Plenary and Invited Speakers

Prof. Erwin Rauch
Free University in Bolzano, Italy

Title: The Sustainable Factory: Strategies and Challenges for a Green Transition of Industry
Abstract: The global transition toward sustainability is reshaping industrial production, with factories at the epicenter of this transformation. This keynote, "The Sustainable Factory: Strategies and Challenges for a Green Transition of Industry," explores the critical role of sustainable manufacturing in addressing climate change, resource depletion, and societal demands for greener practices. The presentation will examine strategies for designing a sustainable factory, including the integration guidelines and standards like the European Standards for Sustainability Reporting (ESRS) addressing renewable energy, circular economy principles, advanced digital technologies, and green supply chain management. Particular focus will be given to how these strategies drive both environmental and economic benefits, fostering resilience and competitiveness in a rapidly changing regulatory and market landscape. However, the journey toward sustainability is not without its challenges. The keynote will discuss key obstacles, including technological barriers, bureaucracy hurdles, workforce adaptation, and the complexities of implementing systemic change across diverse industrial sectors. Real-world case studies and data-driven insights will highlight both successes and lessons learned, providing actionable guidance for industry leaders, policymakers, and researchers. Ultimately, this keynote aims to spark meaningful dialogue and collaboration on the pathways to a sustainable industrial future, offering a compelling vision for how factories can become catalysts for global environmental and economic transformation.

Biodata: Dr. Erwin Rauch is a Professor for Smart and Sustainable Manufacturing at Faculty of Engineering of the Free University of Bolzano in Italy. He is the Head of the Smart Mini Factory laboratory for Industry 4.0 in Bolzano and founder of the Sustainable Manufacturing Lab at NOI Techpark Bruneck. He received his B.Sc. in Logistics and Production Engineering from the Free University in Bolzano. He also holds a M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the Technical University Munich (TUM) and a M.Sc. in Business Administration from the TUM Business School. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Stuttgart with summa cum laude. In parallel to his academic career he worked for 10 years as Associate Partner in management consultancy. He is also the author of over 250 scientific contributions and an expert/member of various associations and organisations (Associate Member EuroScience, Executive Group member of the International Associsation for Axiomatic Desgin, Euorpean Professors in Industrial Engineering and Management EPIEM Steering Board, International Association of Learning Factories).He is member of various editorial boards of renown journals and Editor-in-Chief of Production & Manufacturing Research (Taylor & Francis).Further he was Visting Professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in United States as well as Chiang Mai University in Asia. His research interest is in Smart Manufacturing and Digital Twins, Decarbonization and Circular Economy, Sustainable Manufacturing, Design of Complex Systems and Engineering Education.

Prof. Luiz Moutinho
University of Suffolk, UK

Title: Futures on Industrial Engineering
Abstract: The presentation starts by addressing three important areas -Sensor technology, Smart production and Sustainability. Agile Manufacturing, Smart solutions and Adaptive Production Scheduling are covered next. Other concepts to be dissected are the Agile Mindset, Immersive Techs, Hyper and Cognitive Automation. Other areas to be discussed include, Robotics, HCI-HMI, Generative Design and Autonomous Systems, as well as Virtual Eng and Prototyping .Finally, there will be insights on Bioremediation, Miniaturisation, Industrial IoT and Multi-robot Systems.

Biodata: Professor Luiz Moutinho (BA, MA, PhD, MAE, FCIM) is a Visiting Professor of Marketing at Suffolk Business School, Faculty of Arts, Business and Applied Social Science, University of Suffolk, Ipswich, England, UK, and at The Marketing School, Portugal and Adjunct Professor of Marketing, GSB, FBE, University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji.
In 2020 he was elected as the member of The Academia Europaea. In 2017 he received a degree of Prof. Honoris Causa from the Univ. of Tourism and Management Skopje, North Macedonia.
During 2015 - 2017 he was professor of BioMarketing and Futures Research at the DCU Business School, Dublin City University, Ireland. This was the first Chair in the world on both domains - BioMarketing and Futures Research. Previously, and for 20 years, he had been appointed as the Foundation Chair of Marketing at the Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow, Scotland.
Professor Moutinho completed his PhD at the University of Sheffield in 1982. He has been a Full Professor for 32 years and has held Visiting Professorship positions at numerous universities worldwide. He is the Founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Modelling in Management (JM2) and Co-editor-in-Chief of the Innovative Marketing Journal.
His main areas of research interest encompass marketing, management and tourism futurecast, artificial intelligence, biometrics and neuroscience in marketing, evolutionary algorithms, human-computer interaction, the use of artificial neural networks in marketing, modelling processes of consumer behaviour, futures research.
Prof. Moutinho has given keynote speeches, lectures, seminars, talks, etc. in 46 countries worldwide.
Prof. Moutinho has 36 books published, over 157 articles published in refereed academic journals. He has 14,731 academic citations, the h-index of 58 and the i10-index of 151 (Google Scholar, Sept. 5th, 2022).

