310 About the Contributors Ioannis Minis is a Professor in the Department of Financial and Management Engineering of the University of Aegean. He conducts research in design, production and operations systems, including supply chain management. Dr. Minis holds a Ph.D. degree from the University of Maryland in Me- chanical Engineering, and has held the positions of Assistant and Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the same University (1988-1997). He is conducting research in Operations for over 20 years and has authored two edited volumes, several book chapters, over 45 journal articles and over 60 articles in conference proceedings. Dr. Minis has been the recipient of the 1993 Earl E. Walker Out- standing Young Manufacturing Engineer Award from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME). Vasileios Zeimpekis is Adjunct Lecturer in the Department of Financial & Management Engineer-