David Simchi Levi

David Simchi-Levi is a Professor of Engineering Systems at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Co-Director of Leaders for Global Operations. His research currently focuses on developing and implementing robust and efficient techniques for logistics and manufacturing systems. He has published widely in professional journals on both practical and theoretical aspects of logistics and supply chain management. Dr. Simchi-Levi has been the principal investigator for more than five million dollars in funded academic research. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Operations Research, the flagship journal of INFORMS, the former Editor-in-Chief of Naval Research Logistics and a member of the board for several scientific journals including Management Science, Networks, Transportation Science and Telecommunication Systems, and a former Area Editor of Transportation for Operations Research. His Ph.D. students have accepted positions in leading academic institutes including Berkeley, Columbia U., U. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, U. of Michigan, Purdue U., Georgia Tech, and Virginia Tech.

Dr. Simchi-Levi is co-author (with Julien Bramel) of The Logic of Logistics, published by Springer in 1997 (1st Edition) and in 2004 (2nd Edition) (with Xin Chen and Julien Bramel). His second book, Designing and Managing the Supply Chain (with P. Kaminsky and E. Simchi-Levi) was published by McGraw-Hill in August 1999 (1st edition), 2002 (2nd edition) and 2007 (3rd edition). It received the Book-of-the-Year award and the Outstanding IIE Publication award given in 2000 by the Institute of Industrial Engineers. The book also received the Outstanding First Edition of the Year award given in 2000 by McGraw-Hill. It was selected by Business 2.0. December 2001 issue, as the best source for slashing time and cost and increasing productivity in the supply chain. It has been translated to Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Portuguese. His 3rd book (with P. Kaminsky and E. Simchi-Levi), Managing the Supply Chain: The Definitive Guide for the Supply Chain Professional, was published by McGraw-Hill in December 2003. The book serves as a reference for consultants and managers involved in any one of the processes that make up the supply chain.

He is the founder and chairman of LogicTools (www.logic-tools.com), a company that provides Decision Support Systems and professional services for supply chain planning. These systems have been used widely to reduce cost and improve service level in large-scale logistics systems. Clients include Caterpillar, ConAgra, Kraft Foods, Mercer Management, Ryder, SC Johnson, UPS, U.S. Postal Service, and Walgreens to name a few.

Professor Simchi-Levi has consulted and collaborated extensively with private and public organizations. He is one of the developers of a Decision Support System for school bus routing used by New York City Board of Education to route and schedule school buses throughout the five boroughs in New York City. The system won the first place prize in the 1994 Win World Competition for the Public Sector.