Where is the conference being held?

The conference is being held in Dhaka, BGD.

What is the format of the conference?

The conference is an international event focused on industrial engineering and operations management, suggesting a format that includes presentations, discussions, and networking opportunities.

9th IEOM Bangladesh International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management

Name: 9th IEOM Bangladesh International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management
Start: 2026-12-26T00:00:00Z
End: 2026-12-27T00:00:00Z
Location: Dhaka

Dec 26–27, 2026Dhaka, BangladeshIn-person

Registration open

The 9th IEOM Bangladesh International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management is an academic and industry forum held in Dhaka, Bangladesh. This event serves as a critical platform for professionals, researchers, and students to present advancements and discuss contemporary challenges in industrial engineering and operations management. It fosters collaboration and knowledge exchange, contributing to the development of innovative solutions and best practices within the field.

Committees & topics

Topics
Artificial Intelligence and Data Science in Industrial Systems · Automation, Robotics and Autonomous Systems · Business Management and Operations Management · Digital Manufacturing, Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things · Engineering Education and Curriculum Improvement · Engineering Management and Project Management · Entrepreneurship and Innovation · Facility Planning and Layout

Why it matters

This conference is significant for several reasons. Firstly, it provides a dedicated space for the dissemination of cutting-edge research and practical applications in industrial engineering and operations management. Participants can gain insights into new methodologies, technologies, and strategies that are shaping global industries.

Secondly, the conference's location in Dhaka, BGD, highlights the growing importance of industrial and operational excellence in emerging economies. It offers a unique opportunity to explore region-specific challenges and solutions, while also connecting local expertise with international perspectives. This exchange is crucial for driving economic development and improving industrial efficiency in the region.

Finally, the event facilitates networking among a diverse group of attendees, including academics, industry practitioners, and policymakers. Such interactions are vital for building partnerships, fostering interdisciplinary research, and translating theoretical knowledge into tangible industrial improvements. It underscores the interconnectedness of global industrial systems and the shared goal of optimizing operations for sustainable growth.

How to prepare

To maximize the benefits of attending this conference, participants should prepare by familiarizing themselves with the latest trends in industrial engineering and operations management. This includes understanding emerging technologies and their impact on supply chains, production processes, and service delivery. Reviewing foundational concepts in these areas will enable more informed engagement with presentations and discussions.

Given the international nature of the conference, attendees should also consider the diverse perspectives that will be present. Understanding different approaches to problem-solving and operational challenges, particularly those relevant to the host country, can enrich the experience. Engaging with the event's themes through the lens of global best practices and local contexts will facilitate more productive dialogue and collaboration.

Furthermore, participants should be prepared to actively engage in networking opportunities. Developing a clear understanding of one's own research or professional interests, and how they align with the conference's objectives, will help in identifying relevant contacts and fostering meaningful connections. This proactive approach will ensure that attendees can leverage the conference for both intellectual growth and professional advancement.

Country perspectives

Where the most-relevant 1 countries stand on the core issues in play. Click through for the full country profile.

Bangladesh

Host and key beneficiary of industrial and operations management advancements.

Role in topic

As the host country, BGD plays a central role in showcasing its industrial landscape and operational challenges. The conference provides a platform for local experts to share their research and for international participants to understand the unique context of industrial development in BGD. This interaction is crucial for fostering sustainable growth and efficiency within the country's industrial sectors.

Topics & background

The background behind each topic and the actors that shape it.

Artificial Intelligence and Data Science in Industrial Systems

Artificial intelligence and data science have moved from academic research labs into the operational core of modern industry over the past decade. Breakthroughs in deep learning around 2012, the maturation of cloud computing, and the explosive growth of sensor-generated data set the stage for the current wave, which accelerated sharply after the 2022 release of large language models. Industrial engineering disciplines have absorbed these tools rapidly, applying them to predictive maintenance, demand forecasting, quality inspection, and supply chain optimization. The core dispute today is less about whether AI works and more about how it should be governed, trusted, and integrated. Debates center on data sovereignty, algorithmic bias, the energy footprint of large models, workforce displacement, and the gap between AI capabilities in advanced economies and emerging markets. The EU AI Act (2024), the U.S. Executive Order on AI, and China's generative AI regulations represent diverging regulatory philosophies that industrial firms must now navigate simultaneously. For operations management researchers, the frontier issues include responsible AI deployment on the factory floor, hybrid human-AI decision systems, and ensuring that data science benefits reach small and medium manufacturers — particularly in South Asia, where Bangladesh's growing IT sector intersects with traditional manufacturing.

