A look at how the Department of Production Engineering and

Management of the Technical University of Crete is dealing

with the challenges of a changing world

by YANNIS A. PHlLLlS

Eveiy mt and srient@ research as iuell as n i t and r.ationn1 deri.rioiz

nints it seeins nt soine food. (Aristotle, IVicoinarheaiz Ethics, Fin f Book, Ch. 1)

odcrn society evolves rapidly at a speed of- ten cxceeding the ability of institutions to adapt. There arc many reasons for this change; €or examplc, the dcvelopnient of digital systcnis, communicarionr, trairspor-

ration, intcrnationd tradr. At the sanic time thr problem o€ humanity have become intcrdisciplinary and global: pollution, resource scarcity, disease, uncmploymrnt, and so on. Such problcnis often nccd urgent solutions and most solutions de- p m d on science. Society tums for help to the institution in which science is taught, preserved, and promoted-the uni- venity. The university should respond to the needs of society and provide solutions; it doesn't exist for its own sake. At the same time, since society and i t s needs chaise rapidly, thc uiii-

verity ought to chnngc, too. Most of LIS would not hesitate to accept evolution 01- w e n

radical changes i€ such changes concerned othcv parties. Closed, self-governed systems such as universities, however, tend to be consewative and not amenable to change; this is thr cas? in Greek universities, which are all public, where the main chunk of thcir budget conics fiom the state and most changes emanate from the Minister of Education. T o get an idea of the time honiron in which dccirions are made, thc ministerial rcsidency has a n expected valne U€ a little ovcr \even months.

Technolo,y is one of the fastest evolving human endeav- ors, one w-hich crcatri new needs and directions in teaching and research. Traditional schools of engineering must adapt to these needs. NKW specializations in environmental engineer- ing do not fit well in old-fashioncd civil or chcruical e n p e e r - ing departments. Modern production and management techniques cannot be provided by mechanical engineering de- partments. New chip and computer technologies create their own directions.

In burcaucaatic systems it is easicr to start a new univcirity from scratch than to change the direction of traditional ones. The Technical University of Crete (TUC) waq established in 1977 in this spirit. The need? o f the country in the fields o f production engineering and management, mineral resources cxploration and extraction, computer engineering, and envi- roimiental technologies, among others, would be best sewed with the opening o f a I ~ K W engineering school. The TUC o€- €en training and performs high-quality research in all these firlds. I t accepted its first undergraduate students in 1984 and its first grnduvic student, in 1986,

Frrhapr the main rcason for the existcnce of tht: T U C and the single area of change to which uinvcrsirics in general ought to be responding continuously is that ofthe fragmcnta- t ion and hybridization of knowledge. In ancient times all sys- tematic knowledge was cla?sified undu four fundamrntal directioiis-riiatheratics, philosophy, music, and history. Later rhctoric, grammar, logic, and astrology became standard disciplines to which physics and chcmistry were addrd after- wards. Then the list expanded, almost with no bounds. ICnowledge has bccoine more and morc Fragmented, and for good reason. A problem often has to be isolated to bs studicd

JUNE 1999

in depth at the cost ofgeneral perspective. Thus, new special- ties are created. Yet real problems often extend across the boundaries of established disciplines. A combination of dispa- rate specialities is needed to tacklc such problems. Hybridiza- tion-the dual of fragnientatioircomes to the rescue by combining different discipiincs. Production is a case in point with the ever-prrscnt need to utilize tools not only from engi- neering, but also From management, econonucs, and cnviron- mental sciences.

Othrr schools of mgneering in Greece with traditional departments in mechanical, electrical, chemical, and civil en- gineering specialize in one way or another, uespectively, in production and management, coniputer and electronics, min- eral cxploration and extraction, and environmental engnccr- ing. Yrt these last areas are in a sense subordinate to their parent msciplines. Education and research in such departments is often strongly biased towards tht. original directions, al- though not alwqJs. For examplc, civil or chemical engineer- ing departments view environmental engineering as remotely connected to physics or ecology, if at all, but strongly con- nected to flows and chemistry. The TUC, on the other hand, treats the new engineering directions as fields in their own right, which, of course, emanate from traditional engineering fields through the process offragmentation and hybridization.

