Service Systems Engineering and Management

Recipient of the 2019 IISE Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers Joint Publishers Book-of-the-Year Award This is a comprehensive textbook on service systems engineering and management. It emphasizes the use of engineering principles to the design and operation of service enterprises. Service systems engineering relies on mathematical models and methods to solve problems in the service industries. This textbook covers state-of-the-art concepts, models and solution methods important in the design, control, operations and management of service enterprises. Service Systems Engineering and Management begins with a basic overview of service industries and their importance in today’s economy. Special challenges in managing services, namely, perishability, intangibility, proximity and simultaneity are discussed. Quality of service metrics and methods for measuring them are then discussed. Evaluating the design and operation of service systems frequently involves the conflicting criteria of cost and customer service. This textbook presents two approaches to evaluate the performance of service systems – Multiple Criteria Decision Making and Data Envelopment Analysis. The textbook then discusses several topics in service systems engineering and management – supply chain optimization, warehousing and distribution, modern portfolio theory, revenue management, retail engineering, health systems engineering and financial services.Features: Stresses quantitative models and methods in service systems engineering and managementIncludes chapters on design and evaluation of service systems, supply chain engineering, warehousing and distribution, financial engineering, healthcare systems, retail engineering and revenue managementBridges theory and practiceContains end-of-chapter problems, case studies, illustrative examples, and real-world applications Service Systems Engineering and Management is primarily addressed to those who are interested in learning how to apply operations research models and methods for managing service enterprises. This textbook is well suited for industrial engineering students interested in service systems applications and MBA students in elective courses in operations management, logistics and supply chain management that emphasize quantitative analysis.

"I am thrilled to see this fabulous book getting published. I have been waiting for several years to offer a course on service engineering but never took the next step. As soon as I saw the contents of this book as well as the first couple of chapters, I got the inspiration to put in the paperwork to offer the course. The book is current, covers a vast set of service industries, goes deep in terms of analysis, focuses on applications of operations research, and is written like a textbook tailor made for classroom purposes. The authors bring in their years of experience into this masterpiece of a book. I am delighted that the authors have an extensive exercise section, several worked out examples, and are offering materials for other instructors. I cannot wait to read it cover to cover and teach the aforementioned course on service engineering. For me this book is the greatest thing since the slice of bread, and the Internet." — Natarajan Gautam, Texas A&M University, USA"This is a well written book by distinguished faculty members in the discipline. The material covered is state-of-the-art and clearly explained. I highly recommend this as a textbook and as a reference book in the newly emerging area in industrial engineering." — Bopaya Bidanda, University of Pittsburgh, USA, "I am thrilled to see this fabulous book getting published. I have been waiting for several years to offer a course on service engineering but never took the next step. As soon as I saw the contents of this book as well as the first couple of chapters, I got the inspiration to put in the paperwork to offer the course. The book is current, covers a vast set of service industries, goes deep in terms of analysis, focuses on applications of operations research, and is written like a textbook tailor made for classroom purposes. The authors bring in their years of experience into this masterpiece of a book. I am delighted that the authors have an extensive exercise section, several worked out examples, and are offering materials for other instructors. I cannot wait to read it cover to cover and teach the aforementioned course on service engineering. For me this book is the greatest thing since the slice of bread, and the Internet." — Natarajan Gautam, Texas A&M University, USA"This is a well written book by distinguished faculty members in the discipline. The material covered is state-of-the-art and clearly explained. I highly recommend this as a textbook and as a reference book in the newly emerging area in industrial engineering." — Bopaya Bidanda, University of Pittsburgh, USA

A. Ravi Ravindran has been a professor and former department head of industrial and manufacturing engineering at the Pennsylvania State University (1997-2017). He is an Emeritus Professor now. Formerly, he was a faculty member in the school of industrial engineering at Purdue University (1969-1982) and at the University of Oklahoma (1982-1997). At Oklahoma, he served as the Director of the school of industrial engineering for 8 years and as the Associate Provost for the university for 7 years. He received his B.S. in electrical engineering with honors from BITS, Pilani, India, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in industrial engineering and operations research from the University of California, Berkeley. His research interests are in multiple criteria decision-making, financial engineering, healthcare delivery systems and supply chain optimization. Dr. Ravindran has published 8 books (Operations Research, Engineering Optimization, Operations Research and Management Science Handbook, Operations Research Methodologies, Operations Research Applications, Supply Chain Engineering, Multiple Criteria Decision Making in Supply Chain Management and Big Data Analytics using Multiple Criteria Decision-Making Models) and over 150 journal articles in operations research. His recent book on Supply Chain Engineering received the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE) Book-of-the-Year Award in 2013. He is a Fellow of IIE and a Fulbright Fellow. In 2001, he was recognized by IIE with the Albert G. Holzman Distinguished Educator Award for significant contributions to the industrial engineering profession by an educator. In 2013, he received the Outstanding Teaching Award in the college of engineering from the Penn State Engineering Alumni Society. He also received the Excellence in Teaching Award from the Logistics & Supply Chain division of IIE in 2017. He has been a consultant to AT&T, CNH America, General Motors, IBM, Kimberly Clark, General Electric, U.S. Department of Transportation, the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association and the U.S. Air Force. He currently serves as the Operations Research Series Editor for Taylor & Francis Group/CRC Press. Paul Griffin is the St. Vincent Health Chair and Director of the Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering at Purdue University and a professor in the Schools of Industrial Engineering and Biomedical Engineering (2017-present). Previously, he was the Virginia C. and Joseph C. Mello Chair and Professor in the School of Industrial & Systems Engineering (ISyE) at Georgia Tech (2015-2016). Prior to this, he served as the Peter and Angela Del Pezzo Chair and Department Head of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at Penn State (2009-2015). He began his academic career as an assistant professor in ISyE at Georgia Tech in 1988. Paul received his B.A. in Chemistry and B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas in Austin, his M.S. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Texas at El Paso, and