductor manufacturing. A significant partof the service logistics costs is determined by decisions taken duringproduct design (component choice, modularity, component redundancy,etc.). Your task is to develop quantitative models that provideengineers insight in the consequences of their product design decisionson service logistics processes and costs during the system exploitationphase.

Project organization

ThisPhD project is part of a larger joint project of the University ofTwente and Eindhoven University of Technology that is granted bySenterNovem in the research programme IOP-IPCR. This project on Designfor Service Logistics (totally three PhDs) will be carried out in closecooperation with industrial partners. As a PhD student, you will be amember of a multidisciplinary project team.

Profile

Youhave a Master of Science degree in Industrial Engineering, OperationsResearch, Econometrics or a related discipline. You have strongquantitative modelling skills and are interested in the application ofquantitative models in practice. You are able to work bothindependently as well in a project team. You have good communicativeskills, both oral and in writing.

Project 2: Operational planning and control

of service logistics processes

Research topic

Forsuppliers of technically advanced systems (computers, medical systems,wafer steppers, radar equipment, copiers, etc.), a high availabilityduring the exploitation phase is very important. For example, downtimeof production equipment may lead to immediate loss of production. Anefficient and effective service logistics should minimize systemdowntime. The trend towards more information on the state of theinstalled base offers new possibilities for intelligent operationalcontrol of service logistics, such as prediction of demand for spareparts and maintenance capacity and integration of preventivemaintenance planning and spare part supply. This project aims todevelop new models and algorithms to optimize service logistics using(real-time) information on the state of the installed base. The modelsshould be implemented in prototype decision support systems and testedin pilot project in industry.

Project organization

ThisPhD project is part of a joint research programme related to theService Logistics Foundation that is carried out jointly by theUniversity of Twente, Erasmus University Rotterdam and EindhovenUniversity of Technology. The project is sponsored by a consortium ofcompanies that are a member of the Service Logistics Foundation. Theproject will be carried out in close cooperation with these industrialpartners. As a PhD student, you will be a member of a joint projectteam from the three universities as mentioned above.

Profile

Youhave a Master of Science degree in Industrial Engineering, OperationsResearch, Econometrics or a related discipline. You have strongquantitative modelling skills and are interested in the application ofquantitative models in practice. You are able to work bothindependently as well in a project team. You have good communicativeskills, both oral and in writing.

Appointment and salary

Weoffer interesting positions in a dynamic and challenging organizationan environment. As a PhD. student you will be appointed in a full timeposition for a total period of four years, with an evaluation after oneyear. At the end of this four-year period the PhD thesis must becompleted. The salary starts at € 1813,- during the first year, up to €2394 (per September 2005) during the fourth year of the appointment.Next to this we offer a broad package of fringe benefits, including acontribution of € 1400 to cover the costs of your dissertation. The PhDeducational program implies some 900-course hours, suited to yourspecific needs.

Information

For further information about this position, you can contact dr. M. van der Heijden (email m.c.vanderheijden@utwente.nl; phone: +31-53-4892852) or prof. dr. A. van Harten (a.vanharten@utwente.nl; phone: +31-53-4893524).

Application

You are invited to send a writtenapplication with a full CV, an overview of the courses that you passedwith grades and possibly references to prof. dr. B.E. van VuchtTijssen, dean of the Faculty of Business. Public Administration andTechnology (BBT); P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede. Applications shouldbe received before July 15, 2005. Vacancy number 05/064.

:::source