Underg-aduate engmeering studies in Greece require five years, dnringwhich there is enough time to diversify the field of training into several mrections. It is believed that this train- ing should be rigorous in depth, but it should also providc breadth. Perhaps this is a rcsult of the Greek tradition in clas- sics and the humanitics. All Greek high-school graduates wishing to enter a university take an “all-Greece” test each June, the results ofwhich become public in August. This sys- tem will he phased out gradually by 2000.

TUC‘s Department of Production Engineering and Management The TUC is a n engineering school and the DPEM one of its five departnments. The DPEM has a 5-year undergraduate pro- g a m leading to a diploma and a graduate program leading to the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees. The undergraduate student body uf thc DPEM consists of 400 students and the graduate school consists of 150 students. The Department began operating in 1984.

The DPEIM was established in response to sharp changes and unrelenting competition in the field of production. Within the Greek systcm, a traditional department of Me- chanical Engineering would be closest to the DPEM, al- though not near enough to the aims of the latter. As alrcady mentioned, to start a new department or even a whole univer- sity in nontraditional dxections is easizr than niodifiing exist- ing schools or departments of mechanical engineering.

Several arguments favored the establishment ofthe DPEM

Globalization of trade and stiff competition have driven engneers and managers in search of increasingly e&- cicnt production processes. As new, often complex, technologes are being devel- oped in ever decreasing time spans, a holistic approach for their application is becoming necessary, which will strive toward? economic, social, technical, and environ- mental acceptance. Engineers, besides solving tcchnical problems, often handle people, becoming, to a varying degree, managers early on in their careers. Although management is an art and leadership, to a good extent, is a natural ability, a sys- tematic combination of tcchnical and managerial train- ing nowadays is not just beneficial but outright indispensablt: in the ficld of production.

The curriculum of the DPEM provides a strong grounding in the natural and mathematical sciences, production systems, operations research, computer applications, economics, man- agement, and the humanities. Students may also take courses in other universities of the European Union, through ex- change programs. A detailed list of courses and requirements is given in Table 1.

A number of laboratories introduce the students into the practical world and promote research in their respective fields. The laboratories are Computer-Aided Manufacturing; Com- putcr-Aided Design; Robotics; Dynamic Systems and Siniula- tion; Decision Support Systems; and Environmental Processes and Technologes.

The graduate program ofthe DPEM leads to the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees. There are three fields for the students to choose: Production Systems, Operations Research, or Man- agement. In contrast to the selection of undergraduates, grad- uate students arr selected internally by a committee, whose decisions are subject to approval by the Department. T o ob- tain an M.S., 9 courses are required or 6 courses and a thesis. To obtain a Ph.D., 10 counes are required and a thesis. A de- tailrd list o f graduate courses is provided in Table 2.

The DPEM has already made its mark nationally and inter- nationally. Most of its graduates are employed in the produc- tion sector of Greece. Many hold graduate degrees from Greek or foreign universities. Several hold academic positions. A large number of research projects fiinded by the European Union or Greek agencies are in progress. International confer- ences take place at the university and are organized by the De- partment. The future seems to be promising.

md favor its existence:

The Present and the Future According to article 16 ofthe Constitution, Greek universitizs are public and free. The adjective publicis translated into a cen- tral control of universities by the Minister of Education in

JUNE 1999

able Semester Course

Calculus I Physics I Introduction t o Computing Methodology of Operations Research Computer Aided Mechanical Drawing sociology English

Calculus 11 Physics II Mechanics I Chemistry Electric Circuits Political Economy Engiish

Ordinary Differential and Difference Equations Probabilitv for Enaineers Numericai Linear klgebra Strength of Materials English Software Engineering* Electronics* Micro-Macro Economics' Materials Science*

Numerical Analysis Engineering Statistics Linear Proqramminq Engineering Management I English Data Bases*

Art and Technology* ' Machine Elements*

t 1 course, * Electives: select 2 courses; ++ Electives: s

Athem, rrgarding rules and rcgulations, number offaculty po- sitions, evci, tht. iiunihrr ufscct-etal-les aiid janitors, who are all public enlployces. The role o f t h e president and the other iini- versity administrators is t o handle day-to-day affnirs or pres thr Ministcr for more positions or drpartnlcnts. Undrr this stat? ofalmost complete control, Creek uiiiversitier struggle to adjust to the needs ofhighrr rducation and socirty.

