Aaron Armstrong

Dr.

Dr. Aaron J. Armstrong is an assistant professor of industrial engineering at the Milwaukee School of Engineering. His research has focused primarily on manufacturing process improvement as well as supply chain coordination and optimization.

Prior to his current position, Aaron spent 10 years working for John Deere as a supplier development engineer, supervisor, and manager. During these 10 years, he and his staff of engineers worked with hundreds of companies around the world to help them become more effective John Deere suppliers. Aaron also developed and led the 2001 John Deere Build-To-Demand supplier capability study which helped ensure the success of the C&CE Division’s transition from flat to seasonal production while simultaneously increasing the annual production level more than threefold. As part of this work, he developed and maintained the ProcessMapping.com and BuildToDemand.com Web applications that were used to integrate the John Deere supply chain. Aaron worked on a special assignment as a core team member of the Common Platform/Select Series design and development team for which he was awarded the C&CE Division’s Engineering Manager’s Innovation Award. Since then, he has worked on numerous projects related to supplier flexibility and continuity, total acquisition cost, global logistics, scheduling optimization, and a factory-level automated component inventory optimization project within SAP.

In addition, Aaron’s previous work experience includes setting up and running a second-tier automotive supplier, design engineering, light fabrication, research and development, and aerospace production. He has a doctorate in industrial engineering and master’s degrees in business and in manufacturing systems engineering as well as a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering, all from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Aaron lives in Mequon, Wisconsin.