Academic Current: Dr. Emory W. Zimmers, Jr. is Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) at Lehigh University and Director of the Enterprise Systems Center (ESC). In the role of Professor, he is responsible for teaching courses in leadership development, industrial and business systems, computer-integrated manufacturing, and computer graphics. All undergraduate ISE students take his industry-based senior project capstone course. As ESC’s Director he is responsible for leading multi-disciplinary project teams which analyze enterprise operations and design improved systems in collaboration with ESC’s industry partners. In recent years, project contracts have averaged $1-2 million per year with 15-20 companies and governmental agencies involved over the year. He has helped to provide skill development through experiential learning to more than 2225 undergraduate, 152 masters, and 15 doctoral students.

Academic Experience: In 1970, Dr. Zimmers returned to the University from industry to pursue a Ph.D. programs of study and initiate work on the development of the Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) Laboratory which grew from Lehigh’s Manufacturing Processes Laboratory. This new laboratory served to introduce computer-based technologies to students as well as to research sponsors. During the early 1980’s the CAM Lab evolved to become the Computer-Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) Laboratory. The CIM Lab served as a platform to conduct manufacturing research sponsored by the National Science Foundation and leading U.S. corporations. The lab is currently a component within the Enterprise Systems Center, which was founded by Dr. Zimmers in 1995. Concurrently with his leadership of the Enterprise Systems Center, in 2005, Dr. Zimmers was appointed as the Site Director of the National Science Foundation sponsored Center for Engineering Logistics and Distribution (CELDi). Lehigh was one of ten universities participating in this Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers program. This contract was for five years and successfully completed in 2010.

Professor Zimmers is currently working to formalize and grow several new laboratories within the ESC. These facilities build on current industry programs at the Enterprise Systems Center. They bring experienced-based learning and industrial value creation to new levels of accomplishment while leveraging techniques based on technology areas such as data science and analytics.

Full-time industry work: From 1967 to 1970 Professor Zimmers was employed as a Research Engineer in the Research and Development Center of Illinois Central Industries. His work involved laboratory experiments in advanced manufacturing applications, numerical control system implementations and development of optimization systems for discrete metal parts manufacturing. Dr. Zimmers was responsible for new technology introductions in several domestic plants as well as three manufacturing units in Canada and Europe.