Professional Background

Professor Suresh specializes in supply chain, manufacturing & logistics management. He has published widely in leading research and professional journals in operations management, and has presented numerous papers at international conferences. Dr. Suresh is particularly known for his research work in the area of cellular manufacturing. and his contributions include the book: Suresh, N .C. and Kay, J.M., (Eds.), Group Technology and Cellular Manufacturing: A State-of-the-Art Synthesis of Research and Practice, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston / Dordrecht / London.  Book Links to: [Kluwer Academic Publishers]  [Amazon.com] and [Barnes & Noble].

Dr. Suresh was conferred the title of UB Distinguished Professor in 2008. Earlier, he was awarded the Sustained Achievement Exceptional Scholar Award at State University of New York, Buffalo, 2003.  He is also a recipient of Alfred Bodine / Society of Manufacturing Engineers Award for studies in machine tool economics, Joseph T.J. Stewart Faculty Scholarship, and other research awards.

He has served as Senior Editor for Decision Sciences journal, as Editorial Advisory Board member for Journal of Operations Management and as Associate Editor for International Journal of Flexible Manufacturing Systems.

He has taught / lectured in many countries in N. America, Europe and Asia.  He interacts and works with many researchers globally in the areas of cellular manufacturing systems, production planning & control systems, and supply chain management. He has held the position of Visiting Professor at the University of Groningen, Netherlands for many years.

He was instrumental in starting the supply chain, manufacturing & operations management programs (MBA, MS and Ph.D.) at SUNY, Buffalo. He combines academic credentials with considerable practical experience. He started his career as an information systems manager, specializing in manufacturing applications like MRP systems. He has continued an active association with industry since joining academia. He currently works with many firms globally in the areas of supply chain management and cellular manufacturing. 

He has an undergraduate degree in engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India, and an MBA from McMaster University, Ontario, Canada. His Ph.D. was in the area of flexible manufacturing systems (FMS).


Research Areas

His research work has been in the areas of: 1) economic justification of flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) and robotics, 2) design of cellular manufacturing systems, 3) production planning, control & scheduling systems, and 4) supply chains and e-commerce applications. His research has utilized a wide variety of methodologies, including mathematical programming, queuing theory, simulation, artificial neural networks and empirical research methods. His current research work is in the areas of:

1.        Strategic sourcing & E-procurement practices, and their impact on supply chain performance

2.        Supply chain agility, resilience & disruption mitigation and response in global supply chains

3.        Logistics management applications surrounding warehousing, transport, warehouse management systems, etc. 

4.        Virtual cellular manufacturing systems: design & performance evaluation with traditional job shops and cellular manufacturing;

5.        Demand management, manufacturing planning & control, and inventory management in global supply chains.

 

Publications

His publications have appeared in leading research and professional journals such as: Decision Sciences, Management Science, Journal of Operations Management, International Journal of Production Research, International Journal of Production Economics, IIE Transactions, International Journal of Flexible Manufacturing Systems, European Journal of Operational Research, Computers and Industrial Engineering, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, Journal of Manufacturing Systems, Production and Inventory Management, Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing, Operations Management Review, and SME Technical Papers

Selected Publications:

o   Doering, T., de Jong, J., and Suresh, N.C., Performance Effects of Supply Chain Integration: The Relative Impacts of Two Competing National Culture Frameworks,Cogent Business & Management, Taylor & Francis, 2019.

o   Jiang, Shih-Sian, Ogden, J.P., and Suresh N.C., 2019, Operational and financial configurations contingent on market power status, Omega: The International Journal of Management Science, 2018.

o   Yook, K. H., Choi, J. H., Suresh, N. C., Linking green purchasing capabilities to environmental and economic performance: The moderating role of firm size, Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, 24 (4), 2018.

o   Doering, T., and Suresh, N.C., Forecasting management competence and its impact on accuracy, cost and delivery performance, Journal of Supply Chain Management, 52 (4), 2016.

o   Chiang, Chung-Yean, Lin, W. T., and Suresh, N. C., An empirically-simulated investigation of demand forecasting on the bullwhip effect: Evidence from U.S. auto industry, International Journal of Production Economics, 177, 53-65, 2016.

o   Chen, L., Ellis., S., and Suresh, N.C., A supplier development adoption framework using expectancy theory, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 36 (5), May, 592-615, 2016.

o   Kim M., Suresh, N.C., Kocabasoglu-Hillmer, C., A contextual analysis of the impact of strategic sourcing and E-procurement on performance, Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, 30 (1), 1-16, 2015.

o   Kim, M., Kocabasoglu Hillmer, C., and Suresh, N.C., Impact of Manufacturing Flexibility and Technological Dimensions of Manufacturing Strategy on Improving Supply Chain Responsiveness: Business Environment Perspective, International Journal of Production Research, 51(18), 5597-5611, 2013.

o   Chiang, C. Y., Kocabasoglu Hillmer, C., and Suresh, N.C., An Empirical Investigation of the Impact of Strategic Sourcing and Flexibility on Firm's Supply Chain Agility, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, 32 (1), 49-78, 2012.

o   Braunscheidel, M. J., Hamister, J. W., Suresh, N.C, and Star, H., An institutional theory perspective on Six Sigma adoption, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, 31 (4), 423-451, 2011.

o   Aleisa, E., Suresh, N.C., and Lin, L., Team formation in concurrent engineering using group technology (GT) concepts, in Concurrent Engineering, 19 (3), 213-224, September 2011.

o   Braunscheidel, M. J., Suresh, N.C., and Boisnier, A.D., An empirical investigation of the impact of organizational culture on supply chain integration, Human Resource Management, 49 (5), 883-911, Sep-Oct, 2010.

