GESTIONE DEI SISTEMI INDUSTRIALI E LOGISTICI
Academic Year 2026/2027 - Teacher: LUDOVICA MARIA OLIVERIExpected Learning Outcomes
Knowledge and understanding
On completion of the course, students know and understand:
- the classification of industrial plants and plant utility services, and the concepts of flexibility, elasticity and productivity;
- the principles of engineering economics relevant to plant decisions: production function, fixed and variable costs, depreciation and amortisation, contribution margin, obsolescence and wear, residual value, capital and operating costs, cost of inefficiency, economic depreciation and appraisal criteria for industrial investments;
- general methods for sizing plant utility services: operating continuity and failure probability of components and of series and parallel configurations, reliability and availability, cost of redundancy, centralisation and splitting of services, sizing under random and periodic demand, economies of scale, sizing criteria for buffer storage;
- quantitative techniques for the design and management of production and service plants: elements of operations research and linear programming, Monte Carlo simulation, queueing theory, plant layout, feasibility analysis;
- the classification of material handling and storage systems, their performance indicators and the criteria for space allocation and material location;
- the fundamental concepts of project management and the five process groups (initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, closing) according to internationally recognised standards, with their inputs, outputs, tools and techniques.
Applying knowledge and understanding
On completion of the course, students are able to:
- model and solve, through analytical and simulation approaches supported by spreadsheet tools, the recurring technical and economic problems arising in the sizing and operation of production and service plants;
- carry out a production cost analysis, determine the break-even point and the contribution margin, compute accounting and economic depreciation and appraise the profitability of an industrial investment;
- compute the reliability and availability of components and of series and parallel systems, assess service continuity and size redundancy;
- size a buffer store under periodic and random demand and a material handling and storage system, verifying its performance indicators;
- formulate and solve a linear programming model, a queueing model and a Monte Carlo simulation based on random sampling of random variables;
- develop, for an assigned project and working in a team, the project charter, the stakeholder analysis, the WBS and the planning of resources, costs and schedule.
Making judgements
Students are able to compare alternative plant solutions and to justify the assumptions made when data are incomplete or random. These abilities are developed through the numerical exercises, which require choices between alternatives rather than the mere application of formulae, and through the team project work, which requires planning assumptions to be made and defended.
Communication skills
Students are able to document the results of a sizing or planning task using appropriate technical terminology and the formats used in professional practice, and to present them to specialist and non-specialist audiences. These abilities are developed through the written outputs of the exercises and through the oral discussion of the project work, held either with the whole team or individually.
Learning skills
Students are able to independently retrieve and use handbooks, project management standards and the technical and economic data needed to frame a plant engineering problem. These abilities are developed through the guided study of the reference texts listed in the course schedule and through the autonomous data search required by the project work.
Course Structure
The course (12 ECTS credits) comprises 116 hours of teaching activity, divided into 56 hours of lectures and 60 hours of tutorials, plus 184 hours of individual study, for a total workload of 300 hours.
- Lecture-based teaching (L) - 56 hours. Lectures devoted to the presentation of theoretical contents: preliminaries, classification of industrial plants, engineering economics, methods for sizing plant utility services, operations research and simulation techniques, material handling and storage systems, fundamentals and process groups of project management. Lectures are supported by slides which are fully made available to students on the Studium platform.
- Interactive teaching (A) - 60 hours. E1-E11 carried out in class using the projector and spreadsheet software, with collective solution of numerical exercises and active participation of students in problem solving; the outlines are fully made available to students. Modelling of more complex problems through analytical and simulation methods. Development of the team project work within the project management module, with supervised intermediate reviews, some of which may be held remotely.
Consistency between teaching methods and expected learning outcomes
Lecture-based teaching supports the knowledge and understanding, presenting sizing models and economic appraisal criteria in systematic form.
Numerical tutorials and mid-term tests support the applying knowledge and understanding, since they require the independent use of models on problems of increasing complexity, with spreadsheet support.
The team project work supports the making judgements and communication skills, since it requires assumptions to be made and defended under incomplete information and results to be documented in professional formats.
Guided study of the texts and standards referred to in the course schedule supports the learning skills.
Should circumstances require it, and in accordance with the decisions of the University bodies, teaching activities may also be delivered remotely.
