I received my Ph.D. from Middle East Technical University (Turkey) in 2010. Before joining the University of Twente, I worked as a researcher and instructor at Cankaya University, the Turkish Military Academy, Eindhoven University of Technology, and Erasmus University Rotterdam.
My research focuses on building resilience and agility in supply chains and production systems by combining model-driven methods, data-driven learning, and hybrid AI. A central theme in my work is enabling organisations to plan predictively and proactively under variability and uncertainty—by turning operational data into actionable, explainable decision support. I apply these ideas in both service and manufacturing environments, with particular emphasis on high-mix, low-volume (HMLV) production, workload-constrained planning, and AI-supported production & supply planning.
My research programme currently revolves around three interconnected themes:
1. AI Planners for High-Mix, Low-Volume (HMLV) Manufacturing
I am developing end-to-end integrated planning methods using hybrid AI—combining operations research with machine learning—to capture the high variability due to HMLV setting as well as the increased uncertainity in global supply chains and support predictive and adaptive planning in HMLV environments where variability and uncertainity makes the planning the material and production planning processes extremley difficult and almost completely human driven. This work is driven by close collaboration with industry and executed through a portfolio of projects across different TRL levels.
- Supervising one PhD candidate related to this domain.
- In 2026 hiring two full time PhD candidates
Completed projects:
- Several Advanced Manufacturing Program (AMP) projects funded by RegioDeal: Worked with the Fraunhofer Innovation Platform (FIP) on COLMAN, TIMELY, INSIGHT, and SCOPE, focusing on AI based predictive supply planning, machine scheduling, feature based job shop machine scheduling, and truck slot scheduling. Role: Principal Investigator and Academic supervisor.
Ongoing projects:
- Planner 5.0 (with 4M budget half funded by EFRO) - a consortium with 7 companies, manufacturers and software tech developers in the Achterhoek region developing an AI Planner in collaboration with (with Martijn Mes and Rob Bemthuis). Role: Academic supervisor and student supervision.
- SIMPACT - (working with Maaike Endedijk, Sebastian Piest, and other colleagues from BMS and ET Suzanne Janssen and Milou Habraken and Sri Kolla and many other partners from OostNL and Saxion) targeting 20 SMEs and as part of TechOost project, we support manufacturers with AI and organization change Role: Coordination support, Linking industry cases to core scientific problems.
- SmartFlow (TKI) – (working with FIP) a project with Suplacon and FIP, focusing on AI planning under variability in HMLV environment. Role: Academic supervisor, PhD promotor of a full time PhD from FIP
Starting projects:
- Predictive Plan (with 400K budget project funded by TKI HTSM and Thales NL)— my newest but also flagship project with Thales NL, recently funded by TKI HTSM, focusing on predictive scheduling and materials synchronisation in highly variable production environments using a four-step predictive-planning framework. Role: Principal Investigator, PhD promotor of a full time industrial doctorate
Development phase
- I am leading the formation of the FLEX PLAN proposal (TKI/NWA-ORC), integrating previous projects with FIP to develop TRL6–7 AI-based planning methods involving 3 industrial partners two high-tech manufacturer one software-tech provider. Role: Principal Investigator and coordinator
Failed but strategic attempt:
- PERISCOP (NWO-Perspective, 3.3M) and DESIRE (NWA-ORC 2024, €6.75M) - despite being rejected, the project significantly shaped my research direction and industrial partnerships on planning to cope with variability and uncertainty hybrid AI. Role: Co-lead and coordinator of BMS involvement
2. Decentralized Collaborative Planning for Multimodal Logistics –Although logistics is outside my core domain, I view development of a decentralized control tower and supply chain collaboration platform. as a key mechanism for mitigating variability and uncertainty by sharing data across value chain—highly relevant also for HMLV setting and especially distributed and collaborative manufacturing. However, manufacturing is less developed when it comes to collaboration culture. I try to understand how multimodal transport communities operate and how planning ecosystems can emerge naturally and what collaborative manufacturing learn from this.
