Industrial and Systems Engineering Graduate Program
The Industrial and Systems Engineering Graduate Program (PPGEPS) provides training at the masters and doctoral levels for its students. The program focuses on production/industrial systems, integrating the technological, administrative, and logistic aspects and increasing the productive systems’ effectiveness.
This systemic and multidisciplinary approach allows research to be developed by students from different knowledge areas such as Engineering (Production/industrial, Control, and Automation, Electrical, Mechanical, and Chemical, among others), Exact Sciences (Physics, Mathematics, and Statistics, among others) and Applied Social Sciences (Business Administration, Accounting and Economics, among others). This environment encourages knowledge, innovation, and new technology generation, besides training human resources for academic research and business applications.
Objectives
The PPGEPS/PUCPR masters and doctoral programs have the fundamental objective of training human resources for research, development, and innovation in engineering using a systemic approach to the design, implementation, and improvement of productive systems oriented to manufacture goods, or supply services in the public and private domains, defining it as product design scope, value chain operations, and its supply network.
History
The creation of the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná Industrial and Systems Engineering Graduate Program (PPGEPS/PUCPR) was the natural evolution of research and higher education developed in Production/Industrial Engineering and Control and Automation Engineering at PUCPR, being recognized and recommended by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel [CAPES] in 2001. At the master’s level, it started its activities in the first semester of 2002. The PPGEPS/PUCPR, at the doctoral level, was recognized and recommended by CAPES in 2010 and started its activities in the first semester of 2011. Currently, it has a CAPES 5 rating in both the master’s and doctorate programs.
Since its beginning, the PPGEPS/PUCPR has contributed significantly to the technical and scientific development of the State of Paraná, with studies to improve system project, implementation and management, and productive operations networks, and therefore considering the effective integration of technological, organizational and administrative aspects. Additionally, it seeks to offer comprehensive training for research and teaching one’s expertise in graduate school, seeking to train masters and doctoral students for academic or professional life in research activities, development, innovation, and engineering.
Council
The Council is part of the administrative program and has a didactic-pedagogical structure. The Program Council comprises the program coordinator; permanent faculty; undergraduate program coordinators that comprise Production/Industrial, Control, and Automation Engineering; and a student body representative.
1
Systems Automation and Control
i) Systems Modeling, Control, and Automation;
ii) Models to Support Decision-Making. The research projects of these areas are transversal to three research are:
- a) Systems Integration, Evaluation and Automation (participants: Professors Eduardo Alves Portela Santos, Eduardo De Freitas Rocha Loures, and Fernando Deschamps);
- b) Systems Optimization, Modeling, and Control (participants: Professors Leandro dos Santos Coelho, Gilberto Reynoso Meza, and Roberto Zanetti Freire);
- c) Design and Development of Products and Systems (participants: Professors Osiris Canciglieri Junior and Marcelo Rudek).
2
Operations Management and Product Engineering
i) Systems and Operations Networks Design, Implementation and Management;
ii) Decision Support Models. The research projects of these two areas are transversal to 4 research groups, which are:
- a) Productive Systems Design, Logistics, and Management (participant: Professor Maria Teresinha Arns Steiner);
- b) Operations Systems Strategy and Performance (participants: Professors Sérgio Eduardo Gouvêa da Costa, Edson Pinheiro de Lima, and Fernando Deschamps);
- c) Design and Development of Products and Systems (participants: Professors Osiris Canciglieri Junior, and Marcelo Rudek);
- d) Systems Integration, Evaluation, and Automation (participants: Professors Eduardo Alves Portela Santos, Eduardo De Freitas Rocha Loures, and Fernando Deschamps.
1
Systems Modeling, Control, and Automation
The research area “Systems Modeling, Control and Automation” addresses paradigms, models, and applications at various industrial automation hierarchical levels. These levels cover topics related to the identification of dynamic systems, process control technique analysis, robotics, optimization, artificial intelligence, system integration, and discrete event systems modeling. The problems studied fall into a systems development cycle oriented to automation and control, independent of whether the system constitutes a model of continuous, discrete variables, or discrete events. The development cycle includes aspects related to the model identification and construction, controllers’ synthesis and design, control systems implementation, and performance optimization of the developed system. This cycle allows for the continuous evolution of the automation and control systems design and implementation.
Researchers: Eduardo Alves Portela Santos, Eduardo de Freitas Rocha Loures, Fernando Deschamps, Gilberto Reynoso Meza, Leandro dos Santos Coelho, Marcelo Rudek, Roberto Zanetti Freire
2
Operations Management
The research area “Operations Management” focuses on manufacturing or service company operations, planning, programming, and control. Research topics include strategic and functional aspects and those related to the implementation of solutions. This research area studies issues related to operations strategy, product and process design, information systems management, business process modeling, quality systems management, advanced production management, systems optimization, economic production management, project management, supply chain management, lean manufacturing systems, advanced manufacturing technologies, operations performance management, and sustainable operations. The research follows an application approach and aims to improve operations systems in the goods and services production. The research methodology employed involves both theoretical-conceptual developments and quantitative and qualitative empirical methods.
