9529114 Wu The objective of this project is to organize a two-day workshop in the area of manufacturing logistics to bring together practitioners and researchers from industry, universities, and software development firms. The focus of the workshop is to develop a joint industry-university research agenda in manufacturing logistics so as to bridge the gap between theory and practice in areas such as production planning, scheduling, information and material management, and shop floor monitoring and control. The workshop will foster debate and discussion of pressing issues in industry, and cultivate a wide spectrum of interactions and future collaboration between researchers, practitioners, and software developers. The results of the workshop will be disseminated through several published channels. A gap currently exists between the researcher and practice of manufacturing logistics. one main reason for the gap is the lack of communication between these three groups. A workshop which brings people from the application, development, and research domain will foster communication between these groups. Improved communication and the exchange of ideas will enhance research and application of manufacturing logistics. Reduction of the gap between theory and application will obviously be of benefit to manufacturing in America. Both students and faculty alike will benefit from such collaboration by building models that more truly reflect logistics problems as experienced by industry.
