Professor Emeritus
Education
- B.S. Industrial Engineering (1970), Auburn University
- M.S. Industrial Engineering (1973), North Carolina State University
- Ph.D. Industrial Engineering (1975), North Carolina State University
Expertise
- Model-based Systems Engineering
- Discrete Event Logistics Systems
About
Leon McGinnis is a Professor Emeritus in the Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech. Since 1975 he has provided leadership in interdisciplinary academic and research programs, including Computer-Integrated Manufacturing Systems, Material Handling Research Center, Manufacturing Research Center, Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing Institute, Keck Virtual Factory Lab and Model-Based Systems Engineering Center.
The Institute of Industrial Engineers has recognized Professor McGinnis with the Outstanding Publication Award, the David F. Baker Distinguished Research Award, and the Fellow Award. He has given the Inyong Ham Lecture at Penn State, the Jones Lecture at Dartmouth, the Schantz Lectures at Lehigh and a Titans of Simulation plenary at the Winter Simulation Conference.
Prior to retiring, Professor. McGinnis held the endowed Gwaltney Chair.
Since retiring, he has remained active as a "retired but working" faculty member, both teaching and participating in funded research projects.
Research
Professor McGinnis's research focuses on fundamental representation issues in discrete event logistics systems, system performance assessment models, and the development of integrated computational tools supporting model-based systems engineering. He helped establish the Material Handling Research Center in 1982 and managed one of five research programs over the next decade. In 1994, he led a team of Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering faculty to win over $2 million in grants from the W. M. Keck Foundation to create the Keck Virtual Factory Lab as a focal point for IE systems design and control research. His research has been funded by NSF, NIST, Lockheed, Boeing, Generall Motors, Ford, and many other companies and organizations. His current research addresses fundamental system representation issues whose resolution is critical to enabling powerful computational tools for designing, planning and controlling large discrete-event logistics systems such as wafer fabs, distribution centers, health care systems, call centers, etc.
Teaching
Professor McGinnis enjoys helpting students learn how to think like industrial engineers, particularly in developing and using mathematical and computational models to support design of facilities and control systems. He has been instrumental in developing both interdisciplinary education programs and fundamental courses in the ISyE curriculum. He was part of the team that established the Computer Integrated Manufacturing Systems Program in 1983, that received a LEAD Award from ASME for excellence in graduate-level interdisciplinary manufacturing education, and served as Director from 1988 to 1998. As CIMS Director, he led a team that competed for and won a $1 million TRP grant, resulting in the establishment of the Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing Institute within the Manufacturing Research Center. He initiated the ISyE graduate-level course on computational methods and currently teaches a dual-level course, Systems Design for Industrial and Systems Engineers, which focuses on design methodology and computational tools.
Representative Publications
Batarseh, O. G., E. Huang, and L. McGinnis, “Capturing simulation tool and application domain knowledge for automating simulation model creation,” Journal of Simulation, Vol. 9, Issue 1, pp1-15, February, 2015.
Sprock, Timothy, Anike Murrenhoff, and Leon McGinnis, “A Hierarchical Approach to Warehouse Design,” International Journal of Production Research, Volume 55, 2017 - Issue 21.
Timothy Sprock, Conrad Bock & Leon F. McGinnis (2018): Survey and classification of operational control problems in discrete event logistics systems (DELS), International Journal of Production Research, DOI: 10.1080/00207543.2018.1553314.
Peak, Russell, Chris Paredis, Leon McGinnis, Sanford Friedenthal, Roger Burkhart, ” Integrating System Design with Simulation and Analysis Using SysML,” INCOSE Insight Special Edition on MBSE, vol 12, issue 4, December, 2009, 40-43.
Lendermann, Peter, Leon F. McGinnis, Lars Mönch, and Arnd Schirmann, “Grand Challenges for Discrete Event Logistics Systems,” Informatik-Spektrum, v 33, no. 6, pp. 663-668.
Mönch, Lars, Peter Lendermann, Leon McGinnis, and Arnd Schirrmann. "Editorial: Special Issue on Grand Challenges for Discrete Event Logistics Systems." Computers in Industry, 62.6 (2011).
McGinnis, Leon, “Formalizing ISA-95 Level 3 Control with Smart Manufacturing System Models,” November, 2019, NIST Report Number: 19-022, https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/gcr/2019/NIST.GCR.19-022.pdf
Sprock, Timothy, Conrad Bock, George Thiers, and Leon F. McGinnis, “Theory of Discrete Event Logistics Systems (DELS) Specification,” NISTIR 8262, June 2020, https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/ir/2020/NIST.IR.8262.pdf.
McGinnis, Leon F. and Oliver Rose, “History and Perspective of Simulation in Manufacturing,” Proceedings of the 2017 Winter Simulation Conference, W. K. V. Chan, A. D'Ambrogio, G. Zacharewicz, N. Mustafee, G. Wainer, and E. Page, eds.
Lin, Po-Chen and Leon McGinnis, “Test Problems, Reference Models and Fab Simulation,” Proceedings of the 2017 Winter Simulation Conference, W. K. V. Chan, A. D'Ambrogio, G. Zacharewicz, N. Mustafee, G. Wainer, and E. Page, eds.
McGinnis, Leon F., “An Analysis-Agnostic System Model of the Intel Minifab,” Proceedings of the 2020 Winter Simulation Conference, K.-H. Bae, B. Feng, S. Kim, S. Lazarova-Molnar, Z. Zheng, T. Roeder, and R. Thiesing, eds.
Campos, Miguel, Shahab Derhami, Leon McGinnis, Benoit Montreuil and Ali Vatankhah Barenji. Digital Twin Design Requirements for Durable Goods Distribution Physical Internet”, 2021 International Physical Internet Conference, virtual.
Montreuil, Benoit, Leon McGinnis, Shannon Buckley, Sevda Babalou, Wencang Bao and Ali Beranji. Physical Internet Induced Parcel Logistics Hub Innovation, 2021 International Physical Internet Conference, virtual.
Babalou, Sevda, Bao Wencang, Benoit Montreuil, Leon McGinnis, Shannon Buckley and Ali Vatankhah Barenji. Modular and Mobile Design of Hyperconnected Parcel Logistics Hub, 2021 International Physical Internet Conference, virtual.
McGinnis, Leon, Shannon Buckley, and Ali V. Barenji, “Designing and Implementing Operational Controllers for A Robotic Tote Consolidation Cell Simulation,” Proceedings of the 2021 Winter Simulation Conference S. Kim, B. Feng, K. Smith, S. Masoud, Z. Zheng, C. Szabo, and M. Loper, eds.
McGinnis, Leon, “Reimagining Simulation in Discrete-Event Logistics Systems,” 2022 Winter Simulation Conference, Titans of Simulation plenary.
Ragazzini, Lorenzo, Leon McGinnis, Elisa Negri, Marco Macchi , “Modeling Operational Control in Discrete-Event Logistics Systems and their Digital Twins,” Proceedings of the 2024 Winter Simulation Conference, H. Lam, E. Azar, D. Batur, S. Gao, W. Xie, S. R. Hunter, and M. D. Rossetti, eds.