• #27401, 4F, Engineering Building II
  2066, Seobu-ro, Jangan-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do, Korea (16419)
• +82-31-290-7590
  sme.admin@skku.edu
• http://sme.skku.edu

Since 1978, the Department of Systems Management Engineering (SME) has been emerging as an outstanding institution in both education and research, for providing quality professional engineers and leaders to various industries in Korea. The educational philosophy of the SME is based on the Scientific Management discipline advocated by F.W. Taylor, the father of industrial engineering. The mission of the Systems Management Engineering is, through education and research, to promote the analysis, design, operation, management, and innovation of technological, economic, and social systems.

Systems Management Engineering is for producing leaders who can systematically access R&D activity, forecast trends in technology, utilize information and knowledge, optimize systems, control quality and productivity, construct high-tech management systems, and manage system design for people. We support this mission through a diverse portfolio of undergraduate and graduate courses and world-class research activities, leveraging expertise across multiple disciplines.

Our department has one of the most outstanding educational programs in Korea with our renowned group of 15 faculty members, three department staffs, and more than 100 undergraduate and 20 graduate students annually receiving BS, MS, and Ph.D. degrees. Our faculty members, drawn from diverse and distinct industrial backgrounds, are eager to generate knowledge and innovations that can be transformed into business practices and public policy as well as the wider academic landscape. Faculty members' expertise lies in a broad spectrum of areas such as operations research, simulation, manufacturing, quality management; service engineering, human-computer interaction, ergonomics, information management, R&D management, and management of technology. They work with the leading companies such as Samsung Electronics, Korea Telecom, and GM-Daewoo, etc, and bring real-world experiences into the classroom every semester which provides students with up-to-date knowledge and information.

Brief History of the Department

Courses and Curriculums (Undergraduate)

The overall goal of the SME undergraduate curriculum is to produce technically qualified industrial engineers who are capable of successful professional practice in the field. To meet this goal, the curriculum includes in-depth instruction to accomplish the integration of systems using appropriate analytical, computational, and engineering practices. The curriculum also provides graduates with the necessary educational foundation to pursue advanced studies in industrial engineering or related fields.

Furthermore, MSE students can choose a focus area for a set of electives including operations research, simulation, manufacturing, quality engineering; service engineering; human-computer interaction, ergonomics, information technology, and management of technology.

Bachelor of Science in SME Curriculum Table

Master and Ph.D. Degrees

MS Degree (Master of Science in Industrial Engineering)

Aiming at going farther with advanced knowledge and having experience in research, the MS in Industrial Engineering program provides students with a solid technical and research background necessary to solve challenging problems from real-world domains. This program is designed to foster experts in the areas of operations research, simulation, manufacturing, quality management, service engineering, human-computer interaction, ergonomics, information management, R&D management, and management of technology. To be considered for admission to the MS program, applicants must have a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering or its equivalent from a college or university. 21 credit hours of coursework and a 9-credit thesis are required for students to complete the MS degree.

Ph.D. Degree (Doctor of Philosophy in Industrial Engineering)

The Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering program prepares students to develop strong methodological skills and an ability to find solutions to unseen and unpredictable problems, by providing an opportunity to explore challenging research problems from real-world domains. Our Ph.D. students work closely with an enthusiastic and well-qualified faculty and learn how to write research proposals, plan and conduct their own research, write research papers, and make technical presentations. Our Ph.D. Alumni take up research and teaching positions at universities or research groups in government or industry. The Doctor of Philosophy in Industrial Engineering degree requires 48 credit hours of coursework beyond the bachelor’s degree and a 24-credit dissertation. To be considered for admission to the Ph.D. program, applicants should have a M.S. degree in industrial engineering or a strongly related field.

Research Areas & Laboratories

The faculty members and graduate students of our department are very active in research and expanding beyond traditional boundaries to make a difference through their research. They strive to advance disciplines by discovering new ideas or applying existing methodologies in real-world domains of 6 core areas of research.

