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Institute for Sustainable Manufacturing

Sustainable Operations Management Research Laboratory

SOM Lab
SOM Lab 2

Overview

Research in the Sustainable Operations Management (SOM) Laboratory at the University of Kentucky focuses on optimization, scheduling and control in serial systems. Trade-offs among metrics, NP-completeness in flow shop scheduling, and variations in serial systems in real time are three fundamental challenges to SOM. These challenges generates high production cost and holding cost in manufacturing and healthcare systems, slowing down both material and value flows through the serial system. Integration of optimization, scheduling and control provides sustainable solutions to operations management in serial systems, improving not only the efficiency at operations levels from the engineering perspective, but also the effectiveness at management levels from the business perspective. The research group in the SOM Lab is filling the gap between theoretical research and industrial application. 

Our research topics:

  • Trade-off balancing for operating room (OR) scheduling
  • Optimization for concurrent design in manufacturing and healthcare systems
  • System robustness to variations in processing times and market demand
  • Relaxing the impact of NP-completeness in flow shop scheduling on system optimization

Our research interests:

Operations Management, Operations Research, Production Scheduling and Control, Simulation and Optimization in Manufacturing and Healthcare Systems.

Projects

Total funding as PI/Co-PI in excess of $1.192 million

Completed Projects

  • Systematic evaluation of operating room scheduling across the perioperative process, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ, NIH-R03) , PI
  • Predictive Modeling for Digitally-enabled, Multi-Criteria Decision Making for Innovative Product Design & Analysis for Total Lifecycle Sustainability, DMDII; Co-PI
  • Re-invent Erie Lean Engagement; GE-Transportation, o-PI
  • PRISM: Partnership for Research and Innovation in Sustainable Manufacturing, NIST; Co-PI
  • eLEARNING Innovation + Design Lab Faculty Skill Development, eLearning Innovation Initiative (eLII),  University of Kentucky; PI

Publications

Book Chapters

  • Li, W., Tu, Y.L. 2012. Adaptive production scheduling and control in one-of-a-kind production. In Rodrigo da Rosa Righi (ed), Production Scheduling, InTech - Open Access Publisher: ISBN 978-953-307-935-6.  

Journal Papers

  • Li, W., Nault, B.R. 2026. Trade-off balancing in one-stage production with variation in processing times. International Journal of Advanced Operations Management, 17 (1), 86-108. Online: February 25, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJAOM.2026.151896. JIF of 0.25, ranked in Q3 for Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management, for Operations Research & Management Science. 
  • Li, W., Nault, B.R. 2025. Balancing trade-offs between first three moments of completion times for one-stage production. Manufacturing Letters, 44, 70-79.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mfglet.2025.06.011. JIF of 1.9, ranked in Q3 for Manufacturing. 
  • Zheng, M.M., Li, W., Liu, Y., Liu, X. 2020. A Lagrangian heuristic algorithm for sustainable supply chain network considering CO2 emission. Journal of Cleaner Production, 270, 122409. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.122409. JIF of 9.8, ranked in Q1 for Environmental Engineering and for Environmental Science. 
  •     Ye, H.H., Li, W., Nault, B.R. 2020. Trade-off balancing between maximum and total completion times for no-wait flow shop production. International Journal of Production Research, 58 (11), 3235-3251. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207543.2019.1630777. JIF of 7.0, ranked in Q1 for Industrial Engineering, for Manufacturing, and for Operations Research & Management Science. 
  •   Abedini, A., Li, W., Badurdeen, F., Jawahir, I.S. 2019. A metric-based framework for sustainable production scheduling. Journal of Manufacturing Systems, 54, 174-185. https://doi.org/j.jmsy.2019.12.003. JIF of 12.3, ranked in Q1 for Industrial Engineering, for Manufacturing Engineering, and for Operations Research & Management Science. 
  • Li, W., Nault, B.R., Ye, H.H. 2019. Trade-off balancing in scheduling for flow shop production and perioperative process. European Journal of Operational Research, 273 (3), 817-830. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2018.08.048. JIF of 6.0 ranked in Q1 for Operations Research & Management Science. 
  •   Aydin, R., Brown, A., Badurdeen, F., Li, W., Rouch, K.E., Jawahir, I.S. 2018. Quantifying impacts of product return uncertainty on economic and environmental performances of product configuration design. Journal of Manufacturing Systems, 48, 3-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmsy.2018.04.009.  
  • Luo, X.G., Liu, Y.X., Yu, Y., Tang, J.F., Li, W. 2018. Dynamic bus dispatching using multiple types of real-time information. Transportmetrica B - Transport Dynamics, 7 (1), 519-545. https://doi.org/10.1080/21680566.2018.1447408. JIF of 3.3, ranked in Q2 for Transportation. 
  • Ye, H.H., Li, W., Abedini, A., Nault, B.R. 2017a. An effective and efficient heuristic for no-wait flow shop production to minimize total completion time. Computers and Industrial Engineering, 108, 57-69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cie.2017.04.002. JIF of 6.7, ranked in Q1 for Industrial Engineering and for Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications. 
  • Freiheit, T., Li, W. 2017. The effect of work content imbalance and its interaction with scheduling method on sequential line performance. International Journal of Production Research, 55 (10), 2791-2805. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207543.2016.1194536. 
  •   Li, W., Freiheit, T., Miao, E.M. 2017. A lever concept integrated with simple rules for flow shop scheduling. International Journal of Production Research, 55 (11), 3110-3125. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207543.2016.1246762.  
  • Luo, X.G., Li, W., Kwong, C.K., Cao, Y. 2016. Optimization of product family design with consideration of supply risk and discount. Research in Engineering Design, 27 (1), 37-54. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00163-015-0204-1. JIF of 2.3, ranked in Q3 for Manufacturing Engineering and for Industrial Engineering. 
  • Li, W., Freiheit, T. 2016. An effective heuristic for adaptive control of job sequences subject to variation in processing times. International Journal of Production Research, 54 (12), 3491-3507. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207543.2015.1073403.  