Prof. Cristian Mahulea
University of Zaragoza, Spain

 

Title: From Clinical Data to Optimized Healthcare Systems Management
Abstract: The rapid digitalization of healthcare systems has enabled hospitals and other medical institutions to collect vast amounts of clinical data. However, effectively utilizing this data to improve healthcare delivery and resource management remains a significant challenge. This plenary introduces a novel methodology that transforms raw clinical data into actionable insights through process mining. By analyzing logs of patient data, clinical pathways are derived in a manner similar to identifying processes in manufacturing systems.
Unlike manufacturing, where multiple tasks can run in parallel, clinical pathways are sequential, reflecting the step-by-step nature of patient care. Our methodology generates a formal model of these pathways using a specialized class of Petri nets enriched with probabilities and temporal information. By integrating resource utilization into the model, this approach facilitates optimizing resource allocation and determining the minimum number of resources required for specific scenarios.
Furthermore, clinical pathways without resource annotations offer medical professionals a structured view to ensure that all necessary activities are performed for a patient—no more and no less—contributing to efficient and precise care delivery.
A real-world case study from a hospital in Zaragoza demonstrates the applicability and impact of this approach, showcasing how clinical data can drive improvements in healthcare system management and patient outcomes.

Biodata: Cristian Mahulea received his B.S. and M.Sc. degrees in control engineering from the Technical University of Iasi, Romania, in 2001 and 2002, respectively, and his Ph.D. in systems engineering from the University of Zaragoza, Spain, in 2007. Currently, he is a Full Professor at the University of Zaragoza, where he chaired the Department of Computer Science and Systems Engineering from 2020 to 2024. He has also served as a visiting professor at the University of Cagliari, Italy. His research interests include discrete event systems, hybrid systems, mobile robotics, and healthcare systems. He has been a Visiting Researcher at the University of Sheffield (UK), Boston University (USA), University of Cagliari (Italy), and ENS Paris-Saclay (France). Cristian has served as an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering (TASE) and IEEE Control Systems Letters (L-CSS). He is currently an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control (TAC), the International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR), Discrete Event Dynamic Systems: Theory and Applications (JDES), and IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L). Additionally, he was the General Chair of ETFA 2019.

Assoc. Prof. Maurizio Faccio
University of Padua, Italy

 

Title: Parts Feeding and Logistic Design in The Factories of The Future
Abstract: The increasing variety of products and the adoption of the make-to-order paradigm have led to the design of production systems as mixed or multi-model lines capable of producing a wide range of product variants based on the same core product. This approach, however, adds significant complexity to production processes. Consequently, modern production systems involve handling numerous parts (sometimes thousands) across various logistical stages, including warehouses, intermediate stocks, supermarkets, line buffers, and station inventories. Fluctuations in customer demand, changes in production volume and mix, as well as the introduction of new models and components, place significant stress on the part-feeding process. The omission of even a single part can render a product defective, leading to considerable time and productivity losses. Additionally, parts feeding and stock levels at production stages greatly influence overall efficiency in terms of productivity and space utilization. Parts feeding begins with defining an appropriate feeding policy. Modern parts feeding policies generally fall into three main categories:
The Kanban system: Assembly stations are replenished using the pull Kanban method, which relies on bins containing fixed quantities of the same item.
The travel kit system: Different parts required for assembling a single product are organized into kits that move along with the product through multiple assembly stations.
The stationary kit system: Kits containing various parts required for assembling multiple products are delivered to fixed assembly stations.
In addition to selecting a feeding policy, several logistical processes are involved in parts feeding. These include picking activities at the warehouse or supermarket, material handling from loading to unloading points, and picking and placing activities at production or assembly stations.
Another critical aspect is the adoption of an Industry 4.0 approach, which emphasizes the digitalization of processes, particularly for managing information flows to streamline the pull of materials to production and assembly stations. These factors contribute to a significant increase in logistical complexity, with the result of a heavy reliance on manual logistics and production activities. The industry 5.0 human-centric approach highlights the importance of designing systems that balance productivity with operator well-being.
This paper proposes an integrated design procedure for parts feeding that encompasses warehousing, material handling, and assembly/production processes considering also the digitalization and the sustainability transition. Different cases studies are reported as findings of the research, as well as the importance of an integrated holistic approach for optimizing human factors while simultaneously enhancing productivity. These findings underscore the significant practical implications of this research.