Researchers: Edson Pinheiro de Lima, Fernando Deschamps, Osiris Canciglieri Junior, Sergio Eduardo Gouvea da Costa
3
Models to Support Decision-Making
The research area “Models to Support Decision-Making” studies problems related to identifying, modeling, analyzing, and implementing decision support systems. The object of the research is one or more models, methods, and processes to support decision-making. In addition to theoretical and conceptual developments, studies related to the technical aspects of computer tools to be used in knowledge acquisition, decision-making processes, and information quality analysis are incorporated into the research.
Researchers: Edson Pinheiro de Lima, Eduardo Alves Portela Santos, Eduardo de Freitas Rocha Loures, Gilberto Reynoso Meza, Leandro dos Santos Coelho, Maria Terezinha Arns Steiner, Osiris Canciglieri Junior, Roberto Zanetti Freire, Sergio Eduardo Gouvea da Costa
PPGEPS, integrated with Production/Industrial Engineering and Control and Automation Engineering undergraduate programs, uses the resources of 10 teaching and research labs to house the development of its projects. The LAS I to IX labs group (Automation and Systems Lab) is in the Technology Park, Building 9, and is administratively linked to the PUCPR Polytechnic School. The LAS group has the following configuration:
- LAS I— Manufacturing Automation Lab;
- LAS II— Mobile and Industrial Robotics Lab;
- LAS III— Interoperability Lab;
- LAS IV— Hydraulic and Pneumatic Drives Lab;
- LAS V— Electromagnetic Drives Lab;
- LAS VI – Production Management and Logistics Lab;
- LAS VII – Instrumentation Lab;
- LAS VIII – Process Automation Lab;
- LAS IX— Industrial Management Lab.
The Automation and Systems Labs have resources employed in the design, development, and integration of solutions for industrial systems and equipment design problems, supporting activities of the different courses and approaches of the engineering programs in the Polytechnic School, especially those mentioned above. These resources are also used in the development of PPGEPS projects.
The specific objectives of the LAS structure, revisited under the emerging influence of industry 4.0 and digital transformation, include the design, development, and integration of systems, products, and services, feasibility analysis of automation implementation in the companies’ competitive strategy formulation, organizational interoperability assessment, information systems analysis and implementation for integrated management, product, service and process technology development, incorporation and transfer, productive processes optimization, their layouts, programming, and configuration, intermediate systems implementation for material handling and process supervision and systems simulation.
The LAS labs also offer infrastructure for experimentation, testing, and services within the scope of R&D projects carried out jointly by the PPGEPS faculty and partner companies. Examples of successful cases include automated testing of cutting tools for dental implants using robots and temperature sensors, acquisition of in-loco current and voltage signals in wire electro erosion processes and low-ionized plasma processes, data acquisition structure software, and hardware prototypes testing in industrial production and maintenance scenarios under Internet of Things (IoT) and analytics concepts, 3D printing services, with partner companies operating in this sector, Proof of Concept (POC) development support in the industry 4.0 domain, and laboratory systems remote operation applications for educational purposes, based on the WebLabs concept, an object of the PPGEPS research area, which extends the lab capabilities beyond the institution, reduces idleness in expensive equipment, increases the opportunities for students to access and enables value-added activities in distance learning in technological areas.
LAS I – Manufacturing Automation Lab
The laboratory was established in 1999, supported by a US $600,000.00 investment. This lab enables work with existing production systems in automated manufacturing plants in the area of product design. Industrial equipment and systems can be integrated to allow product manufacturing, from collecting raw material from the stock to storing the final product in the warehouse. After 2013, the Lab has received new investments to adopt the intelligent factories model (Smart Factory) with a total intake of over US$ 100,000.00, including intelligent sensors, collaborative robots, advanced production control systems, and interoperable systems. The following types of equipment are present in the lab: 12 Personal Computer workstations; automated systems design and integration software; an automated manufacturing plant with 2 robots; 2 computer numerical control (CNC) machines; 1 automated transport system; 1 automated storage system; 4 machines for rapid prototyping; 1 automated inspection system, integrated through 4 PLCs, 4 Ethernet/IP I/O modules, 11 I/O modules with DeviceNET network, 5 non-manageable switches, 2 manageable switches.
LAS II – Mobile and Industrial Robotics Lab
In this Lab, research activities, theoretical and practical foundations on industrial robotics, are developed, relying on industrial robots and software for integration with the shop floor. Mobile robotics activities with modular learning kits and industrial robot simulation software are also developed here. Thus, LAS II allows students and researchers to explore the principles and foundations of industrial robotics, vehicles, and autonomous carriers. The following types of equipment are present in the lab: 10 PC workstations, with software for programming and designing robots with modular kits; designing electrical circuits software; 58 modular didactic mobile robotics kits; 6 industrial robotic arms; 1 PLC, 1 remote I/O module; 3 light curtains; 10 soldering stations; 15 adjustable sources; 11 oscilloscopes; 20 function generators and measuring equipment.