- In 2026 hiring one full time PhD candidate
Starting project:
- MULTIPLIER (with 600K project funded by TKI Dinalog) – Working with Rob Bemthuis and Rogier Harmelink and Ruben Vrijhoef from HU, Co-coordinating a consortium on multimodal transport along the Twente Kanaal (e.g., Port of Twente) but also Plegt-Vos, Cape-Groep en other companies and contributing to a collaborative planning and decision-support initiative for inland waterway transport, focusing on decentralised coordination and predictive insights for multimodal logistics. Role: Principal Investigator, PhD promotor of a full time industrial doctorate
3. Control Towers for After-Sales Service Logistics
My earlier research roots remain active through PhD supervision and ongoing project involvement. I continue to explore predictive maintenance, service parts planning, and data-enabled service control towers.
- Supervising two PhDs and one visiting PhD in this domain.
- In 2026 hiring one full time PhD candidate
Starting project:
- Add-re-AM (with 6.75M budget fully funded by NWA-ORC) -(with Matthieu van der Heijden), a large multidisciplinary project focused on repair and remanufacturing using Additive Manufacturing, involving 18 researchers across 7 universities and several companies. Additive Manufacturing (AM) is increasingly applied in repair and remanufacturing; however, integrating AM into supply chains demands new models and methods. Here, we explore the reverse logistics in additive manufacturing and service logistics in a large consortium so that I learn how sustainability can be improved at manufacturers. Role: Task lead, PhD promotor of a full time industrial doctorate
Across these themes, my objective is to develop practical, explainable, and scalable hybrid AI-supported planning tools that help organisations cope with variability, uncertainty, and increasing complexity in supply chains and production—bridging the science–industry gap and enabling resilience by design. To develop our hybrid AI planning methods, I follow a 4-step modular iterative planning appproach below.
Former projects:
Proactive Service Logistics for Advanced Capital Goods Next (ProSeLoNext), is founded by Dutch consortium TKI
2015-ongoing: Researcher (http://www.nwo.nl/actueel/nieuws/2015/magw/6-consortia-aan-de-slag-binnen-accelerator.html)
Cyber Physical System based Proactive Collaborative Maintenance (MANTIS) is an EU project, funded by ECSEL (http://www.ecsel-ju.eu/)
2015-ongoing: Task leader (http://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/198079_en.html)
Proactive Service Logistics for Advanced Capital Goods (ProSeLo), is founded by Dutch consortium TKI-DINALOG
2012-2015: Researcher (http://www.dinalog.nl/en/projects/r_d_projects/proselo)
Expertise
Economics, Econometrics and Finance
- Stock
- Storage Facility
Social Sciences
- Control
- Inventories
Computer Science
- Heuristics
- Models
- Supply Chain
- Service Control
Organisations
Publications
2026
2025
2024
2023
2022
Research profiles
September 2023 - Present: University of Twente (UT), Enschede.
Associate Professor at Department of Industrial Engineering and Business Information Systems
Courses Given:
Quartile 1
Maintenance part in Aerospace Maintenance Operations BSc minor (3 lectures, 1 tutoring of 2 assignment questions)
Quartile 2
Advanced Inventory Management in IEM MSc program (tutorial of an assignment, preparing and tutoring a large assignment on forecasting and inventory management)
After Sales Service Logistics in IEM MSc program (lecturing 2 lectures, tutorial of an assignment)
Tutoring groups of the Fresh Connection Game for IBA BSc program.
Quartile 3
Reliability Engineering and Maintenance Management in MSc program (course coordinator, and also lecturing about 4 ECTS out of the 5 ECTS course, and tutoring assignments and question hours)
Quartile 4
Tutoring and coordinating groups of the Fresh Connection Game for IEM BSc program.
Supervision
Supervising graduation assignments of (currently) 20 BSc/MSc students (per year) as a first supervisor.
September 2017 - 2023 University of Twente (UT), Enschede.
Assistant Professor at Department of Industrial Engineering and Business Information Systems
Courses Given:
Quartile 1
Maintenance part in Aerospace Maintenance Operations BSc minor (3 lectures, 1 tutoring of 2 assignment questions)
Module 1 in Introduction to IEM/IBA in the BSc program: One lecture on Supply Chains, one tutoring on Wood Supply Game
Introduction IEM in IEM MSc program (facilitating Logistics Support Game for two-three sessions)
Quartile 2
Advanced Inventory Management in IEM MSc program (lecturing multi-echelon part 2-3 lectures, tutorial of an assignment, preparing and tutoring a large assignment on forecasting and inventory management)
After Sales Service Logistics in IEM MSc program (lecturing 2 lectures, tutorial of an assignment)
Tutoring groups of the Fresh Connection Game for IBA BSc program.