Key players

Automation, Robotics and Autonomous Systems

Industrial robotics emerged in the 1960s with Unimate on General Motors assembly lines and matured through Japanese and German leadership in the 1980s and 1990s. The current generation, however, is qualitatively different: collaborative robots (cobots), autonomous mobile robots in warehouses, and AI-driven perception systems have lowered cost and integration barriers, pushing automation into sectors — apparel, logistics, agriculture — that were long considered too unstructured. The International Federation of Robotics reports that global operational stock of industrial robots surpassed 4 million units in 2023, with China alone accounting for over half of new installations. This raises pressing questions for labor-intensive economies. Bangladesh's ready-made garment sector, employing roughly four million workers, faces a particularly acute version of the automation debate: how to adopt productivity-enhancing robotics without eroding the labor cost advantage that built the industry. Current technical and policy frontiers include safety standards for human-robot collaboration (ISO/TS 15066), autonomous vehicle integration into industrial logistics, and ethical frameworks for autonomous decision-making in mixed environments. Reshoring trends in North America and Europe, accelerated by post-pandemic supply chain shocks, further tie automation policy to industrial strategy.

Key players

Business Management and Operations Management

Operations management as a formal discipline traces to Frederick Taylor's scientific management at the turn of the 20th century, evolved through the Toyota Production System and lean thinking in the postwar era, and was reshaped again by the quality movement, ERP systems, and globalized supply chains. Each wave promised greater efficiency, but also introduced new vulnerabilities — as the COVID-19 pandemic, the Suez Canal blockage, and recent Red Sea shipping disruptions have made clear. The contemporary debate centers on the tradeoff between efficiency and resilience. Just-in-time inventory, single-source procurement, and ultra-lean networks delivered cost advantages for decades but left firms exposed to systemic shocks. Post-2020, leading firms have shifted toward 'just-in-case' buffers, nearshoring, and multi-sourcing, while sustainability mandates (EU CSRD, ISSB standards) require operations managers to track Scope 3 emissions across complex supplier networks. For emerging manufacturing hubs like Bangladesh, the management challenge is to absorb global best practices — lean, Six Sigma, agile project methods — while building local capabilities in supplier development, compliance, and digitalized operations. The discipline's research agenda increasingly blends classical IE methods with behavioral operations, sustainability accounting, and data-driven decision science.

Key players

Digital Manufacturing, Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things

The term 'Industrie 4.0' was coined by the German government in 2011 as a strategic initiative to integrate cyber-physical systems, the Internet of Things, and cloud computing into manufacturing. The concept has since spread globally under various national programs: 'Made in China 2025,' the U.S. 'Advanced Manufacturing Partnership,' Japan's 'Society 5.0,' and India's 'Make in India.' The shared premise is that connected sensors, digital twins, and real-time analytics can deliver step-change improvements in productivity, customization, and sustainability. Adoption remains uneven. Large multinationals have piloted digital twins, predictive maintenance, and smart factories, but a 'pilot purgatory' problem persists — many initiatives fail to scale. Small and medium enterprises, especially in developing economies, face cost, skills, and cybersecurity barriers. Interoperability standards (OPC UA, MQTT, the Asset Administration Shell) and concerns over industrial cyberattacks — underscored by incidents such as Colonial Pipeline (2021) — shape the policy environment. The frontier now includes generative AI for engineering workflows, edge computing for low-latency control, and sustainability-driven digitalization (energy management, circular economy tracking). For host country Bangladesh, the question is how to leapfrog selectively — particularly in textiles, pharmaceuticals, and leather — without overextending fragile digital infrastructure.

