This book compiles extended versions of a selection of the best papers presented at
the Global Joint Conference on Industrial Engineering and Its Application Areas
(GJCIE) 2018 held in Ürgüp, Nevsehir, Turkey. They represent a good sample of the
current state of the art in the field of industrial engineering and its application areas.
The papers presented in this book address methods, techniques, studies, and
applications of industrial engineering with the theme of “Industrial Engineering in
the Big Data Era.” Big data refers to the ever-growing volume of structured and
unstructured data, increasing speed in the generation of that data, and increased
diversity of types of data. Big data is also a developing topic and has attracted the
attention of many researchers and practitioners in industrial engineering. Big data
may play an enabling and vital role in the design of products and systems by
making them more productive, better connected, more intelligent and autonomous,
and extensively accessible. But big data research is still in its early stages. Its focus
is rather uncertain, and related studies are not well integrated. This book will shed
new light on the role of industrial engineering in this endeavor.