Quartile 3
Reliability Engineering and Maintenance Management in MSc program (course coordinator, and also lecturing about 4 ECTS out of the 5 ECTS course, and tutoring assignments and question hours)
Introduction IEM in IEM MSc program (facilitating Logistics Support Game for two-three sessions)
Quartile 4
Module 4 Supply Chain Management in IEM BSc program (coordinator, teaching Supply Chain Network Design part, 3 lectures, 1 tutorial)
Tutoring and coordinating groups of the Fresh Connection Game for IEM BSc program.
Supervision
Supervising graduation assignments of (currently) 12-14 BSc/MSc students (per year) as a first supervisor.
May 2016 – September 2017: University of Twente (UT), Enschede.
Postdoc at Department of Industrial Engineering and Business Information Systems under the project Proactive Service Logistics for Advanced Capital Goods Next (ProSeLoNext), is founded by Dutch consortium TKI-Logistiek
September 2013 - June 2016: Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), Eindhoven.
Instructor at Operations, Planning, Accounting, and Control Group
Courses Given:
- Production and Inventory Control,
- Maintenance and Service Logistics,
- System Dynamics (Graduate course),
- Supply Chain Operations Planning (Graduate course),
- Capitals Goods for Service Supply Chains (Graduate course),
- Modelling and Analysis of Manufacturing Systems (Graduate course)
September 2012 – August 2013: Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), Eindhoven.
Postdoc at Operations, Planning, Accounting, and Control Group under the project Proactive Service Logistics for Advanced Capital Goods (ProSeLo), is founded by Dutch consortium TKI-Dinalog
Courses Given:
- Modelling and Analysis of Manufacturing Systems (Graduate course)
August 2011 - August 2012: Military Academy, Ankara.
Assistant Professor at the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Courses Given:
- System Dynamics,
- Operations Research II,
- Queueing Theory and its Applications (PhD course)
March 2010 – July 2011: Çankaya University, Ankara.
Assistant Professor at the Department of Industrial Engineering
Courses Given:
- Work Study and Ergonomics
September 2010 – March 2010: Çankaya University, Ankara.
Instructor at the Department of Industrial Engineering
Courses Given:
- Work Study and Ergonomics,
- Operations Research I
September 2002 – August 2010: Çankaya University, Ankara.
Teaching Assistant at the Department of Industrial Engineering
Courses Assisted: Stochastic Processes, Decision Analysis, Operations Research-I, Operations Research-II, Production Planning and Operations Analysis I, Production Planning and Operations Analysis II, Introduction to Probability, Biosystem Engineering, Engineering Economy, Operations Analysis and Design, Systems Design, System Synthesis
Affiliated study programs
Courses academic year 2025/2026
Courses in the current academic year are added at the moment they are finalised in the Osiris system. Therefore it is possible that the list is not yet complete for the whole academic year.