LAS III – Interoperability Lab
The main objective of the Interoperability Laboratory is the conceptual, experimental, and technological exploration in the Interoperability field and its research areas—Semantic Interoperability and Organizational Interoperability Evaluation. Interoperability, whose definition is associated with the capacity of two or more entities to interact, is an area less explored in Brazil, opening a vast field for research and development. Highlights include the automotive supply chain, public administration, urban mobility, energy management, health management, and product design and development. Under the PPGEPS internationalization strategy, the Interoperability lab was created by an international collaboration project with the Centre de Recherche en Automatique de Nancy—CRAN (France), through the funding of the Sciences without Borders Program (CsF), category Special Visiting Professor. A second Special Visiting Professor project was carried out at LAS III with the Wolfson School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Loughborough, UK. The following equipment and platforms are present in the laboratory: 4 workstations and 1 server; INTEROP-VLab e-Learning platform; MEGA Suite Platform; IBM Rational DOORS; IBM Rhapsody Designer for Systems Engineering; BPMS Bizagi and Bonita ambient; Process Mining tools.
LAS IV – Hydraulic and Pneumatic Drives Lab
LAS IV offers practical laboratory support for tests and experiments in hydraulics and pneumatics systems used in automation and process control. The following types of equipment are present in the lab: 10 workstations with PCs and simulation software and 2 programmable logic controller (PLC) programming software; 4 benches with electro-pneumatic equipment kits, 4 benches with hydraulic equipment kits; 12 PLCs; 1 manufacturing plant.
LAS V – Electromagnetic Drives Lab
LAS V offers resources for experiments in electrical installations, transformers, rotating electrical machines, electric drives, DC and AC motors, electrical design, and programmable logic controllers. The following types of equipment are present in the lab: 20 workstations with PCs and software for electrical drive design; 10 benches for setting up experiments; 5 electro-technical kits, 5 three-phase soft motor starter kits, 5 three-phase motor speed controller kits, 5 servo drive kits, 1 electrical measurement kit; 2 tachometers and measuring types of equipment.
LAS VI – Production Management and Logistics Lab
LAS VI is used in activities related to the production management areas and logistics, encompassing different existing activities in an industrial corporation: design of new systems; development of production management strategies; definition of action plans related to production technologies; integration of activities and information systems that are part of a company or company networks, the so-called productive chains. The student and researcher have access to Information Technology elements applied to management, logistics, maintenance, modeling, simulation, mining, and processes performance evaluation related to products and services. The following types of equipment are present in the lab: 30 workstations with PCs and software to assist production management and logistics.
LAS VII – Instrumentation Lab
LAS VII offers research and teaching activities in the instrumentation area, supporting the development of various projects. This lab has virtual instrumentation resources with modular hardware to create applications with specific requirements that allow test systems and machine or equipment automation. Additionally, applications based on modern embedded system architectures are developed in this lab. The following types of equipment are present in the lab: 20 workstations with PCs and virtual instrumentation software (LabVIEW) and controller modeling and simulation (MatLab); 11 power supplies; 1 digital oscilloscope; 12 function generators; 15 compact data acquisition cards; 5 data acquisition cards with 4 independent channels; 5 plants for continuous process control and several benches with instrumentation equipment.
LAS VIII – Process Automation Lab
LAS VIII provides support for studies on dynamic process characteristics, plant operation using programmable industrial controllers, control strategies testing and simulation with “hardware-in-the-loop,” remotely operated experiment applications (WebLabs), and supervisory control and data acquisition systems (SCADA) development. The following equipment types are present in the lab: 11 workstations with software for process control and automation; 12 pressure transmitters; 12 temperature transmitters; 7 plants for process control.
LAS IX – Industrial Management Lab
LAS IX supports production management, operations, projects, technology, and quality studies. In this Lab, modeling, management system analysis, and design activities are performed, providing the development of specific methods, techniques, and tools. The following types of equipment are present in the lab: 30 workstations with software to assist industrial management.
Other Labs
Besides the structure provided by LAS, PPGEPS has access to other labs linked to different programs in the Polytechnic School, including Circuits Lab, Computer Engineering Labs, Mechanical Engineering Labs (Machining, Conformation, Foundry, Metrology, Metallography, Microscopy, Destructive Testing, Thermal Systems), Physics and Chemistry Labs.
Computer Resources
PPGEPS, through Federal and State Funding Agency resources, partnerships in research projects with industry, and resources from PUCPR itself, has updated IT infrastructure in all its research labs for faculties and students. These users have access to the Internet and the PUCPR Intranet, including wireless, individual logins and passwords, allowing access to academic information and support services. PUCPR is connected to the high-speed academic network RNP (National Research Network), offering video conferencing, web conferencing, video on demand, live video broadcasts, and TV signal broadcasts.
Students in the master’s and doctoral programs can obtain an e-mail account, remote internet access, and use the infrastructure of over 30 computer labs on the university campus. Additionally, the library has 140 computers available at all times. The PUCPR Polytechnic School lab computers, under the management and maintenance of a specific sector (NIAA – Informatics Center for Academic Activities), have Microsoft Windows operating system and essential software such as Microsoft Office, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox. Additionally, each of the ten laboratories in the LAS structure has specific and updated software. All computers are connected to the PUCPR wired network that supports data transmission rates of 100 Megabits per second (Mbps).
