Departmental setting
The School of Industrial Engineering (IE) at the Eindhoven University of Technology is one of the longest-established IE Schools in Europe, with a strong presence in the international research and education community. At the heart of its academic philosophy is the synergy between research and teaching. The department offers an academic environment in which scholars and students work on critical problems at the interface of engineering, management and innovation. The Operations Planning, Accounting & Control (OPAC) group of the IE school currently consists of 4 full professors, 4 associate professor, 15 assistant professors, 6 postdoctoral fellows, and 24 PhD students. The faculty teach and conduct research in the area of Operations Management, with specific emphasis on operations planning and control in manufacturing, services, logistics and supply chains. Research is generally quantitative in nature, while many of the researchers also engage in empirical research. All research is embedded in Beta, the KNAW-recognized research school for Operations Management & Logistics.

Description of the project
The project is titled 'Cash Flow Harmonization' with the aim to conduct applied data-driven research to provide innovative solutions to enable firms in achieving cash flow stability. Firms use multiple supply chain finance (SCF) instruments such as reverse factoring, dynamic discounting and pre-shipment financing. However, they lack an integrated approach to cash flow management. This project will explore how cash flow volatility can be controlled by smartly gearing payment terms and conditions, synchronizing cash flows and understanding historical patterns in goods and inventory flows. Other participants of the project include Rabobank and their clients.

OPAC seeks a postdoctoral fellow who will work on the project for up to two years. The research of the postdoctoral fellow will focus on the following topics.

Data assessment and modeling with focus on Purchase-2Pay (P2P) and Order-2-Cash (O2C) synchronization.

Data analytics to understand historical patterns in goods and cash flows with focus on incorporating operational parameters such as inventory and production planning in cash synchronization.

Developing rules and algorithms for cash-flow harmonization with focus on reconfiguring the SCF instruments by gearing payment terms and conditions.

Tasks
The postdoctoral fellow is expected to conduct research and write research papers on the research project, in close collaboration with the project partners. The position also requires some involvement with teaching activities of the OPAC group (a maximum of 30% of the time), including the supervision of BSc and MSc students that will work on elements of the project with one or more of the industrial partners.

The applicant should have completed a PhD degree in industrial engineering, operations management, operations research, econometrics, applied mathematics, or a comparable domain with a solid background in quantitative research methods. Fluency in English is required.

We offer:

A challenging postdoctoral appointment for a period of 2 years in a dynamic and ambitious university;

A gross monthly salary between € 3.111,- and € 4.084,- (on a full-time basis), depending on experience and knowledge;

A yearly holiday allowance of 8% of the yearly salary;

Ayearly end-of-year allowance of 8.3% of the yearly salary;

A broad package of fringe benefits (including an excellent technical infrastructure, moving expenses, savings schemes, and excellent sports facilities).