John Mo

Professor John Mo has been an active researcher in manufacturing systems, enterprise modelling and industrial automation for over 30 years in universities and the CSIRO.

The research projects John is leading in RMIT include:
Systems Support Engineering – Development of a new body of knowledge for supporting complex engineering systems in–service operations, upgrades, maintenance, logistics, life extension, and establish a Master program. Industry partners include BAE Systems, Saab Systems and ASC. The project is funded by DMO. Total project cost $5M.

Diamond Tool Manufacture – Development of a new manufacturing process for grinding polycrystalline diamond cutting tools on multi-axes CNC machine. Industry partner is ANCA. The project is funded by Advanced Manufacturing CRC. Total project cost $6M.

National EPC Network Demonstrator Business Information Integration – Focussed on the tracking of assets in the FMCG supply chain using EPC technology. Partners include CHEP, Telstra, Westgate Logistics, Procter and Gamble, NEC, GS1 Australia and Masterfoods. The project is funded by ITOL Program, Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. Total project cost $1M.

Optimisation of Titanium machining for aerospace industry – Investigates the cutting parameters and machine tooling allowing removal of massive Titanium metals from forged blocks quickly and accurately. The project was funded by Product Parts Pty Ltd. Total project cost $2M.

Quantitative investigation of the impact of renewable energy technologies to spatial urban planning – A small grant from the Global Cities Research Institute of RMIT to investigate the effect to Australian energy supply of moving all energy generation to renewable sources. Total project cost $10k

Prior to joining RMIT, Professor Mo was a Team Leader in CSIRO starting a research group that has grown to a size of 15 research scientists and engineering professionals. In his 11 years in CSIRO, he led many large scale local and international research programs. Some of the important projects are:
The National EPC Network Demonstrator – Funded by the research oriented Information OnLine (ITOL) Program of the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, the 13 partner project consortium applied RFID to track the movement of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) through a national supply chain including companies such as Procter and Gamble, CHEP, Linfox, Visy. The project involved setting up a global ICT infrastructure for capturing and processing the electronic product code (EPC) transaction data. Total project cost $1.4M.

ANZAC Ship Alliance Enterprise Engineering Analysis - Analysis of the enterprise architecture of a consortium involving Tenix Defence, Saab Systems and the Commonwealth Government. The ANZAC Alliance is formed with a mission to service the ANZAC class frigates on the most cost effective manner over the working life of 30 years. Total project cost $0.25M.

Global Manufacturing and Enterprise Networks (GLOBEMEN) - An international research project under the Intelligent Manufacturing Systems investigating new enterprise architecture for supporting global distributed manufacturing operations with multiple stakeholders and cultures. I was on the steering board of the project and leading some of the critical work packages. Total project cost US$14M.

ROSDAM (Remote Operations Support Diagnostics and Maintenance System) - A large scale, server based software that captures field operating data of computer numerically controlled metal plate profiling machines through the Internet and analyses to provide recommended actions. Total project cost $4.7M.

Production Efficiency Improvement Program for FIAA (Furnishing Industry Association of Australia) - Studied the productivity issues in the furnishing industry in Australia and recommended changes to the industry. The team also implemented 3 showcases in 3 furniture companies to illustrate how new manufacturing technologies and lean practices can help the industry to be more competitive. Total project cost $2.4M.

RFID applications in vehicle tracking and RF field mapping – Investigated the application of passive low cost RFID to metallic vehicle components for the purpose of tracking the vehicle in the factory and after sales circumstances. The team also studied the distribution of radio frequency field in dynamic factory environment. Total project cost $0.3M.

DST (Diagnostics Support Tools) - A software that provides highly flexible, easy to use packaging interface to link diagnostics modules on computer numerically controlled grinding machine tools. Total project cost $2.5M.
Global Concurrent Engineering – An early study on the use of ICT to provide 24 hours round the clock design and distributed manufacturing scenarios. The project partners were Ericsson Australia and Equant Network Services. Total project cost $3M.

NEMSIM (National Electricity Market Simulator) - A simulation system based on latest agents modelling methodology to analyse the behaviour of participants in the Australian electricity supply system. Total project cost $1.8M.

Critical Infrastructure Protection Modelling and Analysis - The team applies systems modelling methodology to develop a comprehensive model of the national infrastructures and their interdependency for the purpose of analysing the vulnerability of critical infrastructures. Total project cost $6M.

Accomplishments and achievements
CSIRO Divisional Award – Most innovative research team (2004)
Special commendation by Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Industry on achievement in FIAA Production Efficiency Improvement Program (2001)
British Council Scholarship (1982-83)

Industry Experience:
Mechanical Engineer, International Components Corporation (1976-77)
Assistant Mechanical Engineer, Universal Dockyard Limited (1975-76)

Professional interests and links to industry
Editor-in-Chief, International Journal of Agile Systems and Management
Chairman of Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, Australian Chapter, 2006 – present
Reviewer of research grant proposals for the University Grants Committee, Hong Kong.
Member of the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) panel of expert reviewers, 2003 – present.

Conference Chairman The 9th International Conference on Manufacturing Excellence 2003, 20-22 October, 2003
Conference Chairman IFIP TC5 WG5.3, WG5.7, WG 5.12 Fourth International Conference on Design of Information Infrastructure Systems for Manufacturing, 15-17 November 2000
Program Leader in "Manufacturing Information Systems" of the CRC for Intelligent Manufacturing Systems and Technologies. 1999 – 2005