bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Using Computing to Facilitate the Quality Improvement Process: The IRS-Minnesota Project
Authors: DeSanctis Gerardine , Poole Marshall Scott , Desharnais George , Lewis Howard
Published: October 2008

In quality improvement programs, managers and employees meet in small teams to identify problems and to chart out methods for solving problems and implementing positive change. Most quality programs have not relied on decision support systems. The University of Minnesota and the Manhattan District Office of the Internal Revenue Service have designed, tested, and implemented a set of group problem-solving and documentation tools. These tools have been used within a large-scale quality improvement program that is a collaboration between the management of the Internal Revenue Service and the National Treasury Employees Union.
HANS: A Decision Support System for Military Housing Managers
Authors: Forgionne Guisseppi A.
Published: October 2008

To provide its personnel with acceptable housing at minimum cost near military installations, the army often enters into agreements for the construction or long-term leasing of housing. The army must support these agreements with a segmented housing market analysis (SHMA). I developed the housing analysis system (HANS) to assist housing managers with the SHMA process. HANS runs on a microcomputer with very user-friendly IFPS computer programs and has automated a portion of the SHMA process. The simplified SHMA process significantly reduces training, implementation time, and personnel costs. Econometric models within HANS also address the practical and theoretical concerns of government auditing agencies.
Interactive Optimization Improves Service and Performance for Yellow Freight System
Authors: Braklow John W. , Graham William W. , Hassler Stephen M. , Peck Ken E. , Powell Warren B.
Published: October 2008

Yellow Freight System has evolved from a regional motor carrier to one of the largest less-than-truckload motor carriers, handling over 15 million shipments annually over a network of 630 terminals. As the company grew, terminal managers in the field lacked the information that would allow them to coordinate their activities around the network. We developed a large-scale interactive optimization system called SYSNET to optimize the routing of shipments and design of the network. SYSNET has allowed Yellow to evaluate and implement basic operating strategies that run counter to decades of standard practice. In addition to substantial cost savings, SYSNET has improved Yellow's overall planning responsiveness in a changing business environment. But the far more important statistic to Yellow's 300,000 regular shipping customers has been the significant improvement in both transit times and service reliability.
Search for the SS Central America: Mathematical Treasure Hunting
Authors: Stone Lawrence D.
Published: October 2008

In 1857, while carrying passengers and gold from California to New York, the SS Central America sank in a hurricane, taking gold bars and coins worth an estimated 400 million dollars to the ocean bottom almost 8,000 feet below. Some 425 people, including the captain, lost their lives. In 1989, after three summers of effort at sea, the Columbus-America Discovery Group recovered one ton of gold bars and coins from the wreck. In 1985, I was given the task of developing a probability distribution for the location of the Central America. This distribution was used to construct the search plan that found the wreck. The methods used to develop the distribution were based on classical OR techniques and included a combination of historical, statistical, analytic, and subjective methods.
Yield Management at American Airlines
Authors: Smith Barry C. , Leimkuhler John F. , Darrow Ross M.
Published: October 2008

Critical to an airline's operation is the effective use of its reservations inventory. American Airlines began research in the early 1960s in managing revenue from this inventory. Because of the problem's size and difficulty, American Airlines Decision Technologies has developed a series of OR models that effectively reduce the large problem to three much smaller and far more manageable subproblems: overbooking, discount allocation, and traffic management. The results of the subproblem solutions are combined to determine the final inventory levels. American Airlines estimates the quantifiable benefit at $1.4 billion over the last three years and expects an annual revenue contribution of over $500 million to continue into the future.
An Expert System for Drug Preformulation in a Pharmaceutical Company
Authors: Ramani K. V. , Patel M. R. , Patel S. K.
Published: October 2008

We designed, developed, and implemented a computer-based expert system for Cadila Laboratories to aid pharmaceutical experts in drug preformulations. Drugs, such as tablets, contain many chemicals (called excipients) in addition to the main active drug. A preformulation study identifies compatible excipients and their relative proportions in the final formulation. Our expert system has saved about 35 percent of the total R and D time needed for preformulations. Its success is due to the interest of top management and the excellent support of the R and D staff. It has provided a competitive advantage to Cadila Laboratories over other firms in India.
Picking the Lock: A Note on “Locks at the Racetrack”
Authors: Rosenbloom E. S.
Published: October 2008