Research keywords for each of the laboratories

• Operations Research Lab.: Optimization, Queuing Theory, Applied Stochastic Proces
• Management Optimization Lab.: Optical Network Design, Network Structure & Planning, Internet Technologies and Applications
• System Control & Optimization Lab.: Discrete Event System Modeling, Scheduling, and Control, Scheduling of Automated Manufacturing Systems & Material Handling Systems, Design and Operation of Warehouse Automation Systems
• Simulation Lab.: Simulation Methodology, Simulation Output Analysis, Fast Simulation, Market Analysis, Time Series Forecasting
• Intelligent Web Technology Lab.: Ontology, Semantic Web, Rule Markup Language
• InfoScience Lab.: Data Mining, Statistical Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence Applications for Manufacturing and Service Industries
• Manufacturing Lab.: Concurrent Engineering, Product Life-cycle Management, Product Data Management and Real-Time Enterprise, Risk Management
• e-Manufacturing Lab.: Concurrent and Collaborative Engineering, Business Process Re-engineering, Virtual Manufacturing, Product Lifecycle Management, Collaborative Product Commerce
• Service Engineering Lab.: Quality Management, Service Science, R&D Quality, Service Strategy
• Innovation Lab.: Innovation Management, Business Creativity & Creative Problem Solving, Quality Innovation, Technology Management, Production & Operations Management
• Universal User Experience Design Lab.: Universal Usability in Human-Computer Interaction, Haptic Interface, Ubiquitous Computing in Human-Computer Interaction, Accessibility & Universal Design
• Ergo Space Lab.: Ergonomics, Human Performance, Workload Evaluation
• Management of Technology Lab.: Technology Policy, Technology Transfer, Technology Risk Management & Evaluation, R&D Management, Technology Forecasting
• InnoQMOT Lab.: Technology/Business Forecasting, New Business Strategy & Planning, Evolution and Management of Clusters, Networks and Innovation System, SME-Industry Giant Collaborative Business Model
• Open Innovation Lab.: Open Innovation, Patent Analysis, Technology Forecasting

Facilities and Resources

The SME department owns a total of 159 personal computers and workstations across laboratories and classrooms. Our department also provides two high-tech classrooms to deliver a better teaching environment for both students and instructors. Support devices include beam projectors connected to a personal computer, touch screen interfaces, imaging tools, and AV systems.

The following software resources are available for the SME faculty and students:

Why you should join our department?

While there are many reasons why you should join our department, below are a few that we suggest considering first:

• (1) Industrial engineers enjoy a flexible career path that allows them to advance in many types of organizations
• (2) Industrial engineers have a profound impact on society’s quality of life
• (3) You will experience engineering through problem-based learning with real world engineering problems in many of our courses
• (4) Students are placed in professional positions within a month of graduation
• (5) Students will have an opportunity to participate in engineering projects with our faculty members through the research internship program
• (6) The combined BS/ MS program is designed so that students can graduate within 5 years with their MS degrees
• (7) The SME department has topped a ranking of employment rates in the college of engineering
• (8) More than 80% of our graduates have been employed each year.

Funding

The SME department is performing the BK21 PLUS Research Project on smart factory design, operation and optimization based on industrial data analytics in which about 70% of graduate students are participating. Funding is available from the project as much as 600,000 won/month for MS students and 1,000,000 won/month for Ph.D. students. Our graduate students may also receive financial support from research assistantships or teaching assistantships.

Internships

The department provides internship opportunities for graduate students engaged in work related to operations research, information technology, manufacturing, and quality and service engineering. These opportunities enable students to enrich their education with hands-on experience and to apply lessons learned in the classroom to professional settings.

Students may be paid from either our department or companies they work for and earn academic credit for internships. Companies that participate in internship programs with our department include; Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, Korea Smart Factory Foundation, SK Telecom, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., GM Korea, and GM Global R&D Center.

Exchanges

Our department has established a partnership with the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Wayne State University, Michigan and offers an international exchange program for our graduate students. They can study and research at Wayne State University for one or two semesters and transfer credit to our university.