Operations Research

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Operations Research

• The OR Process

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What is OR?

• It is a Process
• It assists Decision Makers
• It has a set of Tools
• It is applicable in many Situations

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The Process Recognize the Problem

• Manufacturing
• Planning
• Design
• Scheduling
• Dealing with Defects
• Dealing with Variability
• Dealing with Inventory

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Other applications

• Service Industries
• Logistics
• Transportation
• Environment
• Health Care
• Situations with complexity
• Situations with uncertainty

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Formulate the Problem

• Define the problem
• Delimit the system
• Select measures

• Determine variables
• Identify constraints

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Construct a Model

• Math. Programming Model
• Stochastic Model
• Statistical Model
• Simulation Model

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Find a Solution

• Linear Programming
• Nonlinear Programming
• Regression
• Direct Search
• Stochastic Optimization
• Trial and Error

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Establish a Procedure

• Production software
• Easy to use
• Easy to maintain
• Acceptable to the user

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Implement the Solution

• Change for the organization
• Change is difficult
• Establish controls to recognize change in the
  situation

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The Goal is to Solve the Problem

• The model must be valid
• The model must be tractable
• The solution must be useful

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Operations Research/Management Science
OR/MS Professionals aim to provide rational bases
for decision making by seeking to understand and
structure complex situations and to use this
understanding to predict system behavior and
improve system performance. Much of this work is
done using analytical and numerical techniques to
develop and manipulate mathematical and computer
models of organizational systems composed of
people, machines, and procedures.
Institute for Operations Research and the
Management Sciences