PRESENTATION
HISTORY OF THE DEPARTMENT
The Production and Systems area was created in 1976 as part of the organizational structure of the University of Minho, established in the Provisional Internal Regulation of the University of Minho. This regulation was approved by order of the Secretary of State for Higher Education and Scientific Research on February 10, 1976, which designated Engineering as a Teaching Unit of the University.
Engineering education had already begun at the University of Minho through the Scientific-Pedagogical Unit of Exact Sciences and Technologies, but the first reference to “Production and Systems” only appeared in 1976.
The University’s structure, with its provisional organizational units, remained in effect during the institution’s establishment period and continued, with adaptations determined by the University’s governing bodies, until the approval of its statutes in 1989. At that point, the designation changed to the Department of Production and Systems (DPS) of the School of Engineering at the University of Minho.
The Production and Systems area was a pioneer in Industrial Engineering and Management education in Portugal, initially under the designation of Production Engineering. These programs aimed to train engineers capable of addressing optimization and resource rationalization challenges in small and medium-sized industries. The Bachelor’s degree programs in Production Engineering were established in 1978, and the first graduates completed their studies over 37 years ago.
Currently, the DPS’s mission is to generate, disseminate, and apply scientific and technological knowledge in the fields of Systems Engineering, Industrial Process Engineering, Industrial Management, and Technology. In doing so, it contributes to fulfilling the mission of the School of Engineering and the University of Minho.
The 2016 Department of Production and Systems (DPS) Day marked the beginning of the celebrations for 40 years of Production and Systems at the University of Minho. Throughout the year, various thematic events open to the community took place, including the Innovation Week, Operational Research Week, Industrial Statistics Week, Human Engineering Week, Quality Week, Logistics Week, and Industrial Management Week.