Faculty Profile
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Dr. Ryan
Underdown Associate
Professor Department of
Industrial Engineering Office (409)
880-8815, (409) 880-8121 fax Visit Dr. Underdown's Homepage |
Areas Of Expertise
·
Enterprise
Engineering - enterprise analysis, design and
improvement
·
Process improvement - both continuous improvement and
radical change
·
Engineering management - supervisors as
coaches and leadership
·
Total quality management - work teams and
facilitation
·
Problem solving - scientific and team methods
·
Planning - strategic and tactical
·
Facilitation - work teams, executive teams and
training
Teaching Areas
Courses
previously taught:
·
Engineering Management
·
Industrial Management
·
Six Sigma
·
Quality Control Applications
·
IE Systems Design
·
Lean Manufacturing
·
Simulation of Industrial Systems
·
Advanced Engineering Economy
·
Engineering Economy
·
Senior Design (capstone course)
·
Facility Design
·
Work Design
·
Probability and Statistics for Engineers
·
Ergonomics
·
Introduction to Engineering
·
Introduction to Management Science
·
Introduction to Information Systems
Education
The
Ph.D. in Industrial and
Manufacturing Systems Engineering (Dec. 1997)
Thesis title “An Enterprise Transformation Methodology”
MS in Industrial and
Manufacturing Systems Engineering (May 1994)
BS in Industrial and
Manufacturing Systems Engineering (Dec. 1992)
Experience
Associate Professor -
Assistant Professor -
Teach sections of statistics, computer simulation,
engineering management, industrial management, senior design, introduction to
engineering, engineering economy, and facilities planning in the Department of
Industrial Engineering.
See web site: http://dept.lamar.edu/industrial/Underdown/DrU2_index.htm
Reduce
Steel Physical Property Variation – North Star Steel,
·
Six sigma project to identify and reduce sources of variation
in rolling process
·
Develop set of control procedures for equipment
Isolated sources of Copper
Contamination – North Star Steel,
·
Identified sources of risk and their associated
probabilities
·
Recommended cost effective solutions to maintain
regulatory compliance
Reduced Error Rate in
Indoor Air Quality Testing and Analysis Process - Health & Safety Management,
·
Developed a new process to gather customer
information, collect field data, analyze results and write a report.
·
Identified training needs of all personnel involved
in Indoor Air Quality
·
Created a syllabus for training course of field
technicians
Reduced cycle time of
stocking process - M&D Supply (Ace
Hardware) -
·
Streamlined the process of ordering
items by reducing ordering formats from 13 to 4.
·
Conducted a simulation
analysis of receiving and stocking processes
·
Develop a new process of
stocking shelves to reduce stocking time
·
Developed new layout of
warehouse to reduce stocking time
·
Developed a process
improvement team through a series of training sessions and facilitated meetings
Facilitated the development
of a strategic plan - M&D Supply Ace Hardware) -
·
Facilitated the development
of vision, mission and values
·
Facilitated a Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats assessment
·
Facilitated the development
of goals, strategies and objectives
·
Developed a Gantt chart
representation of strategic plan to facilitate implementation of the plan
Facilitated the development
of commercial sales policies - M&D Supply (Ace Hardware) -
·
Facilitated the development
of strategic plan for commercial sales
·
Facilitated the development
of sales procedures
·
Facilitated the development
of a weighted decision making model to prioritize customers
Analysis of warehouse
operations – Exxon-Mobile Beaumont
Blending and Packing Plant,
·
Analyzed current
utilization of warehouse facilities
·
Recommended capital
expenditures to support growth
Facilitated the development
of a project plan - Chevron Petroleum and Technology Company,
·
Facilitated the development
of project tasks, task sequences, and precedence relationships among tasks
·
Developed a Gantt chart
presentation of project
Instructor - The University of Texas at Arlington (Sept. 1997
- Aug. 1998)
Taught Introduction to Management Science and
Introduction to Information Systems in the
Faculty Associate (Jan.
1994 - Aug. 1998)/ Research Assistant (Jan. 1992 - Dec. 1993)
The Automation & Robotics
Research Institute, located in
·
Developing an enterprise
transformation methodology for small manufacturers through a series of theory
building case studies
·
Conducted process improvement,
modeling and reengineering projects for 6 companies
·
Developed curriculum and course
material for 35 week seminar series
·
Presented 25 world class
manufacturing workshops to company executives
·
Conducted Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis for 12 companies
·
Facilitated strategic planning
sessions for company executives in 12 companies
·
Assessed corporate culture of 12
companies through an extensive interview process
·
Designed and implemented improvement
plans and documented results in 12 companies
·
Instructed 5 sixteen hour
facilitation training courses for self-directed work teams
·
Facilitated cross-functional team
meetings involving shop floor personnel in 12 companies
Publications
Refereed
Journals:
Underdown,
Ryan and Talluri, Srinivas,
"Cycle Of Success: A Strategy for Becoming Agile Through Benchmarking”, Benchmarking: An
International Journal, 2002. Vol.9, No.3: pp.278-292.