The PPGEPS/PUCPR internationalization strategy is based on the following actions:
- Faculty and student mobility
- Mutual recognition and courses and programs development
- Cooperation projects and publications
- Participation in defense committees and doctoral dissertations co-supervision
- Production recognition via international awards.
Regarding faculty mobility, PPGEPS/PUCPR implements the university’s strategy in which program faculty are encouraged to take up sabbatical periods every seven years. In 2018, it started the second cycle of this initiative, which has been continuously developing since 2007 and has been providing partnerships with universities in the USA (NCSU, Virginia Tech, and MIT), UK (Loughborough and Warwick), France (University of Lorraine and University of Lyon), Spain (Complutense and UPM), the Netherlands (Eindhoven University of Technology, TU/e), Luxembourg (Centre de Recherche Henri Tudor, CRP HENRI TUDOR), and Portugal (Instituto Técnico de Lisboa). Student mobility is carried out via the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel—CAPES (PDSE program) and National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) sandwich scholarship programs and has allowed cosupervision (Virginia Tech and KTH), co-orientation (University of Lorraine), and double degree (Loughborough University) activities via the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), Visiting Professor Program and with PUCPR institutional support and funding, PPGEPS has received visiting professors. In 2018, Professor Jannis Angelis (Indek/KTH—Sweden) participated in a doctoral dissertation defense committee as co-supervisor, gave two research seminars, and participated in a workshop to evaluate PPGEPS/PUCPR student research projects.
Regarding the recognition of courses and programs, PPGEPS/PUCPR has two institutional agreements: 1. Doctoral co-orientation agreement with the University of Lorraine (France) and 2. A double degree at the doctoral level with the University of Loughborough (UK).
As a result of the sabbatical internship actions, PPGEPS/PUCPR professors have been approving cooperation projects with international groups and leveraged publications in co-authorship with researchers from these universities.
Cooperative research partnerships have enabled the development of co-supervision and foreign professors’ participation in doctoral defense committees.
The works published by PPGEPS/PUCPR were awarded and received honorable mentions from international entities:
- Award-winning paper in an international journal (International Journal of Production Research, 2018);
- Award-winning papers at international conferences (ICPR 2015, Supply chain 4.0 2017);
- Several honorable mentions for papers, works, and in competitions.
PPGEPS professors develop several projects in partnership with companies. The following is a list of ongoing projects:
SMART DATA ANALYTICS FOR SMART GRID
Company: Radek Sistemas de Informação LTDA
Coordinator: Prof. Edson Pinheiro de Lima
RESEARCH AND INNOVATION FOR THE TRAINING AND CREATION OF A TECHNOLOGY MASTER PLAN ORIENTED TO INCREASE MATURITY IN INDUSTRY 4.0 CONCEPTS
Company: Nilko Tecnologia LTDA
Coordinator: Prof. Eduardo de Freitas Rocha Loures
RESEARCH AND INNOVATION FOR THE TRAINING AND EVALUATION OF TECHNOLOGIES ORIENTED TO INCREASE MATURITY IN THE LEAN MANUFACTURING AND INDUSTRY 4.0 CONCEPTS
Company: Fibersul Fibra Óptica e Acessórios LTDA
Coordinator: Prof. Eduardo de Freitas Rocha Loures
R&D PROJECT OF A METHODOLOGY THROUGH THE SHORT-TERM SIMULATION APPROACH APPLIED TO ASSET MANAGEMENT
Company: Thiago Braghirolli EIRELI
Coordinator: Prof. Eduardo Alves Portela Santos
RESEARCH AND INNOVATION OF AN AUTOMATION SYSTEMS DESIGN METHOD FOCUSING ON THE PRODUCTION SYSTEMS DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
Company: VSD Systems & Robotics LTDA
Coordinator: Prof. Fernando Deschamps
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IMPLEMENTATION IN OPERATION NETWORKS
Company: André Silva de Souza (Individual)
Coordinator: Prof. Fernando Deschamps
PROPOSAL OF PROGRAM FOR NEW TECHNOLOGIES STUDY, DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION FOR PROCESSES IMPROVEMENT WITH EMPHASIS ON FINAL PRODUCT QUALITY AND PRODUCTION EFFICIENCY IMPROVEMENT AT RENAULT DO BRASIL
Company: Renault do Brasil S/A
Coordinator: Prof. Fernando Deschamps
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW VEHICLE MONITORING SYSTEM BASED ON COGNITIVE IMAGE PROCESSING
Company: NHS Sistemas Eletrônicos LTDA
Coordinator: Prof. Osiris Canciglieri Junior
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF AN INTELLIGENT INFORMATION TRACEABILITY SYSTEM AND CONFORMITY IMPACTS IDENTIFICATION IN THE PRODUCTION PROCESS
Company: Robert Bosch LTDA
Coordinator: Prof. Osiris Canciglieri Junior
PROPOSAL FOR AN INTEGRATED INFORMATION MANAGEMENT MODEL IN THE PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE BASED ON INDUSTRY 4.0 CONCEPTS
Academic Doctoral Program for Innovation—DAI, public call National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) No. 23/2018, regarding the execution of the project PROPOSAL FOR AN INTEGRATED INFORMATION MANAGEMENT MODEL IN THE PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE BASED ON INDUSTRY 4.0 CONCEPTS
Company: Andiara Marques ME
Coordinator: Prof. Osiris Canciglieri Junior
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT TO APPLY THE BIG DATA AND DATA ANALYTICS CONCEPTS FOR THE HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL INTEGRATION OF AN INTELLIGENT AND CONNECTED FACTORY
