Leadership Matters: An Industrial Engineering Framework for Developing and Sustaining Industry

This book presents in-depth case studies from an industrial engineering perspective of the rise and fall of selected industries around the world. Discussing what works and what doesn’t work from a systems approach can help the industry avert problems of shutdowns and takeovers.

Leadership Matters: An Industrial Engineering Framework for Developing and Sustaining Industry discusses how industries face the birth and death of new manufacturing enterprises. Many disastrous outcomes can be prevented if proper industrial engineering tools and techniques are applied throughout daily operations. This book explains how product development, advancement, and international promotion are best accomplished through the practice of industrial engineering techniques. It illustrates how the discipline of industrial engineering has a proven track record of aiding the survival of industry especially now that organizations are more vulnerable to adverse developments in the global supply chain. Real-world examples of managing products, services, and results are offered along with a range of management tools. A template for operational excellence is also provided.

This practical professional book should be on the reading shelf of all industry practitioners, industrial and manufacturing engineers, business management professionals, and consultants as well as those teaching industrial, mechanical, and business leadership courses.

Adedeji Badiru is a Professor of Systems Engineering at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT). He is a registered professional engineer and a fellow of the Institute of Industrial Engineers as well as a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Engineering. He has a BS degree in Industrial Engineering, MS in Mathematics, and MS in Industrial Engineering from Tennessee University, and Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Central Florida. He is the author of several books and technical journal articles and has received several awards and recognitions for his accomplishments. His special skills, experience, and interests center on research mentoring of faculty and graduate students.

Melinda’s career began in 1984 as an Air Force ROTC scholarship recipient to Georgia Tech to study lasers to prepare her to work on President Reagan’s Star Wars. Her first assignment was at Wright Patterson AFB, Dayton, OH, to work in WRDC (now AFRL) and then transition to AFIT. She has worked for four defense industry partners contributing her expertise in program management, electro-optics, and lasers. She is pursuing her PhD in Education to study technical leadership in industry. Mrs. Tourangeau is an accomplished technical writer, public speaker, and business leader, devoted to mindful technical leadership for mutual benefit of the US military, industry, and the world.