Research Areas

BPR, TQM, Six Sigma, Quality Circles, Juran, Deming, etc., etc.

All names for basically the same activity; systematic and objective viewpoint on quality and efforts leading to quality. The only difference is the terminology and which consultant you are writing the checks to.

The fundamental problem with quality management programs is their inability to be long term and sustainable. Too many times quality efforts lose steam after even a short life span of success, let alone be in existence for the long haul. Are all quality efforts doomed to fail?

Current research efforts in this area concentrate on uncovering the essentials of quality management programs and why they fail to be sustainable. The objective is to discover what features of quality management programs make them unable to become long term efforts that are acculturated into the organization, and to identify those features that may lead to a truly sustainable quality management program.

Data Envelope Analysis [DEA] is an analytical technique to evaluate peer performance and establish internal benchmarking by looking at efficiency of decision making units [DMU] by examining the efficient utilization of resources.

However, DEA typically compares an inefficient DMU by showing one (or more) efficient ones that the inefficient one should be emulating. The issue in DEA that is the current area of Ike's research is what to do in the "zero-sum" situations where the production outputs or resource inputs are shared among DMUs.

For example if the output is market share, the only way for one DMU to improve is for one or more to degrade. So in these situations what is the true benchmark and does the methodology need to be modified to accommodate for shared resource constraints?

Practical application of Design of Experiments and other statistical techniques to the optimization of engineering activity.

The study of early mathematical theory and techniques developed in the Indian subcontinent.