15th EPIEM Conference 2022 in co-operation with the European Operations Management Association (EurOMA)

Date: 01.06.2022 – 04.06.2022 (incl. the 3rd EurOMA Central and Eastern European Research Network Workshop)

Post-Conference Update: More impressions and photos can be found HERE. Furthermore, under this password protected link the participants can access the presented contents and contact details.

Venue: Graz, Austria (Note: This event is set-up and planned as a face-to-face conference!)

Organisation: Graz University of Technology, Institute of Business Economics and Industrial Sociology, Working Group “Industrial Marketing, Purchasing and Supply Management“

Program Committee

  • Amila OMAZIC, BSc MSc (Head of Organisation)
  • Lukas HOLDER, BSc
  • Dipl.-Ing. Sigrid WELLER, BSc
  • Rudolf GRÜNBICHLER, BA MA
  • Dipl.-Ing. Marco BERGER
  • Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Volker KOCH
  • Prof. Dr. Bernd Markus ZUNK

15th EPIEM Conference Topic

Creating a European IEM Future at the Intersection “Innovation – Digitalisation – Sustainability”

The 15th EPIEM Conference is addressing three thematic pillars – Innovation, Digitalisation and Sustainability – that should underpin contemporary IEM practice, IEM research and IEM teaching. Nevertheless, all papers from major areas in the business economics field – theoretical or empirical with a strong link to technology management/techno-economics – are highly encouraged. It would be great if interested Professors of Universities all over Europe would take the chance and visit the 15th EPIEM Conference in Graz and contribute to the future development of the IEM field.

This year’s EPIEM conference offers the opportunity to participate in the 3rd EurOMA CEE Research Network Workshop. This aims to maximize the benefits for OM and IEM researchers (especially from the CEE countries) of attending the EPIEM conference “actively” (note: should mean with a paper) in person. This one-and-a-half-day workshop will bring together interested and motivated researchers (from pre-doc to professorial level) in the IEM and OM field to jointly develop a viable and promising research project proposal idea. This idea will be presented and “challenged” on the 15th EPIEM conference (in a separate session on the 3rd June 2022 in the afternoon) in order to open further doors for potential new partners from other European countries in academia and/or industry. The overall purpose of this approach is to generate added value for all EPIEM conference participants by forming committed research proposal writing teams which are willing to work hard and to write and submit a research project proposal (e.g. at EU level) as a follow-up to this conference. Please find further details HERE.


Schedule (Preliminary Program)

Wednesday, June 1st 2022 (Note: It is strongly recommended to arrive in Graz by 1st June 2022 at the latest!)
7.00 p.m. EPIEM meets EurOMA representatives and all conference participants for dinner


Thursday, June 2nd 2022 (Official conference start)
8.30 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. 3rd EurOMA CEE Research Network Workshop in co-operation with EPIEM
7.00 p.m. Get together: Meet academics and practitioners


Friday, June 3rd 2022

8.30 a.m. to 8.45 a.m. Warm-up: Connecting the PERISCOPE Group to the EPIEM/EurOMA research network group as well as to the participants of the 15th EPIEM Conference (voluntarily)

8.45 a.m. to 9.05 a.m. Official Welcome Speech Vice Rector Prof. Stefan Vorbach, Graz University of Technology PERISCOPE Multiplier Event: Connecting the Workshop Participants

9.05 a.m. to 9.50 a.m. PERISCOPE Part 1 – Introduction: Idea, Concept, Process, Plan, Do`s & Don’ts

9.50 a.m. to 10.40 a.m. PERISCOPE Part 2 – Content & Deliverables

10.40 a.m. to 11.00 a.m. Coffee break 30 min.

11.00 a.m. to 12.15 a.m. ”PERISCOPE“ keynote speech(es) from academia and/or industry (to point out the importance of considering the “relevance concept” in research proposals

12.15 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. Lunch break @ TU Graz together with the Austrian Association of Industrial Engineering and Management (WING)

1.00 p.m. to 1.15 p.m. EPIEM Conference: Official welcome speech (Vice Rector Prof. Vorbach, Graz University of Technology and and Prof. Bernd M. Zunk, President of EPIEM)

1.15 p.m. to 2.00 p.m. Key note speeches: IEM – Paths in research and teaching to the future: Which path should we take? (Prof. Joseph Sarkis, Professor of Management within Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Business School, USA and Dr. Javier Retegi Albisua, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Production, Mondragon University, Spain)

2.00 p.m. to 3.00 p.m. EPIEM Conference Session 1: Challenging the 5-6 EU Proposals of the EurOMA Workshop: Looking for feedback, further project-related ideas, potential associated project partners

3.00 p.m. to 3.30 p.m. Coffee break 30 min.

