Archive June 2016 Uncategorized

Membership Engagement through TACs

The Technology and Engineering Management Society (TEMS) has initiated a membership engagement program with the establishment of Technical Activities Committees (TACs).

A TAC is made up of a group of individuals who share a common technical area of interest and are interested in participating, leading and promoting technical and professional activities within that specialty. The initial TACs, now implemented, are aimed at the challenges encountered in transitioning a technical concept to products and services.

As a member of a TEMS TAC, you have an opportunity to organize and chair special sessions for TEMS conferences, contribute to TEMS publications, organize special workshops and symposia, and develop educational products focused on your area of technical interest. Each TAC will be led by a Chairperson and a Vice-Chair and will have its own evolving charter, field of interest, web page, email and list of members. To launch this program, the AdCom has recently approved creation of the following five TACs:

Social Management

Led by Leslie Martinich, Competitive Focus

TEMS Elected Member-at-Large

lmartinich@ieee.org

The Social Management Technical Activity Committee addresses all issues related to the people management and organizational management of technical organizations. This includes, but is not limited, to: interpersonal communication (in person, via electronic means, social media); decision making; risk management; the value of diversity; organizational culture; sustainability management; professional development; employee satisfaction; employee retention; and succession planning.

Engineering Processes

Led by Axel Richter, Engineering-Consultant

TEMS Elected Member-at- Large

axel.richter@ieee.org

The Engineering Processes Technical Activity Committee addresses all issues of process inception, implementation, optimization and control for new product or system development in engineering and R&D up to procurement, manufacturing and system deployment. This includes, but is not limited, to strategy, portfolio, program and project management, technology and requirement management, competence development, processes for manufacturing and supply chain systems and the required models and methodologies. Explicitly our focus will include agile and people centric methods like SCRUM and Lean Development and their implementation practice together with engineering tools support, also in globally distributed teams with diverse cultural and competence backgrounds. The dichotomy between rigid process orientation to tackle evermore complex systems and the innovative capacity of the company and the individual engineer requires new approaches for a successful future.

The Digital Enterprise

Led by Liang Xi Downey

TEMS Elected Member-at-Large

lxdowney@ieee.org

The Digital Enterprise Technical Activity Committee focuses on the emerging trends of Cognitive system, enabled by the Artificial Intelligence; Machine Learning and Big Data. Digitization is not a new trend, but the coming of Internet of Things (IOT) is connecting communities, cities, governments, businesses, manufactures and researchers in new ways that could not be imagined before. IOT and computer math modeling are able to represent physical objects, whether they are things in motion (traveling vehicles, moving robots) or things in process (steams, rising temperature), in virtual cyber-systems, allowing people and their physical objects to interact in a much timelier and intimate ways.

Sensors are used to collect data from physical objects in real-time; Big Data and Cloud platforms allow the massive amount of data to be stored and sorted. Advanced machine learning and analytics make it possible for history to manifest itself, current operations to be known and future to be planned and predicted. The outcomes of this trend are higher efficiency, optimized processes, better decision making, lowered resource waste and reduced environmental damage.

Manufacturers of engineered goods and services will need to redefine their business models to lead, compete and win their customers in this new cognitive era. Customer focus will be the new norm, regardless if they are internal or external customers.

Engineering managers must adopt and quickly transition themselves as new leaders with the renewed focus on customers. This TAC will engage current managers, aspiring up starters and motivated individuals to understand the new trend in IOT, Big Data and Cognitive Computing, so to better prepare themselves to lead in the future.

The traditional IT and e-Business are based on structured programming and deterministic; tomorrow’s digital IT system will be open, probabilistic and cognitive. The Digital Enterprise TAC will also discuss and understand the potential threats of artificial intelligence and machine learning to humanity and society, provide guidance to technology companies and policy makers on corrective actions.

Future of Management

Led by Terrance Malkinson, University of Calgary & SAIT Polytechnic (retired).

Editor: TEMS LEADER

malkinst@telus.net

The Future of Management Technical Activity Committee examines the impacts and strategies for addressing the rapid acceleration of change in management practices in the technology and engineering profession. Change agents impacting managers include; but are not limited to environmental concerns; a changing economic base; new computational technologies; business ethics including honesty, transparency and accountability; selfactualization; a growing transient, global, multigenerational, and diverse workforce; statutory regulations; human rights legislation; and a generation of individuals transitioning to management who have a much different value system than their predecessors and the traditions of the organization they are employed by.

Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Led by Michael Andrews, Andrews & Associates.

TEMS Elected Member-at-Large.

michael@andrews-assocites.com

The Entrepreneurship and Innovation TAC will have the responsibility for providing entrepreneurial and intrepreneurial resources and connections for members in leadership positions in start-up organizations, small companies and large companies. These resources will be selected to foster product or services innovation and professional growth opportunities. The selection of resources will reflect the diversity of business topics that represent an interesting, informative or thought provoking references and contacts. The selections will not represent a comprehensive body of knowledge on any topic or an endorsement of the author or related links. The recommendations listed are based on content that may be useful to technical professionals at different stages of their career applicable to support professional skill development or increase personal awareness of professional success elements. Resources will include a virtual platform that will enable members to quickly identify desired materials, presentations and webinars designed to meet the individual needs of the member.

In this, its first year of operation the TACs program will be led by TEMS President-Elect Michael Condry. A TACs charter and web pages for each of the above.

TACs has been added to the TEMS web-site in a short period of time. As the program grows there will be additional opportunities for TAC members including creating their own TAC and budget opportunities to engage in TEMS conferences. If any of these topics would provide good networking for you, in your current position or future career, and you might be interested in participating, you please contact myself (Michael Condry) or any of the TAC leaders

About the author

Ravikiran Annaswamy

Add Comment

Click here to post a comment

IEEE TEMSCON

Call for Young Professionals

Inviting IEEE TEMS Young professionals to be a part of TEMS YP team.

Please fill the form by clicking on above image.

Leader PDF Version

We have launched an interactive document version of LEADER and its now available in two formats. You can either view online or download the PDF version of LEADER for your offline reading.

PDF Version:

High Resolution: Download(16 MB)

Medium Resolution: Download(6 MB)

Low Resolution: Download (3 MB)

View Online: Click Here

Join IEEE TEMS

Visit IEEE TEMS Website to get a glimpse of what we do and how you can contribute

Contribute to Leader

To contribute to TEMS Leader Magazine, Please click above image

Follow us on Twitter