Benjamin Seaver Blanchard, Jr. (July 20, 1929 – July 11, 2019) was an American

systems engineer Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering and engineering management that focuses on how to design, integrate, and manage complex systems over their life cycles. At its core, systems engineering utilizes systems thinkin ...

and emeritus professor of industrial and systems engineering at

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

, who was awarded the

INCOSE Pioneer Award INCOSE Pioneer Award is an annual prize for people who have made significant pioneering contributions to the field of Systems Engineering given by the INCOSE (International Council on Systems Engineering) since 1997. Winners SourceINCOSE* 1997: ...

jointly with Wolt J. Fabrycky as "practitioner, teacher, and advocate of Systems Engineering."INCOSE Fellow Ben Blanchard
at ''sie.arizona.edu''. Accessed October 1, 2013.

Biography

Blanchard received his BS in

civil engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...

from the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine, United States. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universitie ...

in 1951, and did some graduate coursework in

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

. In 1969, he received his MBA from the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded in 1850 and moved into its current campus, next to the Genesee River in 1930. With approximately 30,000 full ...

as part of an executive development program. In the early 1950s, Blanchard started working at

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its origins to 1 ...

, where he became electronics maintenance officer. In 1953, he moved to industry working as engineer in the fields of design, field service, staff and management with

Boeing Commercial Airplanes Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA) is a division of the Boeing Company. It designs, assembles, markets, and sells commercial aircraft, including the 737, 767, 777, and 787, along with freighter and business jet variants of most. The divis ...

Sanders Associates Sanders Associates, Inc. was a defense contractor in Nashua, New Hampshire, United States, from 1951 until it was sold in 1986. It is now part of BAE Systems Electronics & Integrated Solutions, a subsidiary of BAE Systems. It concentrated on de ...

Bendix Corporation Bendix Corporation is an American manufacturing and engineering company founded in 1924 and subsidiary of Knorr-Bremse since 2002. During various times in its existence, Bendix made automotive brake shoes and systems, vacuum tubes, aircraft ...

, and

General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales and fifth largest in the Unit ...

. In 1970, he was appointed professor of industrial and systems engineering at

, where he served until his retirement in 1997.Benjamin S. Blanchard
at ''ise.vt.edu''. Accessed October 1, 2013. At Virginia Tech Blanchard has been assistant dean of the College of Engineering, and he has been visiting professor at the

University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a research university in the West Country of England, with its main campus in Exeter, Devon. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of ...

. Blanchard has been president of the International Society of Logistics, and in 2000 was awarded the

for his contributions as "practitioner, teacher, and advocate of Systems Engineering. His service, as a team member with Dr. Wolt Fabrycky, allowed them to articulate the principles and objectives of systems engineering in a manner that conveys the tremendous potential and value added by this discipline.". Ben died after a brief illness on July 11, 2019, at his residence in Charlottesville, Virginia, surrounded by his family.

Publications

Blanchard has authored and co-authored several textbooks and numerous articles. A selection: * Blanchard, Benjamin S., and Wolter J. Fabrycky. ''Systems engineering and analysis. 5th Ed''. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2010. * Blanchard, Benjamin S. ''Design and manage to life cycle cost''. Oregon: M/A Press, 1978. * Fabrycky, Wolter J., and Benjamin S. Blanchard. Life-cycle cost and economic analysis. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1991. * Blanchard, Benjamin S. ''Maintainability: A key to effective serviceability and maintenance management''. Vol. 13. John Wiley & Sons, 1995. * Blanchard, Benjamin S. ''System engineering management''. Vol. 4. Wiley, 2003.

References

External links

In memoriam: Benjamin S. Blanchard Jr., professor emeritus of industrial and systems engineering
(2019, VT)

(former profile page at VT) {{DEFAULTSORT:Blanchard, Benjamin S 1929 births 2019 deaths 21st-century American engineers University of Maine alumni University of Rochester alumni Virginia Tech faculty Bendix Corporation people