Academic Doctoral Program for Innovation—DAI, public call National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) n° 23/2018, regarding the execution of project RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT TO APPLY BIG DATA AND DATA ANALYTICS CONCEPTS FOR THE HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL INTEGRATION OF AN INTELLIGENT AND CONNECTED FACTORY
Company: Roberto Bosch LTDA
Coordinator: Prof. Osiris Canciglieri Junior
COMMUNICATION NETWORK FOR IOT DEVICES TELEMETRY
Company: Quality Flux Automação e Sistemas LTDA
Coordinator: Prof. Roberto Zanetti Freire
INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATIONS FOR THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT
Company: Renault do Brasil S/A
Coordinator: Prof. Roberto Zanetti Freire
ERP SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION MODEL IN A MID-SIZED COMPANY
Company: Vapza Alimentos S/A
Coordinator: Prof. Sergio Eduardo Gouvea da Costa
Faculty
Edson Pinheiro de Lima
Dr. de Lima has a degree in Production/Industrial Engineering from the Federal Technological University of Paraná (1989), a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering—especially in automation—from the State University of Campinas (1993), and a doctoral degree in Production/Industrial Engineering from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (2001). In 2017–2018, he took a year-long sabbatical to be a part of the Department of Industrial Engineering and Systems of Virginia Tech, USA. During this period, the topics he worked on include model, process development, and operational performance analysis for manufacturing and services production within the scope of performance analysis. In 2010 he participated in the Erasmus Mundus—Brazil Startup project at ETSII/UPM Spain. From December 2006 to November 2007, he developed a postdoctoral internship project supported by CNPq [National Council for Scientific and Technological Development] in the research group on Operations Management at the University of Warwick, Warwick Business School, United Kingdom, on operations and strategic performance management.
Eduardo Alves Portela Santos
Dr. Santos has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Federal University of Bahia (1993), a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (1996), and a doctoral degree in Electrical Engineering from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (2003). He completed a postdoctoral internship in 2009 at the Technological University of Eindhoven (Netherlands). Dr. Santos is currently a professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná (PUCPR) and an associate professor at the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR). He teaches Control and Automation Engineering and Production/Industrial Engineering programs at PUCPR and Applied Administration program at UFPR. A permanent member of the Industrial and Systems Engineering Graduate Program at PUCPR, he works as a researcher on the following topics: business process management, process mining (healthcare and industrial systems), information systems, and maintenance decision-making support.
Eduardo de Freitas Rocha Loures
Dr. Rocha Loures has a degree in Electrical Industrial Engineering from the Federal Technological University of Paraná (1994), a master’s degree in Applied Informatics from the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná (1999), and a doctoral degree in Industrial Systems from Laboratoire d’Analyse et d’Architecture des Systèmes—France (2005). He is the director of ISA (International Society of Automation), District 4 Section Curitiba. He was a visiting professor at the Centre de Recherche en Automatique de Nancy (CRAN—CNRS), Université de Lorraine, France, 2012, through a CAPES [Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel] postdoctoral fellowship on the topic of Enterprise Interoperability Assessment. He was a coordinator at PUCPR for different R&D projects with the private and public initiatives on industry 4.0, asset management and maintenance, interoperability assessment, and maturity models. He develops research projects in production systems engineering areas on process management and information systems; systems integration and interoperability; supervision, system performance diagnosis, and industrial operation and maintenance.
Fernando Deschamps
Dr. Deschamps has a degree in Control and Production Automation Engineering from the Federal University of Santa Catarina—UFSC (2002), a degree in Business Administration from the State University of Santa Catarina—UDESC (2004), master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, also from UFSC, (2004) in Automation and Systems, specialization and doctoral degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná—PUCPR (2013) in the Production and Logistics Management, with a sandwich period at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in the United States. He is an associate professor at the Industrial and Systems Engineering Graduate Program at PUCPR and the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Federal University of Paraná—UFPR. Dr. Deschamps is the Brazilian Section Chair of the American Society for Engineering Management. His experience and expertise are in engineering management, especially in automation, industrial information systems, performance evaluation, and organizational engineering (organizational architecture, project management, and process management).