Courses academic year 2024/2025
Proactive Service Logistics for Advanced Capital Goods Next (ProSeLoNext), is founded by Dutch consortium TKI
2015-ongoing: Researcher (http://www.nwo.nl/actueel/nieuws/2015/magw/6-consortia-aan-de-slag-binnen-accelerator.html)
Cyber Physical System based Proactive Collaborative Maintenance (MANTIS) is an EU project, funded by ECSEL (http://www.ecsel-ju.eu/)
2015-ongoing: Task leader, Researcher (http://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/198079_en.html)
Proactive Service Logistics for Advanced Capital Goods (ProSeLo), is founded by Dutch consortium TKI-DINALOG
2012-2015: Researcher (http://www.dinalog.nl/en/projects/r_d_projects/proselo)
Predictive Real-time Integrated Smart Control of Operations and Planning (PERISCOP) for Manufacturers (Active PROPOSAL submitted to NWO-Perspectief round 2023)
2020-ongoing: Co-lead https://www.nwo.nl/en/researchprogrammes/programme-initiatives
Operations control centers for sustainable after-sales services (OpsCenter) (Active PROPOSAL submitted to NWO-Perspectief round 2023)
2020-ongoing: Co-applicant, https://www.nwo.nl/en/researchprogrammes/programme-initiatives
Democratised smart industry technologies for sustainable and resilient manufacturing of the future (Desire) (Active PROPOSAL submitted to NWA-ORC round 2022): Co-applicant, WP-leader
Current projects
Proactive Service Logistics for Advanced Capital Goods Next (ProSeLoNext)
Cyber Physical System based Proactive Collaborative Maintenance (MANTIS)
Cyber Physical System based Proactive Collaborative Maintenance MANTIS is an EU project, funded by ECSEL (http://www.ecsel-ju.eu/)
Predictive Real-time Integrated Smart Control of Operations and Planning (PERISCOP) for Manufacturers
PERISCOP
Dutch high‐tech manufacturers operate in competitive markets characterized by highly volatile demand and supply. Their planning and scheduling tools do not have the level of proactivity and flexibility to accommodate these dynamic changes. Artificial intelligence (AI) can provide the necessary knowledge and techniques to address the complexity of planning and scheduling processes enabling these organization to prosper in their markets dominated by volatility. However, manufacturers, particularly SMEs, do not know whether, where, and how to use AI. They typically have limited capabilities, digital infrastructure, business culture, and human resource to adopt this technology. By using AIempowered flexible and proactive planning, manufacturers can improve their customer responsiveness, reduce their costs, time to market as well as their excess material losses and costly reactive adjustments. These increase competitiveness as well as sustainability of manufacturers. Considering that Dutch high-tech industry employs hundreds of thousands of employees and creates more than hundred billions of euros of production value, these advancements are crucial for maintaining a sustainable Dutch economy and society. In PERISCOP, by particularly focusing on SMEs, we develop and enable the adoption of advanced AI-empowered decision and planning methods that makes high-tech manufacturers more proactive and flexible and we concreate modules to implement them. We employ use cases of manufacturers at different adoption levels of AI, to build, test, and demonstrate our methods. To foster a large‐scale adoption, together with manufacturers, we cocreate generic, modular solutions; clear roadmaps to transform business processes, digital infrastructure, employees' skills to adopt AI in planning and decision-making. The project has been submitted to NWA Perspectief 2021/2022 round.
Operations control centers for sustainable after-sales services (OpsCenter)
OpsCenter
By 2030, the European Union aims to halve its carbon emissions. It is therefore key that high-tech equipment has a minimum footprint, with low cost and high equipment availability. We aim to achieve this by setting the new standard of delivering after-sales services, such as maintenance services and the supply of spare parts and service engineers. To this end, we develop operations control centers in which data and domain knowledge on the equipment and the after-sales service supply chain is transformed into actions using artificial intelligence. Combined with a redesign of the after-sales service supply chain and the business models of the involved companies, we achieve minimum footprint and costs, with high equipment availability. The project has been submitted to NWA Perspectief 2020 round now it is in the last assessment round.
Democratised smart industry technologies for sustainable and resilient manufacturing of the future (DESIRE)
Finished projects
My business article on Collaborative Manufacturing:
- https://www.twentevisie.nl/artikelen/collaborative-manufacturing-vraagt-om-nieuwe-vaardigheden-en-een-nieuwe-organisatiecultuur
- IN08_LessonsLearned_Business_CollaborativeMfg_EN.pdf (utwente.nl)
Our paper with my coauthors received the IISE Transactions 2019 Design and Manufacturing Best paper.
https://twitter.com/EnginTopan/status/1134520051996999680
In the press
My business article on Collaborative Manufacturing:
IN08_LessonsLearned_Business_CollaborativeMfg_EN.pdf (utwente.nl)
Our paper with the title "Using Imperfect Advance Demand Information in Lost-Sales Inventory Systems with the Option of Returning Inventory", which is published in IISE Transactions, is featured in ISE Magazine February issue.
Address
University of Twente
Ravelijn (building no. 10), room 4313
Hallenweg 17
7522 NH Enschede
Netherlands
University of Twente
Ravelijn 4313
P.O. Box 217
7500 AE Enschede
Netherlands
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