The DPEM at the TUC has shown, at lcast in one area, that ofacademic curriculum a n d rcsearch direction, it is possi- ble to devzlop the propcr adaptation<, evcn uiider central con- trol. Qumtions conccmins economic a n d administrative

~

duate ~

Seme VI

__ VI1

__ Vlll

IX

__ X

__ t 4 COL __

Course Production Systems Industrial Sociology Decision Support Systems Non-Linear Programming Applied Mathematics+ Fluid Mechanics+ Decision Analysis+

Control Systems Financial Management Reliability Theory Data Analysis Quality Control Marketing Total Quality Management+ Project Management+

Produition Networks (CAM) Investment Decision Analysis Computer Aided Design Ergonomics I Dynamic Programming Network & Combinatorial Optimization* Facilities Planning* Power Systems* Control Systems I/*

Simulation Robotics Materials Requirement Planninq+i Environmental Protection++ Ergonomics ll++ Strategic Planning++ Technological Forecasting++ Computational Design++ Engineering Economics++ Introduction to Industrial taw++

Graduation Proiect

viability, howcver, still remain, and it ~ecms that the state, sooner or latcr, will have to divest itsclfofits rolc as patron and decision maker. Ilccentraliration within thc Ministry and tlic univcrsities mill become inevitable. Free and centrally con- trolled education is an intrinsically unstable cystcm. Above all nothing is free, lest the second law ofthennodynamics be vio- lated. Also, the DPEM has to scarch foot. its own financial re- sources riiaiiily through fiindrd rrsrarch, if it is to fnnction independently of political and other intcrests. As Demo~thcnes put it in hi\ Firsf Olyi i thinn 24 crntnrirs ago: "There is need of nronry, and without that it is impossible to

JUNE 1999

do what we must.” Then central control of a highly dynamic, uncertain, and large-scale system is a political relic of the past.

A public university has its pros and cons. The pros include: 4 Support of activities that are not profitable in the narrow

+ Education to economically unprivileged classes since it is

+ Wider acceptance since its authority emanates from the

The cons include: + Dependence on party politics and, because of that, cor-

ruption. 4 Central control. Higher education in Greece is one of

the few purely communist systems par excellence in ex- istence today.

4 Lack of incentives for prudent economic management. Several remedies can be provided, but the details are

+ Introduction of flexibility of the legal framework and decentralization in the correct dose. The “correct dose

sense such as the humanities or the arts.

free.

state and not a group of private citizens.

nontrivial.

of decentralization” is a fuzzy con- cept and its definition is an art. Economic self-management with ingredients of market economy.

+ Redefinition of free education since someone always pays the bill.

Still, uncertainty looms over the fu- ture, and the process of applying any rem- edy should be cautious and the learning adaptive. Mistakes and failures should serve as guides for better action.

Academic titles, by necessity, focus on certain areas of knowledge. They also provide professional specialization, which is necessary because people need financial independence and social recog- nition through their profession. Above all, the society cannot survive without specialists. Academic titles, however, should provide knowledge in its general sense because humans need it. A univer- sity does not impose ways and means but provides possibilities, a general frame- work within and without the field of specialization because knowledge has no limits and barriers. A university teaches how to think and search. The modest ex-

periment of the DPEM at the T U C is striving in this direc- tion by diversi+ing the curriculum and at the same time providing enough depth in several areas.

The problems of the DPEM and the T U C in general, w h c h were outlined above in the “cons” list, one way or an- other, could be the problems of any institution of higher learning. Public education in the Greek sense is not uncom- mon in Europe. But times change everywhere, and although schools in North America, for example, face completely dif- ferent problems, one thing is common: W e live in an age of rapid change and the university has to adapt because it must survive. And it must survive because it is the repository of the highest achievement of the human race-knowledge. We all subscribe to this.

Yannis A. Phillis is with the Department of Production En- gineering and Management of the Technical University of Crete in Chania, Greece, and can be reached at phillis@ orpheas.dpem. tuc.gr.

JUNE 1999