Florida Poly co-hosts prominent international industrial engineering conference

LAKELAND, Fla., June 12, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Top industrial engineering and operations management professionals from more than 40 countries will gather in Central Florida June 17-19 for IEOM Society International's 10th North American International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management.

Florida Polytechnic University and the University of Central Florida are co-hosting the event in Orlando, bringing together industry and academia to advance the discipline. Florida Poly also hosted the international conference in 2022.

"Co-hosting this prestigious conference is a great opportunity for Florida Poly, giving us more visibility to industry and other universities," said Dr. Shahram Taj, event co-chair and chair of the University's Department of Data Science and Business Analytics. "It's also a valuable opportunity for networking among our faculty, industry practitioners, and faculty from other universities."

Conference topics include artificial intelligence, automation and robotics, business and operations management, entrepreneurship, and sustainability. Keynote speakers include professionals from organizations such as the Walt Disney Company, NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Blue Origin, and MIT's Center for Transportation and Logistics. Panel discussions will feature experts in their field, including Florida Poly faculty such as Dr. Sanna Siddiqui, Dr. Onur Toker, Dr. Denis Ulybyshev, and Dr. Ian Bentley.

The event also includes 14 competitions in areas that include undergraduate research, doctoral dissertation, and global design, with Florida Poly faculty and students among the competitors and distinguished judges.

Tobias Syring, a Florida Poly graduate student studying engineering management as a Fulbright Fellow, has assisted in organizing the Industrial Engineering and Operations Management (IEOM) Society International's event.

He also helped review submitted academic papers and will deliver a presentation on Industry 4.0 and enhancing its efficiency through digital twins. Industry 4.0 integrates advanced digital technologies into manufacturing and industrial processes. Digital twins are virtual replicas of physical systems that simulate events without disrupting the real system.

"You see what happens in the real world in the virtual world, so everything that could go wrong can go wrong in the digital world as well," said Syring, from Rügen, Germany. "You can run simulations and see the breaking point in the physical system to figure out how to prevent it from happening."

Taj said the prominent international conference is a testament to Florida Poly's growing reputation in the field.

"We are proud to help bring together global leaders and innovators to Central Florida to share knowledge and drive progress in industrial engineering and operations management," he said.

SOURCE Florida Polytechnic University