Results

The research of the ESCF is firmly anchored in the research of the Department of Industrial Engineering and Innovation Sciences of the Eindhoven University of Technology. Building on the core research performed by its scientific staff members, ESCF performs research in cooperation with its industrial member organizations, both with its full members within the core of ESCF and in the ESCF communities.

Research is often performed by executing projects with students in individual member organizations or across a set of member organizations. For all research performed by ESCF in collaboration with its member organizations, advancing the quality of the operation of these organizations is of primary interest. This is achieved by the use of high-quality, international academic standards in set-up, execution and evaluation of the research projects. ESCF aims at selecting the best students from the TUE student population for the execution of the projects.

    Depending on the size, nature and ambition level of the research project, one or more of four types of students can be employed (always with supervision of our staff members):

    • BSc Student: These students are employed for small projects with an analytical nature, such as the diagnosis of a performance bottleneck or the analysis of the structure of a business process. Projects have a size of about two person months of effort and an execution time of three or six months. There is no major financial investment required.
    • MSc Student: These student are employed for medium-sized projects with a design nature, such as the design of a new resource allocation algorithm, the design of a new supply chain layout, or the design of an e-business solution. Projects have a size of about six person months and similar execution time. There is no major financial investment required.
    • PDEng Student: These students are employed for larger, practice-oriented projects with a complex design nature, such as the complete redesign of the operations of a supply chain structure or the design and prototyping of a management information system module. Projects have a size of one person year and a similar execution time. There is a financial investment required, which sometimes can be partially covered by a project grant (on the regional, national, or European level).
    • PhD Student: These students are employed for large, research-oriented projects with a complex, strategic nature. Industry and university collaborate in these projects to advance the state-of-the-art in a specific domain that is relevant for both industry and academia. Project have a typical size of four person years and a similar execution time. There is a financial investment required, which sometimes can be partially covered by a project grant (on the regional, national, or European level).