Refereed Conference Papers

  • Li, W., Nault, B.R., Keown, D., Saito, K. 2021. The Stability of the TPS culture. Proceedings of the 2021 INFORMS Conference. October 24-27, 2021, Anaheim, C.A., USA.   
  • Li, W., Nault, B.R., You, J., Bilderback, B. 2021. Balancing trade-offs in one-stage production with processing time uncertainty. Procedia Manufacturing, 53, 8-15. DOI: 10.1016/j.promfg.2021.06.004 
  • Abedini, A., Li, W., Badurdeen, F., Jawahir, I.S. 2019. Sustainable production through balancing trade-offs among three metrics in flow shop scheduling. Procedia CIRP, 80, 209-214. DOI: 10.1016/j.procir.2019.01.105. 
  • Dang, F.D., Li, W., Ye, H.H. 2018. An efficient constructive heuristic to balance trade-offs between makespan and flowtime in permutation flow shop scheduling. Procedia Manufacturing, 26, 40-48. DOI: 10.1016/j.promfg.2018.07.005.  
  • Abedini, A., Li, W., Ye, H.H. 2018. Stochastic bi-level optimization models for efficient operating room planning. Procedia Manufacturing, 26, 58-69. DOI: 10.1016/j.promfg.2018.07.008.  
  • Li, W., Zhang, Z.H. 2018. Balancing trade-offs between utilization and work-in-process inventory levels in flow shop production. Proceedings of CASE 2018 -- IEEE International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering. (Accepted) 
  • Abedini, A., Ye, H.H., Li, W. 2017. An optimization model for operating room scheduling to reduce blocking across the perioperative process. Procedia Manufacturing, 10, 60-70. June 4-8, 2017, Los Angeles, CA, USA. DOI: 10.1016/j.promfg.2017.07.022. 
  • Gunna, V.R., Abedini, A., Li, W. 2017. Maximizing operating room performance using portfolio selection. Procedia Manufacturing, 10, 83-91. June 4-8, 2017, Los Angeles, CA, USA. DOI: 10.1016/j.promfg.2017.07.028.  
  • Abedini, A., Ye, H.H., Li, W. 2016. Operating room planning under surgery type and priority constraints. Procedia Manufacturing, 5, 15-25. June 27-July 1, 2016, Blacksburg, VA, USA. DOI: 10.1016/j.promfg.2016.08.005. 
  • Ye, H.H., Li, W., Miao, E.M. 2016. An effective heuristic for no-wait flow shop production scheduling. Proceedings of the North American Manufacturing Research Institution of SME, vol. 44, June 27-July 1, 2016, Blacksburg, VA, USA.

Laboratory Director

Wei "Mike" Li

Wei "Mike" Li.
Wei Mike Li Associate Professor
Linked Department (or Location)
Faculty Profile
Location Detail
414E RMB
Email
wei.mike.li@uky.edu
Phone
859-257-4842

Open positions

We sincerely encourage applications for a PhD program at Mechanical Engineering at UK, and join our team of SOM.

Research Group

Research Group
Photo Contact Info
Isaac Calvo Tuso
Isaac Calvo Tuso
Masters Student in Manufacturing Systems Engineering
Department
Sustainable Operations Management Research Laboratory
Categories
Student

Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering

351 Ralph G. Anderson Building
Lexington, KY 40506-0503
859-257-1687
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