International Conference on Computers and Industrial Engineering, Part 1

The papers presented in this special issue are extensions of a selected number of papers presented at the 27th International Conference on Computers & Industrial Engineering (ICC & IE) held in Beijing, China, October 11–13, 2000. The conference was one of a series that started in 1976, and has since provided an excellent opportunity for researchers, educators, and practitioners in industrial engineering and allied areas to share their experiences. The Participants of the 27th ICC and IE came from 21 countries, making the meeting truly international. During the conference, 291 articles were presented and published in the Proceedings. The speakers in the conference were invited to submit well developed extensions of their papers for possible publication in Computers and Industrial Engineering: An International Journal, subject to the same blind rigorous review process followed in the general issues of the journal. In all, 72 were submitted to the editors of the special issue. Of these, 21 articles have been accepted and included in this issue. A number of other articles are still under revision and may be included in a later issue. We would like to express our appreciation to all the authors for submitting their work to the journal and sharing the results of their research. We would also like to thank the Conference Scientific Committee and the referees for the tremendous effort they generously expended to uphold the standards of the journal.