Hausch and Ziemba [1990] make the conjecture that it is possible to construct risk-free hedges at the racetrack. I constructed counter-examples that disprove the conjecture.
A Decision Support System for Motor Vehicle Taxation Evaluation
Authors: Shannon Patrick W. , Minch Robert P.
Published: October 2008

We developed a decision support system for evaluating motor vehicle taxation legislation in the state of Idaho. The system allows users to evaluate the impact of changes in fixed vehicle registration fees and weight-distance taxes on state revenue collections and trucking industry costs. Use of the DSS in 1987 and again in 1989/90 allowed interested government and industry groups to predict the effects of particular legislative proposals, which were discovered to have very serious economic ramifications. Partially because of information provided by the system, the state of Idaho avoided what could have been a multi-million dollar adverse economic impact due to proposed legislation affecting the structure of motor vehicle taxation.
Dynamic Transportation Networks in Vehicle Routing and Scheduling
Authors: Lysgaard Jens
Published: October 2008

In the classical vehicle-routing problem (VRP), the underlying geographic model typically represents a road network. When this network is represented as a directed graph, driving any arc in the graph is always physically possible. In areas where customers are located on various islands, ferries must be used to transport trucks. In a graphical representation of such a transportation network, some of the arcs are present only at discrete times. I considered aspects of dynamic arcs in relation to the use of existing insertion heuristics for vehicle routing and scheduling problems with time window constraints (VRSPTW) and designed a specific algorithm for this special type of problem.
Planning Facilities at the University of Missouri-Rolla
Authors: Benjamin Colin O. , Ehie Ike C. , Omurtag Yildirim
Published: October 2008

We used an integrated multiobjective decision model to guide decision making in allocating space when planning facilities in an academic environment. To help facilities planners to prioritize the often conflicting teaching, research, and extension service goals, we used the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). We then incorporated this priority structure into a linear goal programming (LGP) model that determines the optimum space allocation. The model was used to plan a computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) laboratory.
Operational Planning of Passenger Trains in Indian Railways
Authors: Ramani K. V. , Mandal B. K.
Published: October 2008

We designed, developed, and implemented an optimization-based DSS to facilitate operational planning of passenger trains on Indian Railways. Implementing our DSS in an organization that has 1.6 million regular employees was very frustrating, and success did not come easily. Two zonal railways have already implemented the DSS, and both report many direct and indirect benefits. Another railway has used our model to analyze its operations, but implementation is pending. The passenger cars and locomotives saved by our model can be used to replenish spare stock or to form new trains to provide new services to meet the ever increasing demand of passenger traffic.
Managing for Quality in the US and in Japan
Authors: Flynn Barbara B.
Published: October 2008

What are the Japanese doing that causes so many of their products to be of extremely high quality? Is their ability to produce high-quality items a cultural phenomenon or can it be imported to the US? This survey of the current literature on managing for quality begins with a historic overview and examines Japanese quality practices. These concepts have been extended to present-day management, information flows, product design, purchasing, and manufacturing in both Japan and the United States. They form an integrated approach to using manufacturing to attain a competitive advantage, an approach that uses quality management as an important component and emphasizes the linkages among components and functions within an organization.
Heathens, Heretics, and Cults: The Religious Spectrum of Decision Aiding
Authors: Howard Ronald A.
Published: October 2008

Over the past quarter century decision analysis has helped decision makers achieve clarity of action in fields that range from business to medicine. Some consulting companies practice primarily within the decision analysis paradigm. Major corporations strive to integrate decision analysis into their decision processes. Yet there are dissenters. To use a religious metaphor, heathens are those who pursue decision-aiding procedures that have different underlying philosophies. Heretics follow the general ideas of decision analysis but wish to change some underpinnings in a ruinous desire to achieve greater consistency with certain experiments involving unaided decision makers. Cults are composed of those who superficially follow the paradigm, but are willing to bend their practice in ways that allow the decision maker to avoid the dictates of logic while appearing to have done a decision analysis. Our examination of these views is based on the warranties each approach can support. The common sense warrantly requires, for example, that the addition of a noninformative new alternative cannot make a decision situation less desirable. A decision recommendation is no better than its warranties.
A Slow-Discounting Model for Energy Conservation
Authors: Harvey Charles M.
Published: October 2008

