Dr Jelena Milisavljevic Syed

Areas of expertise

• Manufacturing Systems
• Product and Service Design

Background

Dr. Milisavljevic-Syed's design experience spans mechanical, control, and industrial engineering. Her research focus is on integrating design thinking, strategy and innovation management in the realization of cyber-physical product-service systems adaptable to dynamic market changes as a support further digitalization (smart manufacturing).

Prior to joining Cranfield University, she was a Lecturer in Industrial Design and Director of the Systems Realization Laboratory at the University of Liverpool in the UK. Dr. Milisavljevic-Syed earned a PhD in Mechanical Engineering with a focus on Dynamic Management of Networked Engineered (Manufacturing) Systems from the University of Oklahoma in the USA, a second MS in Mechanical Engineering with a focus on Uncertainty Management in Realization of Complex Manufacturing Systems from the University of Oklahoma in the USA, MEng in Mechanical Engineering with a focus on Elastohydrodinamics Lubrication in Machines from the University of Nis in Serbia, and a diploma of Mechanical Technician for Computer-Aided Design (CAD) from the College of Mechanical Engineering. She is a member of ASME, ASEE, BFWG, MIET, IEEE and Design Society.

Research opportunities

Current PhD positions:

- Driving Sustainability: Myopic Mean Field Games and MARL for Incentive Mechanisms in Manufacturing Supply Chains PhD

- Advancing Sustainable Manufacturing through AI-supported Design for Dynamic Management PhD

- Quality Assurance Framework for Digital Twins across Product Lifecycle PhD

- Develop high-accuracy prediction models with small datasets and uncertainty of one-sided information in the free-market system PhD

- Pre-emptive strategies for achieving positive restoration of supply networks PhD

Current activities

Dynamic changes in the market due to wide variations in customer needs lead to mass customization where enterprises have to be capable to adjust the manufacturing processes according to the wide variations of product design and substantial changes in product scale. Global competition requires enterprises not only to provide cost-effective manufacturing processes but also to improve the quality of products and shorten the time to market. Smart Manufacturing (SM) as an appealing solution is increasingly being adopted by companies to respond to these changes in the market. However, SM systems are not inherently adaptable to dynamic changes and capable respond to unexpected disturbances but need to be designed to be such. Hence, I developed Design for Dynamic Management (DFDM), a decision-based design method that helps a designer to manage challenges of dynamic changes, unexpected disturbances and uncertainty in design as support to flexible, operable and rapidly configurable manufacturing processes. Nevertheless, disruptions due to climate change, pandemics, and the lack of regulations of the free market system increased the vulnerability of global supply chains, and UK manufacturers are unprepared for these changes which can lead to a significant financial loss to a nation's economy. These issues require us to rethink production and provide a new production system to complement modern manufacturing processes. This motivated me to extend the DFDM to Decision Engineering Framework (DEF) for Realisation of Responsive and Sustainable Manufacturing Systems and answer the fundamental research question "How to adapt existing manufacturing systems in response to rapidly changing demand while manufacturing products in a sustainable manner?" that I am currently working on. I plan to further my research on AI-supported Design for Dynamic Managemnt of Evolving Cyber-physical Systems.

Publications

• Articles in journals
• Conference papers
• Books