System Optimization in Industrial Engineering: Historical Perspectives, Progress and Prospects

This article presents a review and outlook on system optimization, commemorating the 50th anniversary of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers. It provides a renewed perspective on the system optimization, which has been regarded as the academic foundation in the industrial engineering discipline. Historical milestones in optimization are addressed along with the contextual analyses of their implications. The current state of progress in optimization is summarized and the current practices in industry are also reported. Furthermore, the prospects on the system optimization are explored in the context of an emerging computing paradigm, specifically quantum computing.