Najwa S Merchawi

najwa.merchawi@musteducation.tn

00216 71 180 108

Office: 202

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Biography
Research
Teaching
Publications

Biography

Dr. Najwa S Merchawi received her PhD degree in Industrial Engineering in 1994, after receiving her Master of and Bachelor of Science degrees in Computer Engineering, from Penn State University, USA. She has since held research and teaching positions at the University of Windsor, Canada and at Concordia University, Canada. Dr. Merchawi then joined the software development world in corporate America, as a Senior Software Engineer, Product Manager, Software Development Manager and Senior Software Development Manager. She contributed to the development of sophisticated software for 3D Modeling, Simulation and optimization of Manufacturing Systems, including Industrial Robotics, NC Machines, and various other sophisticated programmable manufacturing devices and processes, used by world-class manufacturing corporations such as the Boeing Airplane company and the Toyota and Honda motor companies.

Research

Software Modeling, Simulation and Optimization of Manufacturing Systems, Genetic Algorithms. More recently, Dr. Merchawi’s interests lie in leadership mindset development in Engineering education, renewable energy, environmental conservation.

Teaching

Design Patterns, Object-Oriented design and software development, Software Engineering methodologies, Algorithms, Data Structures

Projects

  1. Virtual Factory Project : Creating a Virtual Twin of the modern factory, which consists of sophisticated automated and programmable manufacturing. facilities, including robots, fixtures, conveyors, and large networks trolleys, all cooperating for the most efficient, reliable, and repeatable processes of the HONDA Motor company.
  2. Digital Twin: Software components for authoring, 3D simulation, programming, verification and optimization of arbitrary kinematic devices ( the Boeing Airplane Company ).
  3. Digital Twin: Software architecture for NC Machine motion simulation
  4. Digital Twin: Software components for authoring and 3D simulation of arbitrary manufacturing cells, including cooperation between robots, products on moving conveyors, rotating fixtures, and humans ( the Toyota Motor Company ).
  5. Optimization Engine based on Genetic Algorithms:  for optimization of manufacturing parameters, including robotic programs and robot operations parameters, robot path planning.
  6. Multi-threaded 3D-simulation software architecture and engine: Many different types of manufacturing process and resources need to be simulated and validated in 3D, and the same software infrastructure needs to be used for all of them, allowing for standard behavior to be factored out and allowing for custom behavior to be plugged in by other applications.  Different resources can be simulated on different CPU threads for most efficient computations, while software mechanisms are in place to prevent data corruption and deadlock.
  7. ERP customizations and deployment based on Microsoft Dynamics : General Motors uses the Microsoft Dynamics ERP package to plan for the tools and fixtures needed to start the manufacturing of new vehicle models. However, thousands of customizations were needed to adapt the generic ERP package to the specific needs of the General Motors Company.
  8. Cloud-based and DevOps based solution for workforce time management: Corporations that use a large, hourly, workforce need a Time and Attendance system that collects employee work data, applies custom and customizable rules and interfaces with scheduling, ERP, and payment systems.
  9. Process Planning and Optimization – DPM BIW project: Automotive manufacturers struggle with the planning of the thousands of weld points performed by robots.  A software application was designed to help with planning, tracking, and efficient distribution of the weld points among robots and robotic manufacturing cells ( Chrysler Motor Company ).
  10. The Agent Network for Task Scheduling ( ANTS Project ): A innovative approach to the manufacturing schedule optimization problem, based on a distributed network of software agents.  Resources, operations, and customer orders acting as agents emulating market economy principles of supply / demand, bidding, accumulating bids and selecting bid winners, which first results in a Least Commitment schedule, then adaptions to real-time unexpected events evolves the Least Commitment schedule into an execution plan. ( US Shipbuilding manufacturer ).
  11. The SAVE ( Simulation Assessment and Validation Environment ) Project: Created a simulation environment where a US airplane manufacturer can experiment and validate different airplane designs for manufacturing feasibility and efficiency.
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