o   Braunscheidel, M. J., Hamister, J. W., Suresh, N.C, and Star, H., An institutional theory perspective on Six Sigma adoption, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, 31 (4), 423-451, 2011.

o   Braunscheidel, M. J., Suresh, N.C., and Boisnier, A.D., An empirical investigation of the impact of organizational culture on supply chain integration, Human Resource Management, 49 (5), 883-911, Sep-Oct, 2010.

o   Braunscheidel, M., and Suresh, N.C., The organizational antecedents of a firm’s supply chain agility for risk mitigation and response, Journal of Operations Management, 27 (2), 119-140, April 2009.

o   Wang, X., Webster, S., and Suresh, N.C., Would a risk-averse newsvendor order less at a higher selling price?, European Journal of Operational Research, 196(2), 544-553, 2009.

o   Kocabasoglu, C., and Suresh, N.C., Strategic Sourcing: An Empirical investigation of the concept and its practices in US manufacturing firms, The Journal of Supply Chain Management, 42 (2), Spring 2006.

o   Suresh, N.C., and Slomp, J., Performance comparison of virtual cellular manufacturing with functional and cellular layouts in DRC settings, International Journal of Production Research , 43 (5), 945-979, 2005.

o   Slomp, J., Chowdary, B. V., and Suresh, N.C.,  Design of virtual manufacturing cells: A mathematical programming approach,  Robotics & Computer-Integrated Manufacturing, 21, 273-288, 2005

o   Slomp, J. and Suresh, N.C., The shift team formation problem in multi-shift manufacturing operations, European Journal of Operational Research, 165, 708-728, 2005.

o   Bokhorst, J.A.C., Slomp, J. and Suresh, N.C., An integrated model for part-operation allocation and investments in CNC technology, International Journal of Production Economics, 75, 267-285, February 2002.

o   Park, S., and Suresh. N.C., CRM Systems: The application of Fuzzy ART neural network classifiers for customer grouping and buying pattern recognition, (in press), E-Commerce and Intelligent Methods, (Eds.) J. Segovia, P.S. Szczepaniak, and M. Niedzwiedzinski, Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, Germany, 2002.

o   Suresh, N. C., and Slomp, J., A multi-objective procedure for labor grouping in capacitated cell formation problem, International Journal of Production Research, 39 (18), 4103-4131, 2001.

o   Suresh, N. C., and Gaalman, G.J.C., Performance evaluation of cellular layouts: Extension to DRC systems contexts, International Journal of Production Research, 38(17),   4393-4402, November 2000. 

o   Suresh, N.C., "Neural Network Applications for Group Technology in Design and Manufacturing, invited chapter, Handbook of Computational Intelligence for Design and Manufacturing, (Eds.  A. Kusiak and J. Wang),  CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 2000.

o   Shambu, G., and Suresh, N. C., Performance of hybrid cellular manufacturing systems: A computer simulation investigation, European Journal of Operational Research, 120(2),  436-458, January 2000.

o   Suresh, N. C., Slomp, J. and Kaparthi, S., Sequence-dependent clustering of parts and machines: A Fuzzy ART neural network approach, International Journal of Production Research,  37(12), 2793-2816, 1999.

o   Gaalman, G.J.C., Slomp. J and Suresh, N.C.,  Towards an integration of process planning and production planning and control for flexible manufacturing systems, International Journal of Flexible Manufacturing Systems, 11(1), 5-17, 1999.

o   Shambu, G., Suresh, N.C. and Pegels, C.C., Performance evaluation of cellular manufacturing systems: A taxonomy and review of research, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, 16(8), 81-103, 1996.

o   Suresh, N. C., Slomp, J. and Kaparthi, S., The capacitated cell formation problem: A new hierarchical methodology, International Journal of Production Research  33(6), 1761-1784, 1995.

o   Kaparthi, S. and Suresh, N. C., Performance of selected part-machine grouping techniques for data sets of wide-ranging sizes and imperfection, Decision Sciences, 25 (4), 515-539, July/August 1994.

o   Suresh, N. C. and Meredith, J. R., Coping with the loss of pooling synergy in cellular manufacturing systems, Management Science, 40(4), 466-483, April 1994.

o   Suresh, N. C. and Kaparthi, S., The performance of Fuzzy ART neural network for group technology cell formation, International Journal of Production Research, 32(7), 1693-1713, July 1994. 

o   Lotfi, V. and Suresh, N. C., Flexible automation investments: Problem formulation and a solution procedure, European Journal of Operational Research, 79, 383-404, 1994. 

o   Suresh, N.C.,  Partitioning work centers for group technology: Analytical extension and shop-level simulation investigation, Decision Sciences, 23 (2), 267-290, 1992.

o   Suresh, N.C., Partitioning work centers for group technology: Insights from an analytical model, Decision Sciences, 22 (4), 772-791, 1991.

 

Teaching

He teaches regularly in the Executive MBA program (at Buffalo, Singapore and Beijing), Ph.D. program, and Professional and regular MBA programs, in addition to industry education programs for senior-level managers in USA, Europe and Asia. Courses taught include Supply Chains & Global Operations Management, Corporate Strategy, Manufacturing Strategy, Operations Planning & Control, Production & Inventory Management, and doctoral research seminars. 

 

Personal Interests

He has many eclectic interests, which include: 1) A long-time involvement in Astronomy & Astronomy education; 2) Landscape Painting, as a professional artist; 3) Volcano & Mountain Climbing; 4) Drone Videography; and, 5) Voluntary work for social-service organizations.