Prof. George Chryssolouris

George Chryssolouris is a professor (1993-) in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, where he served as chairman between 2003 and 2007. In 2006-2007, he was the President of CIRP, the Paris-based International Academy for Production Engineering. He is a member of the High Level Group (HLG) of the Manufuture platform and Vice-chairman of the European Factories of the Future Research Association (EFFRA).

He received a Ph.D. (Dr.-Ing.) in engineering from the University of Hannover, Germany (1979) and a Diploma (M.S.) in Mechanical/Electrical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece (1975). He has more than 400 publications in international scientific journals and refereed conferences. He is the author of two books published by Springer Verlag. He holds a US patent for a laser machine design and was granted the Frederick W. Taylor Research Medal by SME (2001) for his outstanding contributions to manufacturing research. He was also the recipient of SME’s Young Outstanding Manufacturing Engineer Award (1986).

Professor Chryssolouris worked at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in the USA between 1980 and 1993 where he led a research group for the development of information systems and automation for industrial applications. At MIT, he taught undergraduate and graduate courses related to manufacturing systems, design and automation.

Professor Chryssolouris is the Director of the Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems and Automation (LMS). LMS has about 70 researchers working on a variety of research subjects, including production systems planning and control, software development for industrial networking, innovative manufacturing processes, virtual reality engineering applications, and quality control and metrology.

LMS

Presentation

Manufacturing skills and competencies for the Factories of the Future

Studies have presented clear evidence of the relationship between human capital (e.g. skills measured by educational attainment) and competitiveness (e.g. measured in terms of productivity growth and export performance) (i). During the last years, there have been frequent reports on the shortage of skilled manufacturing personnel.

This presentation aims at introducing some novel approaches to building competence in manufacturing, which can contribute to revitalizing future manufacturing. The importance of human capital skills / competencies for industry’s competitiveness is first discussed giving an overview of the current situation in different world regions. Modern approaches to manufacturing education are shortly reviewed.

The need for young people to be enlightened about the exciting character of manufacturing, with real life problems being addressed under business conditions, via scientific approaches and cutting edge technologies, is discussed.

A “Teaching Factory” is being introduced as a distance-learning knowledge delivery mechanism for bringing the real factory into the classroom, together with an ICT framework in support of the practicing manufacturing knowledge content within digital environments.

(i) Michael Landesmann, Sebastian Leitner, Robert Stehrer and Terry Ward, Skills and Industrial Competitiveness, wiiw Research Reports, No. 356, August 2009