Public benefits in the distant future receive very little importance when a policy analysis uses constant discounting to weigh future benefits against present costs. This undervaluing of future events occurs because a constant discount rate assigns to the events a geometrically decreasing sequence of weights. An alternative method of discounting allows the weights to decrease more slowly and thus accords greater importance to the distant future. This slow discounting method is used to evaluate for the US Department of Energy a proposed standard for energy conservation in residential housing. The analysis also includes nonzero estimates of the indirect costs of energy usage.
Mexico's Vilpac Truck Company Uses a CIM Implementation to Become a World Class Manufacturer
Authors: Nuño José Pablo , Shunk Dan L. , Padillo José Manuel , Beltrán Benedo
Published: October 2008

Mexican and US firms and universities are working together to turn a Mexican-USA truck company, Vilpac, into a world class manufacturing firm. A systems integrated enterprise and manufacturing architecture is enabling the firm to successfully manufacture and sell trucks meeting international standards. The company has increased production by 260 percent, reduced fixed total costs by 26 percent, and increased net profits by 70 percent within 18 months. An IDEF functional model helped Vilpac to identify simplification opportunities. The firm launched three long-term, five medium-term, and 19 short-term projects of high strategic impact. A SIMNET II computer simulation model of the entire fabrication process monitors the load of over 95 machines and follows the work in process of over 1,900 parts. It works under push or pull control environments and predicts daily production accurately. It permits the testing of manufacturing configurations and is being used to design a new plant based on group technology and cell concepts.
Establishing Telephone-Agent Staffing Levels through Economic Optimization
Authors: Andrews Bruce , Parsons Henry
Published: October 2008

We developed and implemented an economic-optimization model for telephone-agent staffing at L. L. Bean, a large telemarketer and mail-order catalog house for quality outdoor sporting goods and apparel. The staffing levels we obtained with economic optimization were very different from those used by the company in the past, when staff size was determined by service-level criteria. For L. L. Bean, the resultant savings were estimated to amount to more than $500,000 per year. In the model, we used queuing theory, devised an expected total-cost objective function, and accounted for retrials and potential caller abandonments through a regression model that related the abandonment rates to the telephone-service factor (percentage of calls answered within a predetermined time interval).
Comparison of Routing Methods for DCS-Switched Networks
Authors: Doverspike Robert , Jha Vikas
Published: October 2008

The market for nonswitched, high-rate digital leased lines (also called digital “private line” services) for applications such as data and video is lucrative and growing rapidly; the Bellcore client companies are experiencing acute competition in this area. We developed an operations and network architecture to enable them to compete effectively in this highly competitive market. Its dynamic routing allows fast connection times and more efficient use of network capacity than existing routing methods. A comparison of dynamic routing methods with existing hierarchical methods shows a reduction in network capacity of roughly 14 percent with dynamic routing. Bellcore used these results to support a business analysis for Bellcore client companies, who then chose this architecture as a strategic initiative for implementation in their networks.
Modeling Telecommunications Demand Analysis
Authors: Kridel Donald J. , Dolk Daniel R.
Published: October 2008

Over the last 20 years, legal and regulatory decisions, culminating in the divestiture of the Bell Operating Companies (BOCs) by American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) in 1984, have led to an upsurge in the importance of applied econometrics in the telecommunications industry. Increased attention to demand analysis, or empirical economics, has fostered a commensurate increase in modeling sophistication—both for the analyst and for the underlying modeling component of decision support systems. Whereas (aggregate) pooled regression models were more appropriate for the rate-case environment, (disaggregate) optimization-based models have proved more useful for the marketing orientation. Stand-alone analytical systems are no longer sufficient. The critical transition in organizational perspective reflects a need for integrated modeling environments that offer multiple modeling paradigms, linkage among models, consistent access to data resources, and intelligent support.
CATCH: Computer Assisted Tracking of Criminal Histories System
Authors: Fazlollahi Bijan , Gordon Jonathan S.
Published: October 2008

The Atlanta Police Department uses CATCH, a data-based support system for investigating homicide, rape, and aggravated assault cases to find common patterns in the records of thousands of current and past criminal cases stored on paper and microfilm. Discovery of a common pattern enables investigators to focus on the few cases that may help them to solve a particular crime. In 1988, we implemented a prototype microcomputer-based version. In 1989, the city's bureau of management information systems built CATCH as a mainframe system. Atlanta police have used it to solve several crimes and to increase users' involvement in expanding investigative support functions. An Atlanta Police Department management group is now promoting automated investigative support, setting project priorities, and making resources available.
Creativity in MS/OR: The Multiple Dimensions of Creativity
Authors: Evans James R.
Published: October 2008

