Professor Zimmers’ research efforts have been primarily in the areas of enterprise systems including: Computer-Integrated Manufacturing, Agile Business Practices, System Modeling and Simulation, and Computer-Aided Design/Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAD/CAM), Health Systems Engineering, Value Chain. Also included are: operations management, big data and analytics, financial engineering, and effective methods for student leadership development. His efforts in these areas have been rewarded with over $60 million in grants and contracts from government and industrial organizations such as NSF, NIST, SME, General Motors, Honeywell, Hershey Foods, Mack Trucks, Kraft, IBM, and Harris Corporation. His research program focuses on bridging the gap between academic theory and industrial practice. Research activities with the shipbuilding industry and the Department of Defense focused on double-hulled ship manufacturing techniques including robotic and teleoperated processes. This work was extended to include development of agile and virtual organizations under ARPA funding. A collaborative effort sponsored by the DoD researched improved methods for weapon system development from initial concept stages through repair and service life extension. Project partners included two universities, three military bases, and six defense contractors. Dr. Zimmers has been one of the academics working in the area of industrial and systems who has applied his research to production and manufacturing systems in the field.