Gilberto Reynoso Meza
Dr. Meza has a doctoral degree in automation from Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain) and a degree in mechanical engineering (2001) from Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Querétaro (Mexico). He is currently an associate professor in the Industrial and Systems Engineering Graduate Program (PPGEPS) at the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná (PUCPR), Brazil. His areas of interest are methods based on computational intelligence for control system engineering, multi-objective optimization, multi-criteria decision-making, evolutionary algorithms, and machine learning.
Marcelo Rudek
Dr. Rudek has a degree in Computer Engineering from the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná PUCPR (1994), a master’s degree in Industrial Informatics from the Federal Technological University of Paraná—UTFPR (1999), and a doctoral degree in Mechanical Engineering from the State University of Campinas UNICAMP (2006). He completed post-doctorate studies at the Public Research Center Henri Tudor in Luxembourg (2013). Dr. Rudek works as a professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná PUCPR and a researcher at the Industrial and Systems Engineering Graduate Program PPGEPS-PUCPR. He mainly researches the following topics: Computer Vision, Image Processing, 3D Reconstruction, and Software Systems Development. His areas of interest are the multidisciplinary automation processes that aim to integrate vision systems in the biomedical, production automation, urban traffic (smart cities), and precision agriculture areas.
Maria Teresinha Arns Steiner
Dr. Steiner has a degree in Mathematics (1978) and Civil Engineering (1981), both from UFPR, a master’s degree (1988) and a Doctoral degree (1995) in Production/Industrial Engineering, both from UFSC; Post-Doctorate studies (2005; 2014) in Production/Industrial, from ITA and IST in Lisbon. In February 2011, after working 32 years at UFPR, she started her activities at PUCPR in the Industrial and Systems Engineering Graduate Program (PPGEPS). Her experiences are in Production Engineering, Operational Research sub-area, especially in KDD and Data Mining (Bank Credit Analysis, Evaluation Engineering, Medical Diagnosis, among others), and in Combinatorial Optimization Problems (Vehicle Routing Problems and Facilities Location). She uses Exact, Heuristic, and Metaheuristic Procedures.
Osíris Canciglieri Junior
Dr. Canciglieri Junior is the PPGEPS coordinator and was a guest professor at the University of Loughborough (UK) in 2008, the University of Padova (”Università Degli Studi Di Padova at Dipartimento Di Ingegneria Industriale Centro Studi Qualità Ambiente”). He has a CNPq Productivity Grant since 2014 (PQ-2). Professor Osiris has a degree in Mechanical Production Engineering from the School of Industrial Engineering of São José dos Campos/SP—EEI (1991), a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the State University of Campinas—UNICAMP (1994), and a doctoral degree from Loughborough University in England (1999). His research areas are focused on Information models to support design and manufacturing during activities in the product development process. Professor Canciglieri is the author and co-author of 3 books, over 100 papers in “Product Design, Product Manufacturing, Product and Manufacturing Models, Enterprise systems integration, and interoperability.”
Roberto Zanetti Freire
Dr. Freire has a degree in Computer Engineering (2004), a master’s degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering and a doctoral degree in Mechanical Engineering (2010), all from the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná (PUCPR), 2017 completed postdoctoral studies at Center d’Energétique et de Thermique de Lyon (CETHIL), France, whose research theme was the model development based on computational intelligence to simulate the hydrothermal behavior of new construction materials. He has experience in software development, especially in analytical and simulation models, working mainly on the following subjects: advanced control, hydrothermal and energy analysis of environments, thermal comfort, and heat and moisture transfer in porous media. Besides these areas, he has research projects and partnerships in intelligent systems and computer vision applied in the industry. The biomechanical analysis of athletes, data communication, systems identification, and parameters optimization applied to engineering problems.
Sérgio Eduardo Gouvêa da Costa
Dr. da Costa has a degree in Industrial Electrical Engineering from the Federal Technological University of Paraná (UTFPR-1989), a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering (Automation) from the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP-1993), and a doctoral degree in Production/Industrial Engineering from the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo (USP-2003). He made the Sandwich Doctorate at the Institute for Manufacturing from the University of Cambridge, England (2000–2001). He worked as a Visiting Professor at Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering from North Carolina State University, USA (2009–2010). He is Chair (2017–2020) of ANPEPRO— [National Association of Graduate Programs and Production Engineering Research]. He was Vice-Chair—Americas (2014–2016) from Production and Operations Management Society (POMS) and was General Secretary (2011–2013) and Chair (2013–2015) from the International Foundation for Production Research (IFPR), and member of the (2010–2013) Board of the Society for Engineering and Management Systems from the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (SEMS / IISE). He is a Professor (Operations Management) at PUCPR, working mainly on the following subjects: operations strategy (manufacturing and services), energy management, lean production, performance measurement systems, and sustainable operations.
More Information
The duration of the master’s program is 12 months and a maximum of 24 months, while the duration of the Doctoral program is a minimum of 18 months and a maximum of 48 months.
One of the requirements to obtain a master’s degree is to acquire a minimum of 36 credits, distributed as follows:
- 15 credits in Program concentration area subjects;
- 6 credits in complementary activities;
- 3 credits in guided work activities (Independent Study); and
- 12 credits in the master’s thesis preparation and defense.
