Construction Division

IIE's Construction Division brings together members who are involved in all facets of the construction industry, such as design, value engineering, project management, research, safety and ergonomics. With these combined resources, we hope to bring to the construction industry a rich supply of knowledge, innovation and experience that can have the kind of positive impact that IEs have long used to bring the manufacturing and service industries to superlative levels of performance. Review the Construction Division mission statement.

Division bylaws updated

The updated Division bylaws were approved by the Construction Division professional membership on June 2, 2011. To view the division bylaws, click here.

President's message

Dear members,  

The Annual Conference in Puerto Rico is mere days away, and I am certainly looking forward to it. As you may already know, the conference will be held from Saturday, May 18 to Wednesday, May 22. Our Construction Division has several interesting presentations lined up, and I am sending a special invitation to all division members who attend the conference to make a point of turning out and packing the presentation room! We need you to support our program by attending and participating. Be sure to bring a friend or colleague along with you! The program is subdivided into two main headings: a) The Solutions Track, which presents papers that demonstrate applications of IE principles to practical situations in the industry setting; and b) the Research Track, which presents the latest concepts and cutting edge trends that influence the direction of the construction industry. The research sessions are a part of the ISERC program that includes research offerings across all areas of the IE spectrum. More from the president

Overview of the Construction Division Solutions Track

IIE Annual Conference and Expo - May 18-22 - San Juan, Puerto Rico
The track is on May 20 and will include several interesting presentations. Click here for times, titles, presenters and moderators.

ISERC Track at Conference!

By Laura Ikuma
We are excited to be hosting three sessions at the Industrial and Systems Engineering Research Conference focused on construction research. We have a total of 10 presentations divided into human factors and safety, construction productivity, and energy and the environment. Topics range from Kinect applications in construction to evaluations of driver behavior in construction zones. These presentations represent cutting-edge research going on in industrial engineering as applied to construction.

Hope to see you there!

• Ergonomics and Safety in Construction: Monday, May 20, 5 p.m. (Location: Salon del Mar A) chaired by Dr. Fereydoun (Fred) Aghazadeh (Note this is immediately following the Construction Division Town Hall meeting!)
• Construction Productivity: Tuesday, May 21, 8 a.m. (Location: Salon del Mar B) chaired by Dr. Isabelina Nahmens
• Energyand the Environment: Tuesday, May 21, 11 a.m. (Location: Salon del Mar B) chaired by Al Attah

Message from the Editor - Bobby Smyth

Pearl of Wisdom: "By making yourself vulnerable, you don’t lose anything, you actually gain a ton." – Matthew Kelly
Friends,
Allow me to reiterate my mission as newsletter editor: "connecting the disconnected." Our shared goal with this publication is to encourage you to get outside your comfort zone and just say "yes" in Puerto Rico, one of IIE’s fastest growing divisions, we need you to venture into a non-traditional IE environment, the construction industry. Make yourself vulnerable to the first step: attend one of our sessions (research or industry track) at this year’s conference. Those of us lucky enough to travel to Puerto Rico are promised beautiful sun and incredible networking, but many will not have an open mind and go outside their expertise during the tracks. Construction Division is run by amiable and devoted members who will greet you with a smile. Thanks for your positive feedback and support from last quarter’s construction division newsletter, one of our most popular yet. Please enjoy the guest author, Dr. P.K. Joy as the second installment of themes outlined in our strategic plan – supervision. His article discusses a very real issue that IE’s are facing everyday across MANY different industries including construction.

Conference is the core of IIE’s success; it continues to take us places. We look forward to all of our esteemed speakers and the announcement of our competition winners! Thanks so much.

Feature Article

Impact of Baby Boomers' Retirement - By Dr. P.K. Joy
A major human resources problem needing industry leaders’ urgent attention
Retirement of construction executives born in the Baby Boomers Era (1946-64), taking away with them the much-needed and not-so-easily replaceable hands-on experience, conventional knowledge, multidisciplinary skills, and traits of personal commitment that they gained in the developmental stages of the industry, is posing a major problem to human resources (HR) planners in the construction industry. Read the full article 

Student Liaison message - Ben Freidenberg

Hello Friends,
I hope everyone is having a successful end of the year, and is looking forward to the summer months. As a fourth year at The Ohio State University, my time left at school grows short.  Upon reflecting on the experiences I’ve had these recent years, what has been most valuable to me has not been any particular knowledge or skill, but the people I have met: an amazing network of peers, professors, and friends. More from Ben 

Wanted: Construction articles for Industrial Engineer magazine  

The Construction Division invites members to submit articles on construction topics through our publications committee for publication in the monthly Industrial Engineer magazine. We would like to see IE-related articles about construction included in the Industrial Engineer magazine on a regular basis, and we are starting by determining which members are interested, and the topics that they would like to write about. At this point, we would just like to see a brief outline of the topic(s) that you wish to write about. Following that we plan to provide you with the detailed publication requirements, such as the format and length to be observed for each article. By working together, we can organize our articles in a sequence that will be most interesting and informative for our readers. Please contact Bobby Smyth.

International Correspondents - The Construction Division has a special opportunity for members who wish to serve as international correspondents.

Mentoring and Internship Opportunities for IE Students in the Construction Industry - One of the goals of the Construction Division is to assist members in becoming actively involved in the construction industry.

Reviewed Links

Lean Construction Institute
Rapid Prototyping Laboratory 

Archived Newsletters

March 2013
November 2012
September 2012
May 2012
March 2012
August 2011
May 2011
December 2010
August 2010 
May 2010 
January 2010
October 2009
August 2009 
May 2009
February 2009
October 2008
July 2008
April 2008
February 2008
November 2007 

Construction Division Committees

• Membership
• Newsletter/publications
• Continuing education
• Conference
• Academic/research
• Industry liaison
• Discussion board/website support

To get involved, contact Lincoln Forbes at (305) 995-4801.

Construction Division Board

Volunteer leadership is the heart of IIE and its technical divisions.