Biodata: Maurizio Faccio is currently Full Professor of Industrial Systems and Logistics at the School of Engineering of the University of Padua (Italy). After graduating in Engineering Management with a score of 110/110 cum laude at the University of Padua, he got his Ph.D. in Industrial Systems from this university, discussing a thesis titled 'Assembly in the Modern Industrial Production'. He teaches and carries out research in industrial plant design and management, development of advanced manufacturing technologies, design of the assembly system, plant logistics, industrial logistics, warehouse design and management, and operations management. He has published around 180 research papers, over 150 indexed in Scopus, in international journals and conference proceedings, with a Hirsch index = 35
(https://scholar.google.it/citations?user=zCoo_HAAAAAJ&hl=it).
He is part of the World's 2% Top Scientists by Stanford University 2024
https://elsevier.digitalcommonsdata.com/datasets/btchxktzyw/7
Moreover, he serves at present as an Associate Editor in the Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing, Springer, Impact Factor 8.33, ranked 15th in SJR-Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering in 2022. He has further participated as a member of different International Journal Editorial Boards, including but not limited to the following: Assembly Automation, Emerald; Applied Science, MDPI; Universal Journal of Mechanical Engineering, Horizon Research Publishing. He was awarded the Highly Commended Paper Award in 2013 by the international journal 'Assembly Automation for the paper 'Fully Flexible Assembly System (F-FAS): a New Concept in Flexible Automation.' Besides this, he also got the Best Commended Paper Award at the international conference IFAC MIMS 2022 Conference on the paper entitled, 'Influence of Task Time Variations in Adopting Walking Worker Assembly Systems: a design approach.' Top cited 2023 paper, Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing, with the paper, Human factors in cobot era: a review of modern production systems features. He was also awarded, in 2019, the Best Financed Research Project award by the Veneto Region for the project 'COLOG' - 'Methods and Tools for the Integration of Human Resources and Collaborative Robotic Systems in Manufacturing Production Management'. In 2020 he developed several parts of the project AD-HOC - Augmentation and Development of Human Operations by Cobots for improving manual work in the manufacturing companies. Member of the International Technical Committee TC 5.1. Manufacturing Plant Control (IFAC) and Scientific Vice-chair "Plant Operations Management" thematic chair. He carried out research activity in national and international research programs and participated in the European Project MAIA, under the call: H2020-MSCA-RISE, Models and Methods for an Active Ageing Workforce: an International Academy (https://maiaproject.eu/).
He leads or is part of numerous research collaborations in the research area of Industrial Systems and Logistics, with Italian and European companies. In particular, he coordinated approximately 60 research projects on innovation and technological transfer in the Industrial Systems and Logistics sector. These projects involved institutions with high economic impact - business volume - and social impact - job positions. The added value for the beneficiaries has often been high, with technology transfer and innovations affecting production, logistics, and organizational processes. This has partly enabled the development of prototypes and, on the other hand, the production of various scientific publications in international journals and conferences. For Didactics Activities look at
https://en.didattica.unipd.it/off/docente/04D34D85516C525419BAF82BD42ECA90
For Scientific Publication look at
https://scholar.google.it/citations?user=zCoo_HAAAAAJ&hl=it

Speakers in 2026 to be announced soon......