Petri Helo is a Professor of Industrial Management, Logistics Systems and the head of Networked Value Systems research group, at Department of Production, University of Vaasa, Finland. His research addresses the management of logistics systems in supply demand networks and use of IT in operations. Dr. Helo is also partner and board member at Wapice Ltd, a software solution for digitalized operations and services.Angappa Gunasekaran is the Dean at the Charlton College of Business, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (USA). He has a PhD in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from the Indian Institute of Technology (Bombay). He was the Chairperson of the Department of Decision and Information Sciences from 2006-2012. Dr. Gunasekaran has held academic positions at Brunel University (UK), Monash University (Australia), the University of Vaasa (Finland), the University of Madras (India) and the University of Toronto, Laval University, and Concordia University (Canada).He is teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in operations management and management science. Dr. Gunasekaran has received Thomas J. Higginson Award for Excellence in Teaching (2001-2002) within the Charlton College of Business. He has over 200 articles published/forthcoming in 40 different peer-reviewed journals. Some of them include prestigious journals such as Journal of Operations Management, International Journal of Production Research, European Journal of Operational Research, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Journal of Operational Research Society, Industrial Management and Data Systems, International Journal of Production Economics, International Journal of Computer-Integrated Manufacturing, Production and Inventory Management Journal, and Computers & Industrial engineering. He has presented about 50 papers and published 60 articles in conferences and given a number of invited more talks in about 20 countries. He has received an Outstanding Paper Award from Managerial Auditing Journal for the year 2002. Dr. Gunasekaran's articles have been cited in over 12000 articles, most of which appear in over 50 journals. His articles particularly on agile manufacturing, performance measures and metrics in supply chain and enterprise resource planning have received wider citations.Dr. Gunasekaran is on the Editorial Board of over 20 peer-reviewed journals which include some prestigious journals such as Journal of Operations Management, International Journal of Production Economics, International Journal of Computer-Integrated Manufacturing, International Journal of Production Planning and Control, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Technovation, and Computers in Industry: An International Journal. Dr. Gunasekaran is involved with several national and international collaborative projects that are funded by both private and government agencies. He has organized several international workshops and conferences in the emerging areas of operations management and information systems. Dr. Gunasekaran has edited a couple of books that include Knowledge and Information Technology Management: Human and Social Perspectives, (Idea Group Publishing) and Agile Manufacturing: The 21st Century Competitive Strategy (Elsevier). Dr. Gunasekaran is the Editor of Benchmarking: An International Journal and the North-American Editor of the International Journal of Enterprise Network Management. He has edited special issues for a number of highly reputed journals and some of them include: Journal of Operations Management, European Journal of Operational research, International of Production Research, Business Process Management Journal, Information Systems Journal, International Journal of Computer-Integrated Manufacturing, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, International Journal of Production Economics, and Journal of Operational Research Society. Dr. Gunasekaran is currently interested in researching benchmarking, agile manufacturing, management information systems, e-procurement, competitiveness of SMEs, information technology/systems evaluation, performance measures and metrics in new economy, technology management, logistics, and supply chain management. He actively serves on several university committees. He is the Editor-In-Chief of several international journals in the areas of Operations Management and Information Systems. Dr. Gunasekaran is also the Director of Business Innovation Research Center (BIRC).Anna Rymaszewska holds a Master's Degree in Industrial Management from the University of Vaasa, Finland and continues as a PhD candidate at the Department of Production. Her research interests are centered around the topics of lean manufacturing and management, as well as supply chain management, especially in the context of small and medium enterprises. She has been involved in many international research projects and as well as implemented academic knowledge in the real-life context of manufacturing companies.