Required Prerequisites
Prerequisites: Technical Physics, according to the Teaching Regulations of the Bachelor's Degree in Engineering Management.
Recommended prior knowledge. In order to follow the course effectively, or to study it independently in the case of non-attending students, the following knowledge is required:
essential: command of units of measurement and dimensional equations; elements of differential and integral calculus for functions of one variable;
important: elements of combinatorics and set theory;
useful: ability to use spreadsheet software for numerical computation and model building.
The topics listed under points 2 and 3 are recalled at the beginning of each of the two semesters.
Attendance of Lessons
Attendance is not compulsory under Article 3.4 of the Teaching Regulations of the Bachelor's Degree in Engineering Management, but it is strongly recommended. Only attending students will be admitted to in progress tests.
Active participation is decisive for achieving the expected learning outcomes: numerical tutorials and the development of the project work are interactive teaching activities held in class and cannot be fully replaced by individual study, since much of the learning stems from the discussion of the assumptions made and from the progressive review of the outputs.
Admission to the optional mid-term tests requires attendance of at least 60% of the classes of the corresponding period. Attendance is recorded by the lecturer using the most appropriate means (signature register, roll call and/or tools provided by the University teaching services). Students who do not reach this threshold sit the examination with the final written test, with no penalty in the assessment.
Detailed Course Content
Preliminaries. Main probability distributions; elements of combinatorics; set theory; use of units of measurement and dimensional equations; compounding and discounting; random sampling.
Introduction. The industrial firm, the industrial plant and plant utility services. Classification of industrial plants. Flexibility, elasticity and productivity.
Engineering economics and plant decisions. Production function, fixed and variable costs; depreciation and amortisation; revenues and profits; costs relevant to decision making; short-run equilibrium of the firm; contribution margin; obsolescence and wear; residual value of plants; capital and operating costs; cost of inefficiency; economic depreciation; appraisal criteria for industrial investments.
General methods for sizing plant utility services. Operating continuity and failure probability of components and of series and parallel configurations; reliability and availability; cost of redundancy; centralisation and splitting of services; sizing under random and periodic demand; economies of scale; sizing criteria for buffer storage.
Material handling and storage systems. Classification and engineering solutions. Performance indicators of the handling and storage service. Criteria for space allocation and material location.
General techniques for the design and management of production and service plants. Applied operations research; linear programming; Monte Carlo simulation; queueing theory; plant layout; plant feasibility analysis.
Project management. Basic concepts and definitions. The project environment and the role of the project manager. The project management process groups: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, closing; outline of inputs, outputs, tools and techniques. Development of a project work including project charter, stakeholder analysis, WBS and planning of resources, costs and schedule.
Tutorials
E1. Discount factors and present value of a unitary annuity.
E2. Random sampling of a normal random variable.
E3. Production cost analysis.
E4. Accounting and economic depreciation.
E5. Evaluation of an industrial investment.
E6. Computation and simulation of a reliability system.
E7. Service continuity.
E8. Sizing of a buffer.
E9. Sizing of a material handling and storage system.
E10. Queueing theory and related simulation.
E11. Application of linear programming.
PW. Project work. Project initiating and planning (teamwork).
Course Planning
| Subjects | Text References | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Project management: basic concepts and definitions; the project environment and the role of the project manager; process groups; inputs, outputs, tools, and techniques; feasibility analysis. PW: project work. Use of PM software. (L = 12 h, A = 12 h). | |
| 2 | Introduction: the industrial enterprise, the industrial plant, and general plant services; classification; flexibility, elasticity, and productivity. (L = 3 h). | |
| 3 | Economic compounding and discounting. Exercise E1. Exercises from past exams. (L = 1 h, A = 2 h). | |
| 4 | Engineering Economics and Plant Design Decisions. Exercises E3, E4, E5. Exercises from past exams. (L = 9 h, A = 12 h). | |
| 5 | General techniques for facility design and management: linear programming, layout. Exercise E11. Exercises from past exams. (L = 3 h, A = 4 h). | |
| 6 | SUMMER SEMESTERReview: use of units of measurement and dimensional equations, main probability distributions; combinatorics; set theory. (A = 1 h). | |
| 7 | General methods for facilities sizing. Exercises E6, E7, E8. Exercises based on past exam. (L = 9 h, A = 21 h). | |
| 8 | Monte Carlo simulation; random sampling; queuing theory. Exercises E2, E10. Exercises from past exams. (L = 5 h, A = 6 h). | |
| 9 | Material handling and storage systems: classification and facility solutions; performance indicators; space allocation and material placement. Exercise E9. (L = 10 h, A = 6 h). |
Learning Assessment
Learning Assessment Procedures
The examination consists of three parts: a written test, an oral examination and the discussion of the team project work.
a) Written test.