The MS/OR community has a great need for creativity. Practitioners must be competent at finding problems, finding solutions, and gaining acceptance for those solutions. Those new to the profession can read Gene Woolsey's columns for illustrations of these skills. Not only will these skills help MS/OR analysts gain the recognition that most of them believe they deserve, they can also help them keep their jobs in these days of staff and budget slashing.
Statistical Process Control at Motorola's Austin Assembly Plant
Authors: Kumar Sanjoy , Gupta Yash P.
Published: October 2008

Many organizations are making massive investments in new manufacturing technologies; at the same time, they are implementing new quality assurance (QA) systems to achieve high quality products. Motorola, a forerunner, has implemented a total quality management (TQM) system at its Austin assembly plant. Participative problem-solving teams, education and training, optimistic employee attitudes, excellent communication, a QA certification program, and creative design of experiments have been essential to its success.
Designing an Integrated Distribution System at DowBrands, Inc.
Authors: Robinson E. Powell , Gao Li-Lian , Muggenborg Stanley D.
Published: October 2008

Merging two independent distribution systems into an integrated whole poses significant challenges and opportunities for managers. Not only must they analyze the trade-offs among facility, inventory, and transportation costs, but they must also consider customer-service issues. We developed an optimization-based decision support system (DSS) for designing two-echelon, multi-product distribution systems and applied it to a problem facing DowBrands, Inc. The DSS provided valuable insight into the problem's cost and service trade-offs. Savings in logistics arising from its application are conservatively estimated to be $1.5 million per year.
Book Reviews
Authors: Lev Benjamin
Published: October 2008

Mabert, Vincent A. and Jacobs, F. Robert, eds. 1991, Integrated Production Systems: Design, Planning, Control, and Scheduling, fourth edition, Industrial Engineering and Management Press, Norcross, Georgia, 277 pp., $39.95—reviewed by Per Nikolaj D. Bukh

Evans, James R. and Minieka, Edward 1992, Optimization Algorithms for Networks and Graphs, Second Edition, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, 470 pp., $59.95—reviewed by Renato De Leone

Sanno Management Development Research Center 1992, Vision Management: Translating Strategy into Action, Productivity Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts xiii + 272 pp., $29.95—reviewed by R. Ray Gehani

Kaydos, Will 1991, Measuring, Managing, and Maximizing Performance, Productivity Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 277 pp., $34.95—reviewed by Douglas A. Samuelson

Yates, J. Frank, ed. 1992, Risk-Taking Behavior, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 345 pp,, $64.95—reviewed by John Whittaker

Watson, H. J.; Rainer, R. K.; and Houdeshel, G., eds. 1992, Executive Information Systems: Emergence, Development, Impact, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 357 pp., $42.95—reviewed by Erran Carmel

McCord Nelson, Marilyn and Illingworth, W. T. 1991, A Practical Guide to Neural Nets, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts, 344 pp., $35.50—reviewed by Renato De Leone

Ho, Y. C. and Cao, X. R. 1991, Perturbation Analysis of Discrete Event Dynamics, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 443 pp., $79.95 and Glasserman, P. 1991, Gradient Estimation via Perturbation Analysis, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 221 pp., $55.00—reviewed by Enio E. Velazco
Getting the Job Done with HuRBIE: A Human Resources EIS
Authors: Schenk K. D. , Holzbach Robert L.
Published: October 2008

The human resources (HR) function at Westinghouse needed to find a way to get full value out of their corporate human resources and payroll system. Ad hoc reporting and retrieval of important HR information was often laborious and difficult. Implementing an executive information system (EIS) made the Westinghouse HR and payroll system easily accessible and a value-added source of information. We examined the implementation and ongoing use of the human resources basic information environment (HuRBIE) at Westinghouse, focusing on how the addition of HuRBIE affects employees' information gathering for the HR community. Our investigation provides some insights into different sources of information at Westinghouse, EIS as an information source, and how customer information needs are addressed. Such customer surveys can be used to determine customer needs and to manage change in the EIS.
Station Staffing at Pan American World Airways
Authors: Schindler Sol , Semmel Ted
Published: October 2008

