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MIS Research Center Seminar Series
Abstract: The use of information technology in the support of new product development is widely recognized as on of its most effective uses in creating strong firm profitability. Professor Ram Akella’s presentation will stress the importance of the role of cross-enterprise learning support in the process of new product introductions, and the systems that provide support. It also will involve an in-depth assessment of how to use information systems to support new product introduction at a large automotive industry supplier, Delphi HVAC, as well as new product and process introduction in the global semiconductor industry-semiconductor firms in US, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and Europe. (Interested participants may want to visit the firm’s website at delphi.com for an overview of its business and product capabilities.) In addition, Ram will also be addressing a number of other related issues in technology-supported new product introduction. They include:
Our speaker will also consider implementation issues, both in terms of the local experiences of organizational units that are introducing the new products, and the organization’s performance overall. Professor Ram Akella welcomes interaction with the audience. He is willing to react to participants’ experiences with new product introductions and your questions about how to make things work well in your organization. FormatThe format of this seminar will involve a presentation by the featured speaker in two parts. plus a 15-minute break. It will also include an open-mike discussion among the seminar attendees and the speaker on the topic to wrap up the morning event.
Speaker BiographyProfessor Akella is currently Professor and Director of Information Systems and Technology Management, at the University of California at Silicon Valley Center, Santa Cruz. He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madra, India (1971-1976), and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India (1976-1982). Professor Akella's interests lie in information technology and systems, management of technology, new product introduction and development, enterprise and knowledge management, supply chain management and e-business, and financial engineering. He was the Founding Director of the Center for Excellence in Global Enterprise Management at the State University of New York. In addition, at Stanford, the University of California at Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon University, as a faculty member and center director, Professor Akella has led major multi-million dollar interdisciplinary team efforts in high technology semiconductor manufacturing. He joined the faculty in 1985 as an Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Industrial Administration and the Robotics Institute of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His research and teaching at Stanford University have been in high technology, IT, knowledge management, semiconductors, cost competitiveness, product life cycle management, supply chain management, financial engineering and investment, business process optimization and e-business. At the University of California at Berkeley he taught Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, and conducted research on semiconductor process learning. He has also been a post-doctoral visitor at Harvard University and worked at MIT in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (LIDS), and the Leaders for Manufacturing Program. Professor Akella has also been active in doctoral mentoring and advising. His doctoral students have gone on to teach at major schools such as Northwestern, Michigan (Ann Arbor), NYU, USC, Dartmouth, and the London Business School, and to work at major corporations such as IBM, KLA-Tencor, TSMC, ABN/AMRO, and BCG. His masters students have gone on to become vice presidents of major corporations, such as AT Kearney. His current research interests include knowledge management, process learning, quality, fab economic models, cost of ownership and financial justification for IT management and equipment, production planning and control, and bio-informatics. His other interests are enterprise systems, IT and software, financial engineering, high tech and e-Business. His coverage ranges from cell and factory-level design and control to enterprise-wide coordination and logistics, including supply chain management and contracts, demand management, e-commerce and e-business exchanges, and product and process portfolios for risk management and design capacity management. He has received several awards, including the IBM Faculty Award, the AMD Research Award, and the KLA Award. He has also been cited in Marquis' Who's Who. He also has interacted extensively with different industries, including corporations such as AMD, TI, IBM, Digital, Hyundai, LSI Logic, HP, AT&T, KLA, Applied Materials, SRC, American Axle, Delphi Automotive, General Motors, and Rich Food Products, along with various Japanese and European companies. In leading an STPI-Stanford/SUNY study on IT outsourcing, he came into contact with many United States software companies and their Indian suppliers. He has also lectured extensively by invitation in Europe and the Pacific Rim, including Japan, Taiwan, Korea, and Singapore. He currently is on the Technical Advisory Council of Yield Dynamics, and serves on the board of directors of E-Soft. He enjoys helping companies grow and become more profitable. On the academic side, Professor Akella has served as an Associate Editor for Operations Research and IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing, and has been on the Editorial Board of Technology and Operations Review. He has also served as Guest Editor for IEEE Robotics and Automation, for a Special Issue on Manufacturing Systems. Professor Ram Akella can be reached at the following address: Jack Baskin School of Engineering |
