Clemson IE is pleased to announce that Kim Needy, PhD is the featured presenter on Friday, February 27th from 2:15pm – 3:05pm in Freeman 140. Dr. Needy, from the University of Arkansas, is the second guest presenter in the Spring 2015 – IE Seminar Series. Her seminar is entitled “Creating Quality Metrics for the Capital Facilities Delivery Industry.”
Abstract: This study investigated quality metrics for the capital facilities delivery industry. In particular, the researchers aimed to establish a method and a set of standard metrics that can be used to effectively measure, categorize, and benchmark quality performance across the project delivery process. First, eight quality drivers are presented encompassing the entire project life cycle. These quality drivers influence the quality metrics and relate to organizational context, understanding, defining and managing project requirements, and project execution. Next we present a quality pyramid, analogous to the safety pyramid, that captures planned quality activities and unplanned quality events that could occur throughout the project lifecycle. At the base of the pyramid are two leading indicators or planned activities – prevention and appraisal. In subsequent layers are four lagging indicators or unplanned events – findings, variations, defects and failures, listed by increasing level of severity. Quality data is collected from 85 projects and reported using these categories. The data is normalized by total project cost, total work hours and total time so that projects and companies of varying sizes can be compared. Findings from the research are shared including that contractors perform more prevention activities and more appraisals than owners; data is best normalized using labor hours; fewer metrics are preferred; metrics must encompass the project life cycle; metrics must be clearly defined, easy to understand and easy to collect; and metrics must drive improvement. The long-term goal of this research is for this quality metrics system to be adopted throughout the capital facilities delivery industry.
Bio: Kim LaScola Needy is Dean of the Graduate School and International Education at the University of Arkansas. Prior to this appointment she was Department Head and 21st Century Professor of Industrial Engineering at the University of Arkansas. She received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Industrial Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh, and her Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Wichita State University. Prior to her academic appointment, she gained industrial experience while working at PPG Industries and The Boeing Company. Her first faculty appointment was at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Needy’s research interests include engineering management, engineering economic analysis, sustainable engineering, and integrated resource management. She has co-authored 135 papers and is a co-author of Fundamentals of Engineering Economic Analysis, First Edition by John Wiley & Sons published in 2014. She has been funded on 33 different research grants from various agencies including the National Science Foundation, Department of Education and Construction Industry Institute. Dr Needy is currently serving as the Immediate Past President of the Institute of Industrial Engineers, holding a Fellow membership status, as well as holding membership in the American Society for Engineering Education (Fellow member), American Society for Engineering Management (Fellow member, Certified Professional Engineering Manager and with service on the board of directors for 14 years including as the President), American Production and Inventory Control Society (Certified at the Fellow Level in Production and Inventory Management) and Society of Women Engineers. She is a licensed Professional Engineer in Kansas.