Pan Am schedules flexible shifts of full-time and part-time personnel at airports (stations) in the United States, Latin and South America, and Europe. A station staffing model implemented for the operations planning and control department reduces the staff needed to serve customers and allows the company to examine staffing alternatives thoroughly.
Hewlett-Packard Gains Control of Inventory and Service through Design for Localization
Authors: Lee Hau L. , Billington Corey , Carter Brent
Published: October 2008

At Hewlett-Packard (HP) Company, design for manufacturability has recently been adopted as a principle for product design and development. Frequently overlooked is the relationship between design and the eventual customization, distribution, and delivery of the product to multiple markets. Different markets may have different requirements for the product due to differences in taste, language, geographical environment, or government regulations. We use design for localization or design for customization for design processes that take into account the operational and delivery service considerations for the multiple market segments. We developed an inventory model that the HP's Deskjet-Plus Printer Division used to evaluate alternative product and process designs for localization. Significant benefits can be obtained by properly exploring the opportunities in this design for localization concept.
Assessing the Severity of Patients' Illnesses to Better Manage Health Care Resources
Authors: Sharkey Phoebe D. , DeHaemer Michael J. , Simmons Laurette Poulos , Horn Susan D.
Published: October 2008

The computerized severity index (CSI) system, an intelligent decision support system (DSS), is now used as a management tool at a growing number of hospitals in the US and Canada. The CSI expertly determines the severity level of a patient's illness and enables hospital management to more effectively evaluate the utilization of health care resources and the outcome of treatments. We developed CSI methodology as a complement to the diagnosis related groups (DRG) system that is mandated by federal law. While DRGs enable reimbursement agencies to classify patients into groups by type of illness and define hospitals' products, health care managers need a more refined classification system to compare the quality and economic efficiency of different treatment protocols, different physicians, and different hospitals.
Editorial: There Is No Such Thing as Data, There Are Only Model Outputs
Authors: Murphy Frederic H.
Published: October 2008

I have sometimes been asked, “Instead of using models, why not just look at the data?” The underlying assumption here is that data are the starting point and models follow on. This is a profoundly wrong assumption. Data are not objective reality. They are perceptions based on models. Interpretations are also based on preconceived models. We as humans are innate modelers, and we are always using models to determine and understand the data we gather from our world.
Roles in the NBA: There's Always Room for a Big Man, But His Role Has Changed
Authors: Ghosh Avijit , Steckel Joel H.
Published: October 2008

Based on an analysis of playing statistics for two different seasons, NBA players can be classified as filling distinct roles, such as scorers, bangers, dishers, inner court members, and walls. These roles have a great deal of face validity and correspond to distinct offensive and defensive playing styles. In addition, the roles players fill are not necessarily tied to unique positions. The nature of the game may be subtly changing. NBA teams no longer rely on a physically dominant center. The roles of the big men have become more varied over time. Teams can improve their performance by having a balanced role structure. Analysis of a team's role structure provides useful guidelines for selecting draft choices and executing trades.
Introduction: Perspectives on Management Science/Operations Research
Authors: Murphy Frederic H.
Published: October 2008

For the San Francisco meeting Saul Gass organized two sessions to commemorate the 40th anniversary of ORSA. Each of the speakers has made important contributions to management science and operations research. I thought that you would be interested in what the participants had to say. I asked Saul to see if they would be interested in writing up their talks. These papers are the result. They are organized in the order of their presentation at the conference.
Book Reviews
Authors: Lev Benjamin
Published: October 2008

Kacprzyk, Janusz and Fedrizzi, Mario, eds. 1990, Multiperson Decision Models Using Fuzzy Sets and Possibility Theory, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 346 pp., $119.00—reviewed by Jayavel Sounderpandian

Chisman, James 1992, Introduction to Simulation Modeling Using GPSS/PC, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 241 pp., (paper), $22.50—reviewed by Douglas A. Samuelson

Ancker, C. J., Jr. and Gafarian, A. V. 1992, Modern Combat Models: A Critique of Their Foundations, Operations Research Society of America, Baltimore, Maryland, 192 pp., $17.00—reviewed by Dean S. Hartley III

Young, H. Peyton, ed. 1992, Negotiation Analysis, The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 216 pp., $44.50 cloth, $15.95 paper—reviewed by Steve New
Probability Modeling in ORSA: A Personal Perspective
Authors: Neuts Marcel F.
Published: October 2008

