Bio
Brian Tomlin teaches the core operations management class and an operations strategy elective. His research explores operations strategy and supply chain management, with a focus in the areas of supply chain design and process innovation. Brian is a past president of the Manufacturing and Service Operations Management society. He serves as a Department Editor for the Manufacturing and Service Operations Management journal. Prior to becoming an academic Brian worked full time for a number of companies, including General Electric and the Boston Consulting Group.
Current Research Topics
- Supply chain design
- Industry 4.0
- Process innovation
Professional Activities
Academic positions
- William and Josephine Buchanan Professor of Management, Tuck School of Business, 2018–present
- Professor of Business Administration, Tuck School of Business, 2014–18
- Associate Professor of Business Administration,Tuck School of Business, 2009–14
- Associate Professor, 2008–09, Benjamin Cone Research Scholar in Business, 2007–09, Assistant Professor, 2002–08, Kenan-Flagler Business School, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Nonacademic positions
- Director of Research, Optiant, Inc., 2001–02
- Consultant, The Boston Consulting Group (U.K. and U.S.), 2000–01
- Technical Leader, 1994–95, Senior R&D Process Engineer, 1994, Process Engineer, 1993–94, Environmental Engineer, 1992–93, General Electric Company (Ireland and U.S.)
Board memberships
- President, Manufacturing and Service Operations Management Society, 2015–2016
- Executive Vice President and President-Elect, Manufacturing and Service Operations Management Society, 2014–15
- Secretary, Production & Operations Management Society, College of Supply Chain Management, 2009–12
Editorial positions
- Department Editor, Manufacturing and Service Operations Management
Awards
- Tuck Class of 2011 Teaching Excellence (Core Professor), 2018
- Management Science journal Meritorious Service Award, 2015
- Finalist, 2013 Manufacturing and Service Operations Management Best Paper Award - papers published in previous three years are eligible for this annual award
- Finalist, 2012 INFORMS Daniel H. Wagner Prize for Excellence in Operations Research Practice
- Wickham Skinner Award for Best Paper published in Production and Operations Management journal during 2011 (awarded 2012)
- Manufacturing and Service Operations Management journal Meritorious Service Award, 2011
- Management Science journal Meritorious Service Award, 2010
- Manufacturing and Service Operations Management journal Meritorious Service Award, 2009
- Frank Batten Young Scholar in Operations and Information Technology, 2004
- Young Researcher Roundtable Appointee, INFORMS, 2004
- Zannetos PhD Thesis Prize, Sloan School of Management, MIT, 2000
- John F Kennedy Fund (Ireland) Award, 1997, 1998
- University College Dublin, Engineering Academic Award, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992
- Procter & Gamble Award for Academic Excellence, 1991
Working Papers
- With S. Saghafian and S. Biller, "The Internet of Things and Information Fusion: Who Talks to Who"
- With T. Lu, Y-J Chen, and Y. Wang "Selling Coproducts through a Distributor: The Impact on Product Line Design"
Selected Publications
- With Y-J Chen and Y. Wang, “Dual Co-product Technologies: Implications for Process Development and Adoption," Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, 19(4), 2017
- With S. Saghafian, “The Newsvendor under Distribution Ambiguity: Using the Maximum-Entropy Principle to Combine Data with Moment and Tail Information,” Operations Research, 64(1), 2016
- With Y-J. Chen and Y. Wang, “Coproduct Technologies: Product Line Design and Process Innovation,” Management Science, 59(12), December 2013
- With S. Kim, “Guilt by Association: Strategic Failure Prevention and Recovery Capacity Investments,” Management Science, 59(7), July 2013
- With L. Dong, “Managing Disruption Risk: The Interplay between Operations and Insurance,” Management Science, 58(10), October 2012
- With Y. Wang and W. Gilland, “Regulatory Trade Risk and Supply Chain Strategy,” Production and Operations Management, 30(4), July-August 2011
- With Y. Wang and W. Gilland, “Mitigating Supply Risk: Dual Sourcing or Process Improvement?,” Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, 12 (3), Summer 2010
- "The Impact of Supply-Learning When Suppliers are Unreliable," Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, 11(2), 2009
- With Y. Wang, "Pricing and Operational Recourse in Coproduction Systems," Management Science, 54(3), 2008
- "On the Value of Mitigation and Contingency Strategies for Managing Supply-Chain Disruption Risks," Management Science, 52(5), 2006
- With Y. Wang, "On the Value of Mix-Flexibility and Dual-Sourcing in Unreliable Newsvendor Networks," Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, 7(1), 2005
- "Capacity Investments in Supply Chains: Sharing-the-Gain Rather Than Sharing-the-Pain," Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, 5(4), 2003
- With S. Graves, "Process Flexibility in Supply Chains," Management Science, 49(7), 2003