3.30 p.m. to 3.45 p.m. “Industry 4.0 – Between Vision and Reality”, Gerhard Banse, Berliner Zentrum Technik & Kultur, Germany

3.45 p.m. to 4.00 p.m. “Lean Thinking, Society 5.0 and Industry 5.0 Synergies”, Anabela Carvalho Alves, Algoritmi R&D center, University of Minho, Portugal

4.00 p.m. to 4.15 p.m. “Industry 4.0 Technologies as Organizational Capability for Environmental Sustainability in Supply Chains: An Empirical Study”, Mariana Trujillo-Gallego Castro & William Ariel Sarache Castro, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Colombia

4.15 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. “Being efficient or being innovative – does one hinder the other”, Ajay Das, Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College, USA

4.30 p.m. to 4.45 p.m. “Industry 4.0 for more competitive SMEs: Review of existing Industry 4.0 Maturity Models”, Aleksandar Argilovski & Bojan Jovanovski & Atanas Kochov & Robert Minovski, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, North Macedonia

4.45 p.m. to 5.00 p.m. “Dimensions of Industry 4.0 Readiness and Maturity Models”, Klemen Kovič & Iztok Palčič, University of Maribor, Slovenia

5.00 p.m. to 5.15 p.m. “Data Fitting as the Next Level in the Management of Chances and Risk”, Markus Kummer & Christian Hofstadler, Graz University of Technology, Austria

5.15 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. “Inter-firm Cooperation: Basis of a Course in Industrial Engineering”, Jabier Retegi Albisua & Juan Ignacio Igartua, Mondragon University, Spain

5.30 p.m. to 5.45 p.m. “ERP and Digital Planning in Learning Factories for Increasing Digital Resilience”, Tanel Aruväli and Erwin Rauch, Free University of Bolzano, Italy

5.45 p.m. to 6.00 p.m. “Resilience and Synchronicity in a Dutch Food Supply Chain”, Harun Demirci, Frederik G.S. Vos, Petra Hoffmann, University of Twente, the Netherlands

6.00 p.m. to 6.15 p.m. “Digitalisation of a Bottling Process of a Hyperthermal Mineral Water Plant”, Hilda Rousserie & Evangelina Alejandro & Camila Montero de la Vega & Sergio Salimbeni, Universidad Nacional de Entre Ríos & Universidad del Salvador, Argentina

6.15 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. EPIEM Conference and EurOMA Research Network Workshop closing incl. group photo in front of TU Graz

6.30 p.m. to 7.00 p.m. Time to get prepared for the Gala Dinner @ “Schloßberg Graz” (Note: Dress code recommendation: Business casual to elegant, as the dinner will be held in an elegant and relaxed atmosphere)

7.15 p.m. – open end. Final networking and Gala Dinner @ “Schloßberg Graz”; open for all participants of the 3rd EurOMA CEE Research Network Workshop and the 15th EPIEM Conference incl. ESTIEM, IEM Caring Foundation members as well as all participants of the PERSICOPE Multiplier event


Saturday, June 4th 2022
10.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m.
Historic city tour in Graz Alternatively to the city tour a visit of our smartfactory@TUGraz (Note: Registration will be possible during the conference!)


Registration (for the 15th EPIEM Conference AND the 3rd EurOMA CEE Research Network Workshop)

Preliminary remark: Up-to-date information on travelling to Austria in COVID-19 times you may find here: https://www.oesterreich.gv.at/en/themen/coronavirus_in_oesterreich/pre-travel-clearance.html.
It is important to note that a registration for (and a participation in) the 15th EPIEM Conference is only possible with an accepted conference paper. Once your submitted paper has been finally accepted by the scientific committee (note: this will be on the 22nd of April 2022) you will receive an acceptance letter via email which also includes a registration link.

