Nicholas Loyd, Ph.D.

Director, UAH Center for Management and Economic Research (CMER) Clinical Assistant Professor, UAH Industrial and Systems Engineering and Engineering Management Department

Contact

301 Sparkman Drive
Huntsville, AL 35899
Campus Map

Biography

Nicholas (Nic) Loyd, Ph.D., is a clinical assistant professor for the Industrial and Systems Engineering and Engineering Management department at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), where he leads the Engineering Management graduate program. Additionally, Dr. Loyd is the Director of the Center for Management and Economic Research (CMER) at UAH and serves as the Huntsville center director for the Alabama Technology Network (ATN), which is the state's branch of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP). 

Before entering academia, Dr. Loyd spent over two decades as a field engineer with ATN. His focus was implementing Lean production techniques, fostering leadership development, and driving strategic transformation. His work has spanned a variety of industries including automotive, aerospace, medical, steel fabrication and distribution, education, and government. Notably, Dr. Loyd played a pioneering role in the development of Lean services for seaport operations. Despite his leadership responsibilities, he still enjoys projects on a part-time basis.

Dr. Loyd earned his Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering, M.S.E. in Engineering Management, and B.S.E. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH).

Education

  • Ph.D., Industrial Engineering, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, 2017
  • B.S., Industrial and Systems Engineering, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, 2000
  • M.S.E., Engineering Management, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, 2006

Affiliations

  • American Society of Engineering Management (ASEM)
  • Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers
  • Alabama Automotive Manufacturing Association

Honors & Awards

  • IISE Operational Excellence Division Teaching Award 2023
  • UAH College of Engineering Outstanding Teaching Award 2022
  • U.S. Army THAAD Missile Project Office Certificate of Appreciation 2003
  • Alabama Technology Network Innovator of the Year 2003
  • Alabama Technology Network Rookie of the Year 2001

Expertise

  • ASEM Certified Professional in Engineering Management (CPEM)
  • Lean Trainer and Practitioner - by Toyota Production System Supplier Support Center, NIST MEP, Society of Manufacturing Engineers, and MIT Lean Advancement Initiative
  • Internet of Things: Business Implications - by MIT Sloan Executive Education
  • Lean Enterprise Value Supply Chain facilitator - MIT Lean Advancement Initiative
  • Six Sigma Black Belt
  • Innovation Engineering blackbelt
  • Toyota Kata coach
  • Lean Healthcare instructor - MIT Lean Advancement Initiative
  • Practical Energy Practitioner

Recent Publications

  • Couch, A. C., & Loyd, N. J. (2023). Internal and External Precursors to Favorable Adoption of Industry 4.0 Technologies. The Journal of Management and Engineering Integration, 16, Article 2.

  • Yarbrough, A., Harris, G., Loyd, N., & Purdy, G. (2022). “Developing Taiichi Ohno’s Mental Model for Waste Identification in Nontraditional Applications.” ASME Open Journal of Engineering. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4054037

  • Huang, Z., Harris, G., and Loyd, N. (2021), "An Improved Lean Assessment Based on Employee Perception", Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, (Accepted for Publication 12/21/2020). https://doi.org/10.1108/JMTM-04-2020-0178.

  • Loyd, N., Harris, G., Gholston, S. and Berkowitz, D. (2020), "Development of a lean assessment tool and measuring the effect of culture from employee perception", Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, Vol. 31 No. 7, pp. 1439-1456. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMTM-10-2019-0375.

  • Loyd, N. (2018), "Content Validation of an Assessment Tool to Measure Lean Deployment Based on the Toyota Production System and Toyota Way"; International Journal of Lean Enterprise Research, Vol. 2, No. 3, DOI: 10.1504/IJLER.2018.093636.

  • Loyd, N. (2016), "Empirical Study of Toyota Motor Corporation Relative to the Good to Great Framework,"; Journal of Management Research, Vol. 8 No. 3, https://doi.org/10.5296/jmr.v8i3.9374.

  • Loyd, N. and Gholston, S. (2016), "Implementation of a Plan-Do-Check-Act Pedagogy in Industrial Engineering Education," International Journal of Engineering Education, Vol. 32 No. 3(A). pp 1260-1267.

  • N. Loyd. 2018. "Content Validation of an Assessment Tool to Measure Lean Deployment Based on the Toyota Production System and Toyota Way," International Journal of Lean Enterprise Research.