Scholarship holders from an official funding agency or full dedication must obtain two extra credits in a Teaching Internship.
Besides other requirements, it is necessary to acquire a minimum of 72 credits to obtain a doctoral degree, distributed as follows:
- 27 credits in subjects in Program concentration area subjects;
- 12 credits in complementary activities;
- 9 credits in guided work activities (Independent Study); and
- 24 credits in preparation and defense of the doctoral dissertation.
It is mandatory for scholarship holders from an official funding agency, or those who have full dedication, to obtain two (2) extra credits in Teaching Internship.
PPGEPS/PUCPR trains qualified professionals to work in the national and international productive sectors, raising their quality and competencies. These professionals can improve performances in goods and services production, enabling companies to generate more wealth. Thus, income levels are increased, and benefits are transferred to society through jobs, better wages, and improved quality of working life (approximately 75% of alumni and regular students are employed in industry and commerce). Furthermore, it contributes to improving professor qualifications for those professionals who work in public and private systems in the program’s competence areas (approximately 25% of alumni and regular students work as professors in educational institutions).
PPGEPS/PUCPR has actively participated in initiatives to discuss ethics, social responsibility, and interaction with the environment, particularly regarding the sustainable production systems design. Thus, it develops research projects oriented to sustainable and inclusive products and operations development through research projects:
- i) Project to develop models for sustainable operations management (OpSus): This project has started its activities in a partnership between the PUCPR Innovation Agency and the Sofhar SA company for software development to support sustainable management in companies. The indicators generated cover economic, environmental, and social aspects and allowed integrated sustainability management in companies. The product developed won the 6th Ozires Silva Award for Entrepreneurship and Sustainability—Economic Category Medium and Large Enterprises. In 2016–2018, the OpSus project continued with Renault do Brasil through a partnership between PUCPR and Araucária Foundation. Currently, models, processes, procedures, and applications are being developed to evaluate materiality and shared value that directly impacts corporate social responsibility, i.e., allows the company to evaluate its insertion and role in the society with which it relates.
- ii) Project Oriented to Assistive Technology (POTA Project): a) reference device (hardware and software) developed to assist the actions and activities of para-athletes with low or no vision in blind soccer and “Goalball”; b) development of low-cost prosthetic devices using 3D printing (additive manufacturing) for the rehabilitation and mobility of people with physical disabilities of the upper limb (around 150 devices were delivered to the community at no cost); c) low-cost prosthetic device patent for para-equestrian sport (the athlete was a Brazilian champion in para-equestrian sport); d) low-cost cane to assist the displacement of people with visual impairments; e) support and instruction board for blind soccer and “goalball” para-athletes.
- iii) Process improvement project for patient care at Cajuru, Santa Casa de Misericórdia and Erasto Gaertner hospitals located in Curitiba.
- iv) Innovative Technology Project and mathematical models based on natural computing (TIMMCN) applied to the biomechanics of swimming.
- v) Facility Location Problems Project, using techniques such as Genetic Algorithms, Simulated Annealing, TabuSearch, among others, for locating schools, health centers, daycare nursery, among others.
- vi) AVMDA Project (Automation Aimed at Improving Athletes’ Performance): this project intends to develop assistive technologies and computational intelligence to provide relevant information to technicians and specialists in sports about factors that influence the performance of athletes and para-athletes. At PUCPR, prototypes have already been developed to analyze the speed profile, strokes and swimmer starts on the Brazilian para-athletic swimming team to help improve potential new sports talents, motivating the multidisciplinary research development.
- vii) Data mining (about 5000 patients) of the treatment process for patients who suffered a stroke in 5 public hospitals in Joinville. Project in cooperation with the Health Technology Graduate Program (PPGTS) at PUCPR. The project’s objective is to analyze process conformity with the Brazilian Society of Cerebrovascular Diseases (BSCVS). Through mining, deviations from the clinical guidelines’ recommendations are identified, an initial step for hospitals to promote higher quality care to the population.
- viii) Process mining project for Cajuru Hospital emergency room at (Curitiba-PR) The Cajuru Hospital, a reference hospital in Curitiba, currently serves all patients through the Unified Health System (SUS). The project objective was to propose ER process improvements through several initiatives: decreased patient waiting time, adequate allocation of human resources, improved layout, and information flow.
PUCPR encourages faculty members of Graduate Programs to participate in the Junior Scientific and Technological Initiation Program (PIBIC-JR), offered to high school students from public and private schools in the Curitiba Metropolitan area. PPGEPS, through professors and their doctoral candidates, advised six high school students using PIBICjr scholarships from the institution in the period 2013–2016.
Considering the most relevant statistics involving PPGEPS alumni in the last four years (2015–2018), 36% became professors, 6% of this number in international universities, and 93% in higher education institutions. Those who work in developing regions in Paraná’s small towns are distinguished, while others work in well-evaluated graduate programs (CAPES 7) and undergraduate coordinators. Moreover, 19% remained in the program, seeking to complement their education, including doctoral and postdoctoral students who can become independent researchers able to create new research centers. Other expressive numbers are the student percentage that works in companies focusing on technology development (18%), and entrepreneurs, who leave PPGEPS for local economic development through their companies (11%). PPGEPS has graduated 318 master’s students, 40 doctoral students, and six postdoctoral students. Of this total, 16 masters and ten doctoral degrees were completed in 2018.