Leach, R.A., L. Whitman, K.J. Rogers, and Underdown, Ryan,
"An Enterprise Transformation Methodology to Mitigate Y2K Risk", Logistics Information Management: Special issue on The Year 2000 Problem,
1999. Vol. 12, No.3: pp. 269-279.
Conference
Proceedings
Singh, Manpreet,
and Underdown, Ryan, “Characterization of Shape Memory Polymers” Proceedings of the Industrial Engineering
Solutions Conference,
Underdown, Ryan and Yalamanchili, Bhaskar,
"Systematic Approaches to Technology Decisions in the Steel
Industry", Proceedings
of the Industrial Engineering Annual Conference,
Underdown, Ryan, “Towards
a Methodology to Determine Contamination Sources for Copper In
Potable Water”, Proceedings of the
Industrial Engineering Research Conference,
Underdown,
Ryan and Aikman, Russ, “The Impact of Quality Systems Implementation on
Aikman, Russ, Underdown, Ryan and Dedrick,
Wiff, “The Transform
Whitman, Larry,
Underdown, Ryan, and Deese, Michael, “A Physical
Demonstration of Lean Concepts”, Proceedings of the Industrial Engineering
Solutions Conference,
Underdown, Ryan,
“Using Weighted Decision Making to Prioritizing Customers in Retail Sales”, Proceedings
of the Industrial Engineering Solutions Conference,
Underdown, Ryan,
"A Holistic Case Study Approach To
Methodology Development", Proceedings
of the Industrial Engineering Research Conference,
Underdown, Ryan,
"A Methodology For Engineering Culture", Proceedings of the Industrial Engineering
Research Conference,
Underdown, Ryan,
"Cycle Of Success: How Companies Are Forming Networks To Facilitate
Transformation", Proceedings of The 4th Annual
International Conference on Industrial Engineering Theory, Applications and
Practice, San Antonio, Texas, November, 1999
Underdown,
Ryan, Whitman, Larry,
Underdown,
Ryan, Meade, Laura, and Leach, Richard, “When Engineering an
Whitman, L.,
Underdown, D.R. and Leach, R. A, “A Cross-Case Analysis of Small Companies Implementing Cellular
Manufacturing”, Proceedings of the
Industrial Engineering Research Conference, Banff, Canada, May 1998
Underdown,
D.R. and Liles, D. L., “Transformation Issues In Small
Manufacturers”, Proceedings of the
Industrial Engineering Research Conference,
Underdown,
D.R. and
Underdown, R., D. Liles, M. Johnson, and L. Meade,
“Exploring the Relationship Between Industrial and
Leem, Young Moon, Rogers, J.K.,
Underdown, D. Ryan, “Using Enterprise Engineering as a Tool for Achieving TQM
in the Agile Organization”, Proceedings
of the American Society for Engineering Management Conference, Dallas,
October 1996
Underdown, R., and M. Deese,
“Pursuing Dimension of Agility: The Journey of a Small Distributor”, Proceedings of the Agile Manufacturing
Underdown, R., “Renaissance Organizations: A Step Beyond
Learning Organizations”, Proceedings of
the Agile Manufacturing
Underdown, D. Ryan, and Mills, John, “Agility: A Small
Manufacturer Can Do It Too!”, Manufacturing News, Vol. 2, No. 12, 1995, p.9
Underdown, R., and M. Deese, “
Liles, D., M. Johnson, L. Meade, and R. Underdown, “
Underdown, R. and M. Deese,
“Pursuing
Underdown, R., R. Wallace, J. Weddle, and J. Sarkis, “Grasping the Agile Opportunity: A Small
Manufacturer’s Perspective”, Proceedings
of the Agile Manufacturing Enterprise Forum Conference -
Presentations (without a paper)
With Leigh Smith and Carey Wesley at the Seamless Transitions Conference,
April 2005
"Building Success in Industrial Technology: The Lamar Institute of
Technology - Lamar University BSIT Program" with Leigh Smith at the 21st
Annual Recruitment and Retention Conference sponsored by the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board, June 21, 2005
Papers In
Review
Whitman, Larry, Underdown, Ryan, and Rogers, J.R., “A
Physical Simulation for Understanding Manufacturing Concepts”, International Journal of Engineering Education
Research
Interests
·
Lean manufacturing
·
Six sigma
·
Engineering management
Current
Research
“Characterization of Shape Memory Polymers”
“Assessing
the cultural impact of lean manufacturing”
Service Activities
·
Faculty Advisor for the
student chapters of the
·
Serve on Curriculum
Committee and Academic Advisors Forum
·
Academic Advisor for the Industrial Technology and
Engineering Management programs
·
Recruit for the Industrial Technology program
·
Board member of the Society of Engineering Management
and Systems of the
·
Track Chair for the Engineering Management track of
the Industrial Engineering Solutions conference in