I have been personally involved with the art of probability modeling and with ORSA during the past 30 years. ORSA has been important for the applied probability community in North America and probability is important for both technology and society. Its algorithmization has been important for the discipline itself. In the future, we need to develop emerging methodologies to study genuinely complex models and fill the educational and manpower needs to meet future challenges.
LP from the '40s to the '90s
Authors: Orden Alex
Published: October 2008

Linear programming refers here to all models in which the constraint structure consists of linear systems of equations or inequalities. This history of the field is a view of (1) The key advances in algorithms and computation; (2) The evolution of LP's ties with economics, mathematics, management science-operations research, and computer science; (3) The relationship between model builders and algorithm developers; (4) The focal institutions that united the field as it progressed.
An Eighth Air Force Bombardier Looks Back at Operations Analysis
Authors: McArthur Charles W.
Published: October 2008

A World War II bombardier describes the work done by operations analysts with the Eighth Air Force in World War II to improve bombing accuracy. In October 1942, less than 15 percent of the bombs dropped were falling within 1,000 feet of the assigned aiming point; in October 1944, more than 60 percent fell within this circle.
Creativity in MS/OR: Overcoming Barriers to Creativity
Authors: Evans James R.
Published: October 2008

Over the years, Gene Woolsey and others have taught us that mathematics and models are not always necessary to solve important problems in MS/OR. Often, the best solutions are novel and unusual—that is, they are creative. The Edelman Award papers often illustrate how even mathematical models can be used creatively. Creativity is a fascinating subject. Years ago in teaching an undergraduate capstone course in management science, I found that learning the principles of creative thinking helped students to address unstructured cases and to apply the traditional operations research problem-solving techniques. I find these principles helpful in explaining, understanding, and enhancing what I do in teaching, research, and consulting. In this series of columns, I plan to discuss many principles of creative thinking and ways in which you can become more creative and enhance your problem-solving skills. I invite you to submit your examples, comments, and perspectives on creativity.
The Easy Chair: Avoiding the Corrupting Lie of a Poorly Stated Problem
Authors: Miser Hugh J.
Published: October 2008

In practice, words of the noted French author and social critic Georges Bernanos saying that “The worst, the most corrupting lies are problems poorly stated” mean to the working analyst that, before starting to work on an analysis structure for a problem, it is important to devote time and effort to ascertaining just what the real problem is. Some of my earliest recollections as an operations analyst emphasize this point. While often stressed by Gene Woolsey in his columns in this journal, it bears repetition whenever good illustrative examples can be found, especially in view of the current almost single-minded emphasis on modeling.
Swinging on the Branch of a Tree: Project Selection Applications
Authors: Hess Sidney W.
Published: October 2008

Selecting research and development projects is always difficult because data for assessment are seldom available. ICI Americas used simple decision trees successfully to screen new product ideas and decide on a major effort in new process research. The new process research model incorporated only 10 variables, making estimation feasible; a visual sensitivity analysis gave management confidence in the model conclusions. The screening model incorporated qualitative selection criteria (for example, quick development, low risk, patentable, low capital, high sales) into a single quantitative expression of expected net present value. ICI Americas used it to select projects from 53 new product ideas. These examples illustrate the value of a logical, simple model even when data are sparse.
Middle Managers as Internal Corporate Entrepreneurs: An Unfolding Agenda
Authors: Geisler Eliezer
Published: October 2008

Recent trends in organizations and the findings of the entrepreneurship literature suggest that middle managers, including MS/OR practitioners, need to function as internal corporate entrepreneurs. To survive and to succeed in changing organizations, middle managers need to think and to act as intrapreneurs. I hypothesize that as the structure of organizations becomes more amorphous, middle managers who exhibit intrapreneurial behavior perform more successfully than those who exhibit traditional behavior. Implications for middle managers and MS/OR practitioners are (1) to be more creative and innovative; (2) to constantly improve and extend their range of skills, and (3) to link their effort to the strategic objectives of customers.
AT&T's Call Processing Simulator (CAPS) Operational Design for Inbound Call Centers
Authors: Brigandi Anthony J. , Dargon Dennis R. , Sheehan Michael J. , Spencer Thomas
Published: October 2008