Optional mid-term tests: two tests, at the end of the first and before the end of the second semester, each covering the contents of the corresponding semester. Admission to the oral examination requires a minimum mark of 18/30; students who obtain a mark of not less than 14/30 are also admitted, although this is not advisable. If both mid-term tests are passed, the mark is the average of the two tests.
Final written test, for students who do not sit the mid-term tests or do not reach the minimum mark: it covers the whole syllabus. The same admission thresholds to the oral examination apply.
Each written test lasts about 1.5 hours and consists of numerical exercises similar to those carried out during lessons. None documentation is allowed during the test. The result of the written test is valid for the current exam session and the subsequent one. Assessment takes into account the correctness of the model formulation, the correctness of the computation and the explicit statement and consistency of the assumptions made.
b) Oral examination.
The oral examination covers the theoretical topics included in this syllabus and the tutorials carried out on the basis of the outlines provided in the teaching material. Students who have passed a mid-term test may sit the oral examination on the corresponding part of the syllabus in the same period; if both mid-term tests are passed, the oral mark is the average of the two. The average duration of the interview is 30 minutes. Assessment elements are: relevance of the answers to the questions asked, quality of contents, ability to connect topics across the syllabus, ability to provide examples, command of technical language and overall communication skills.
c) Discussion of the project work.
The project work is developed in teams during the first semester, using dedicated software, and is subject to intermediate reviews. The discussion takes place during the teaching period and may be held by the team as a whole or by individual members. Assessment elements are: completeness and internal consistency of the project documents produced (project charter, stakeholder analysis, WBS, planning of resources, costs and schedule), justification of the assumptions made and clarity of presentation.
Weighting.
The final mark, expressed out of thirty, is determined according to the following weights: project work 25%; written test 40%; oral examination (theory and tutorials) 35%. Assessment arrangements are described in detail during classes and published on the Studium platform.
Criteria for the final mark.
Fail: the student does not possess the minimum required knowledge of the main contents; is unable to formulate sizing and economic appraisal models independently; command of technical language is poor or absent.
18-21: the student has minimum knowledge of plant and service sizing methods and of investment appraisal criteria; formulates models only with guidance and presents topics clearly enough, with limited command of technical language.
22-25: the student has fair knowledge of the contents, although limited to the main topics; solves standard exercises independently but does not always justify the assumptions made; presents topics with fair command of language.
26-28: the student has good knowledge of the contents; formulates and solves non-standard sizing and appraisal problems independently, connects the contents of the different modules and uses appropriate technical language.
29-30 cum laude: the student has thorough knowledge of the contents; solves highly complex problems independently, critically discusses the assumptions and limitations of the models adopted and has excellent communication skills.
Learning assessment may also be carried out on-line, should the conditions require it.
Students registered to the CInAP (Centro per l'integrazione Attiva e Partecipata - Servizi per le Disabilità e/o i DSA), in order to ensure equal opportunities and in compliance with current laws, may request a personal interview in order to plan any compensatory and/or dispensatory measures based on educational objectives and specific needs. Students can also contact the CInAP (Centro per l'integrazione Attiva e Partecipata - Servizi per le Disabilità e/o i DSA) referring teacher within their department (https://www.cinap.unict.it/content/referenti).
Examples of frequently asked questions and / or exercises
- Within the short-run equilibrium of the firm, define the break-even point.
- Describe the evaluation methods for industrial investments and discuss their limitations.
- Define the reliability of a component and of a system of components in simple configurations (series and active parallel).
- Size a buffer under periodic demand.
- Describe in detail the approach used to develop the project WBS.
- Given the demand profile of a plant utility service, assess the economic convenience of splitting the service as opposed to centralising it.
- For a single-server queueing system, compute the average number of customers in the queue and the average waiting time, discussing the assumptions of the model.