Key players

Engineering Education and Curriculum Improvement

Engineering education has been periodically reshaped by external pressure — from the post-Sputnik science push of the 1960s, to the ABET outcomes-based accreditation reforms of the 1990s, to the CDIO (Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate) initiative launched in 2000. The Washington Accord, signed in 1989 and now including more than twenty signatories, has established broad equivalence for engineering qualifications across borders, supporting global mobility of engineers. The current debate is driven by three pressures: the rapid obsolescence of technical content in fields like AI and data engineering, persistent gaps in graduate employability, and demands for diversity, sustainability, and ethics across the curriculum. Online platforms (Coursera, edX) and micro-credentials have disrupted traditional degree pathways, while industry-academia partnerships have become essential for keeping laboratories and curricula current. For Bangladesh and other South Asian countries, the challenges include scaling up engineering capacity, improving practical and design content, and aligning curricula with both local industrial needs and global standards. The 2024–2025 wave of AI integration in classrooms — both as a subject and as a learning tool — has added new urgency to questions about academic integrity, faculty development, and equitable access.

Key players

Engineering Management and Project Management

Modern project management emerged from large-scale defense and infrastructure programs in the 1950s — Polaris, the U.S. Interstate Highway System, NASA's Apollo program — which gave rise to techniques like PERT, CPM, and earned value management. The Project Management Institute (founded 1969) and IPMA codified the discipline, and engineering management evolved as a distinct field bridging technical leadership with business strategy. In the past two decades, agile methodologies — originating in software but spreading to hardware and infrastructure — have challenged traditional waterfall planning. Mega-projects continue to suffer from cost overruns and schedule slippage at rates documented by researchers such as Bent Flyvbjerg, with major infrastructure programs frequently exceeding budgets by 50% or more. Energy transition projects, semiconductor fabs, and digital transformation programs now dominate the global engineering management portfolio. Key current issues include managing stakeholder complexity in ESG-sensitive projects, integrating AI tools into project planning, and developing engineering managers capable of leading distributed, multicultural teams. For Bangladesh, projects like the Padma Bridge, Dhaka Metro, and the Matarbari deep-sea port have provided major case studies in large-scale engineering project delivery in a developing-country context.

Key players

Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Entrepreneurship as a distinct economic and academic field gained prominence with Joseph Schumpeter's concept of 'creative destruction' and accelerated with the rise of Silicon Valley's venture capital model in the 1970s and 1980s. The post-2000 era saw the globalization of startup ecosystems, with Bangalore, Shenzhen, Tel Aviv, and London emerging as significant innovation hubs, supported by lean startup methodologies, accelerators, and increasingly available risk capital. The 2022–2024 period brought a sharp correction in global venture funding alongside a surge in AI-related startups. Policy discussion has shifted toward inclusive entrepreneurship, deep-tech commercialization, university spinouts, and the role of state-backed industrial policy (U.S. CHIPS Act, EU Innovation Fund, India's Startup India). Innovation is increasingly framed not only as a private endeavor but as central to national competitiveness, climate response, and resilience. In South Asia, mobile financial services (notably Bangladesh's bKash and Kenya's M-Pesa model) demonstrate how frugal innovation can leapfrog incumbent systems. The contemporary research agenda includes women's entrepreneurship, social enterprise, refugee and informal-sector entrepreneurship, and the role of universities as innovation engines — all directly relevant to Bangladesh's expanding startup landscape.

Key players

Facility Planning and Layout

Facility planning and layout is one of the oldest subfields of industrial engineering, tracing back to Frank and Lillian Gilbreth's motion studies and Richard Muther's Systematic Layout Planning (SLP) methodology from the 1960s. The discipline traditionally concerned itself with minimizing material handling cost, optimizing flow, and balancing space utilization in manufacturing plants, warehouses, and hospitals. The field has been transformed by several recent shifts. E-commerce growth has driven explosive demand for warehouse and fulfillment center design, with companies like Amazon pioneering robotics-integrated layouts. Reshoring and friend-shoring policies have triggered a wave of new facility construction in North America, Europe, India, and Southeast Asia. Sustainability requirements — LEED certification, net-zero factories, water and energy efficiency — have become central design constraints, while simulation software (FlexSim, AnyLogic, Plant Simulation) and digital twins have replaced static blueprint planning. Current research focuses on dynamic and reconfigurable layouts that respond to demand volatility, healthcare facility design lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, and resilience-oriented planning that anticipates climate risk and disruption. For Bangladesh, which faces flood risk, dense urban industrial clusters, and the legacy of disasters such as the 2013 Rana Plaza collapse, facility planning carries direct safety and economic significance.

Key players