The registration fee will be 95 Euro for conference participants (with an accepted paper) and 55 Euro for an accompanying person. This person is thus entitled to participate in the extensive social program. The registration fee includes all coffee and lunch breaks as well as a variety of social events like the welcome reception at the “Grazer Burg – Orangerie” and a conference dinner/gala dinner in a festive and formal setting at the “Grazer Schloßberg” (note: evening dress desirable) for participants as well as the accompanying person.
As this year’s EPIEM conference is designed as a fully integrated and combined event, the registration fee for the 15th EPIEM conference includes the publication fee for the accepted paper in the conference proceedings as well as the registration fee for the 3rd EurOMA CEE Research Network Workshop. In case you only want to participate in the 3rd EurOMA CEE Research Network Workshop (without submitting a conference paper to the 15th EPIEM Conference), you will find the regarding information HERE.
Finally, for the sake of transparency, it must be noted in advance that the 3rd EurOMA CEE Research Network Workshop is limited to a maximum of 40 participants and that preference in the allocation of places will be given to people from the CEE region.


Paper Submission & Conference Proceedings

Please write/design your conference paper/contribution according to the submission guidelines which you can find in the paper template (HERE) and e-mail your contribution to Ms. Amila Omazic [amila.omazic(at)tugraz.at] before the paper submission deadline. Furthermore, it is important to mention that for presentation and participation in the conference a full paper following the submission guidelines is required. All papers will undergo a fast-track one-step review process.

Timeline

Paper submission deadline for the 15th EPIEM Conference – deadline extended to: 3rd of May 2022
• Review results: 10th of May 2022
• Revised paper submission deadline: 16th of May 2022
• Final acceptance (Notification/acceptance letter incl. registration link via email): 18th of May 2022
• Detailed conference program: 27th May 2022 (Note: the conference agenda will be/is available HERE)
• Official conference start (Note: together with the Pre-Conference Workshop): 2nd June 2022, 8.00 a.m. CET

Presentation, Publication and Best Paper Award

The best 10 conference papers submitted, accepted and presented at the 15th EPIEM Conference (note: 10 min. presentation time and 5 min. discussion per paper) will be published in the conference proceedings with ISBN/DOI (note: provided there is a sufficient number of high-quality submissions). In addition, the most outstanding of these 10 papers will be awarded the 15th EPIEM Conference Best Paper Award. This will be presented to the winner during the conference dinner on 3rd of June 2022.

Conference Proceedings

HERE you may find the Proceedings of the 15th EPIEM Conference 2022 organized by Graz University of Technology.


Scientific Committee (alphabetical order)

Prof. Dr. Anabela C. ALVES
University of Minho, Department of Production and Systems, IEM R&D Group “Lean Production Systems”

Prof. Dr. Marco FORMENTINI
University of Trento, Department of Information Engineering and Science

Prof. Dr. Cristian MUSTATA
University Politehnica of Bucharest, Faculty of “Engineering in Foreign Languages”

Prof. Dr. George ONOFREI
Letterkenny Institute of Technology Ireland, School of Business, Operations and Supply Chain Management

Prof. Dr. Iztok PALČIČ
University of Maribor, Laboratory of Production and Operations Management

Prof. Dr. Alexander PASSER
Graz University of Technology, Working Group “Sustainable Construction”

Prof. Dr. Carina PIMENTEL
University of Aveiro, Department of Economics, Management, Industrial Engineering and Tourism, Research Unit “Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies”

Prof. Dr. Jasna PRESTER
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics and Business

Prof. Dr. Mladen RADIŠIĆ
University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Technical Sciences / “Business and Finance”

Prof. Dr. Erwin RAUCH
Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Faculty of “Science and Technology, Industrial Engineering and Automation”

Prof. Dr. Holger SCHIELE
University of Twente, Technology Management and Supply

Prof. Dr. Stevan STANKOVSKI
University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Work Area “Industrial Automation”

Dr. Klaas STEK
University of Twente, Technology Management and Supply

Priv.-Doz. Dr. Manuel WOSCHANK, MSc.
Montanuniversitaet Leoben, Chair of Industrial Logistics, Working Group “MUL 4.0”

Prof. Dr. Bernd M. ZUNK
Graz University of Technology, Working Group “Industrial Marketing, Purchasing and Supply Management”