Ashif Sikandar Iquebal

Ashif Iquebal says that manufacturing generates a remarkable two billion gigabytes of data annually, but less than 25% of that data is being applied.

“It’s primarily due to the limited workforce with interdisciplinary expertise in manufacturing and analytics,” he says, “as well as the lack of a unified framework to integrate these two domains together.”

Through research and teaching, Iquebal wants to develop methodologies and frameworks that help realize smart manufacturing as a standard industry practice, as well as train the next generation of manufacturing engineers. This is why he has joined Arizona State University.

“ASU has one of the best industrial engineering programs in the nation, with state-of-the-art facilities and infrastructure,” he says. “As a consequence, it offers exciting opportunities to pursue interdisciplinary research and education.”

During the Fall 2020 semester, Iquebal will be teaching IEE 570: Advanced Quality Control. He says students will apply skills in engineering statistics and algebra to develop their process monitoring and control knowledge.

In addition, Iquebal is looking forward to research that integrates the physics of manufacturing processes with data-driven models to solve advanced problems.

“While data science has played a pivotal role in advancing smart manufacturing, classical physical models are often ignored,” he says. “But by integrating physics, data-driven models can be made more robust to the uncertainty in the process.” 

Iqbal is also fascinated by emerging technologies such as additive manufacturing and high-speed imaging, as well as by the possibilities of machine learning to open new avenues for advancing research in manufacturing processes.

When not immersing himself in the field of industrial engineering, Iquebal enjoys running, cooking, origami and painting. He also loves warm weather, which makes him an ideal Sun Devil.