PPGEPS continuously participates in the PUCPR Research and Innovation Fair, aiming to expose its projects to several society segments. Research projects with innovative content are exhibited at the event, representing an opportunity for the productive and government segments. PUCPR has the PUC Innovation Agency, responsible for managing the interaction between researchers, the business sector, and other stakeholders.
PPGEPS has strong inter-institutional collaboration, both nationally and internationally, as explained in the previous sections. Its professors have participated in this quadrennium in several conferences, managing special sessions and giving workshops at different academic events. Additionally, they belong to different scientific associations (ATDE, SEMS, IISE, and International Foundation for Production Research, ISA, INCOSE, ASEM, PMI, ANPEPRO, POMS, and Araucaria Foundation). They have represented different scientific event committees (ICPR-AM 2018, ICIST, OTM/IFAC/IFIP, IJCIEOM, CNPq’s Production and Transport Engineering Advisory Committee, BRAGFOST 2017, MOCAST 2017).
Notably, PPGEPS organized ENPPEPRO 2016 – National Meeting of Graduate Programs in Production Engineering at the PUCPR Campus. It also participated in the organization of the VI LEAN Systems Conference – “Exploring the flexibility and potential of Lean Thinking,” in June 2016.
Another important point for the program’s visibility is the awards obtained by the students of the program. In the 2015–2018 period, we can highlight:
- 2018 Award-winning paper in an international journal (International Journal of Production);
- 7 papers awarded in national and international conferences (ICPR 2015, CBIC 2015, ADMPG 2016, SIMPEP 2016, Supply chain 4.0 2017, CBIS 2018, GECCO 2018, SBPO 2018);
- 2 awarded dissertations (ABEPRO 2017, CAPES 2017);
- Several honorable mentions for papers, works, and in competitions (7 in total);
- 1 first prize in the 2018 Social Entrepreneurship Legacy of the state government of Parana;
- 2 PUCPR Institutional awards for innovation and entrepreneurship (2018);
- 1 PUCPR institutional award for excellence in scientific publication in 2018, with the second-best ratio between the number of qualified publications (Scimago Journal—Q1) and the number of professors in the program.
Since 2011, PUCPR has engaged in a project called Excellence in Stricto Sensu that is aimed at internationalizing the institution’s programs to achieve maximum scores of 6 and 7 and to promote transdisciplinarity and innovation in different areas of knowledge, especially in its strategic areas. The PIBIC master program is one its greatest differentials (it allows talented students to attend both undergraduate and graduate stricto sensu programs and develop part of their research in a highly qualified foreign institution) as well as being in harmony with society and focusing on innovation.
The institution must also be constantly attentive to the changing needs of the society, with alignment/realignment to the CAPES criteria and oriented to develop internationally, having internationalization as its main guide in the search for quality in teaching and research.
Every graduate program must meet the criteria set by their corresponding committee; therefore, each program strategic planning and operating criteria needs to be done accordingly.
Criteria for each area need to be discussed within the program annually so that all necessary and appropriate corrective actions can be taken during the four-year period. Each program is committed to structuring and readjusting its strategic planning annually in search of excellence. In addition, the programs are encouraged to rethink their lines of research in order to adapt to the rapid changes that may occur in international and national scenarios.
This graduate program’s dynamism and flexibility must always meet quality criterion both in master’s and doctoral training and in the development of research and innovation, essentially aiming at the improvement of society. Thus, an annual review of each program strategic planning is requested that contains the topics below at a minimum:
- i. Mission and vision of the program;
- ii. Summarized annual opinion produced by an external evaluator; the annual evaluation by an external member is an institutional practice conducted since 2006, which allows for the annual performance of each program to be assessed according to the area criteria;
- iii. Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and risks (preparation of a SWOT matrix showing external and internal factors) considering the goals for the current and next four years;
- iv. Goals (measurable objectives) established for the consolidation and development of strengths and improvement of weaknesses;
- v. Actions (processes) necessary to achieve the objectives, people in charge, and monitoring instruments; in this topic, the coordinator and the institution should get involved to consider resizing the faculty and the student body, criteria for accreditation/re-accreditation, infrastructure, selection process, strategies to increase fundraising, and citations and innovation, among other items;
- vi. Preliminary text of the program’s self-assessment describing the last four years containing at least the following information: stages of the self-assessment process; analysis of results and achievement of objectives; necessary actions for its consolidation and internationalization;
The IDP (Institutional Development Plan) document presents the strategic plans of all the programs aligned with the institutional planning, containing the Mission, Vision, SWOT Matrix, Canvas, and road map, and providing information on the needs and intentions of the programs for the 2017–2020 and 2021–2024 quadrennium of the CAPES evaluation.