Since 1978, AT&T has been developing the call processing simulator (CAPS) to design and evaluate inbound call centers. The current version of CAPS is a user-friendly PC-based system employing a discrete event simulation model with animation and queuing models of both the telecommunications network and AT&T's business customer's call center environment. Using CAPS, AT&T can model a network of call centers utilizing advanced 800 network features before its customers make capital investments to start or change their call centers. In 1992, AT&T completed about 2,000 CAPS studies for its business customers, helping it increase, protect, and regain more than one billion dollars in an eight billion dollar 800-network market. While this is impressive alone, the CAPS tool is also the turnkey for more than $750 million in annual profit for AT&T's business customers who received CAPS studies.
Scheduling Harbor Pilots
Authors: Wermus Marek , Pope James A.
Published: October 2008

Harbor pilots guide large container, bulk, and other cargo ships through congested harbors and dock them under a variety of conditions: night and day, weekends, and all kinds of weather. Harbor pilots are always in one of three states: work, standby, or off. A schedule must reflect the three states in the desired ratios, must conform to federal regulations with respect to consecutive hours worked, and must be perceived as fair and equitable. We have developed a simple heuristic for harbor pilots that generates fair and equitable schedules and satisfies desired off-duty time.
Using Chance-Constrained Programming for Animal Feed Formulation at Agway
Authors: Roush William B. , Stock Robert H. , Cravener Terri L. , D'Alfonso Thomas H.
Published: October 2008

Agway uses chance-constrained programming to formulate commercial feeds for animals. The finished feeds averaged 40 percent greater nutritional consistency and were lower in cost than feeds formulated by traditional linear programming with a margin of safety. Formulating animal feeds by chance-constrained programming saves Agway, Inc. more than $250,000 per year.
A Novena to Saint Anthony, or How to Find Inventory by Not Looking
Authors: Millet Ido
Published: October 2008

Among connoisseurs of Interfaces folklore, the title of this account may evoke fond memories of classic Woolsey-vintage articles [Woolsey 1972, 1973]. I hope the content is not held up to the same standard, but there are some parallels. The story is true, though embroidered through the liberties of poetic license and failing memory. The subject is accuracy of inventory records and cycle counts—an important real-life problem. The solution, simple but effective, demonstrates the importance of finding “the proper motivation for both parties to cooperate” [Woolsey 1980, p. 10]. While statistics and decision-tree techniques played a part, the key was a creative reformulation of the problem.
Introduction to the Special Issue on Finance
Authors: Mulvey John M.
Published: October 2008

This theme issue of Interfaces focuses on the intersection of two neighboring disciplines: operations research and finance. There are a number of close connections between these areas. The topics discussed in this issue are broken into four main areas: (1) Developing Comprehensive Approaches for Evaluating and Controlling Individual and Organizational Risks, (2) Design of Decision Support Systems, (3) Exploration of the Frontiers of Economics: The Area of Security Anomalies, and (4) The Creation of New Instruments.
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale Uses Modeling in Estimating Costs of Tuition Remission
Authors: Troutt Marvin D.
Published: October 2008

Southern Illinois University at Carbondale relied on a simple population mathematics model and a data model used with an existing data base (both models were of the quick-and-dirty variety) to obtain a credible range in estimating the costs of offering a tuition rebate for faculty children. These models together provided useful estimates at less cost than a survey. Quick, in this case, did not imply dirty.
A General Examination Scheduling System
Authors: Carter Michael W. , Laporte Gilbert , Chinneck John W.
Published: October 2008

Scheduling examinations is a problem in virtually every high school, college, and university. The basic challenge is to schedule examinations over a limited time period so as to avoid conflicts and to satisfy a number of side constraints. Over 10 years, we have developed EXAMINE, a robust and flexible examination scheduling system suited to the needs of most educational institutions. EXAMINE runs on a PC and is fast and user-friendly. It provides a choice of feasible schedules and solutions in which examinations are well spread out for most students. It handles requirements regarding the proximity of a student's exams, room or time availability, and other factors. Over the past two years, the University of Toronto's engineering faculty and Carleton University have collaborated with us to develop a software package, which has been implemented at both institutions.
Model Evaluation at the Energy Information Administration
Authors: Hale Douglas R. , Greenland Arnold
Published: October 2008

The Energy Information Administration's model quality program is based on objective information about model assumptions, equations, and data sources, and the ability of outside examiners to review models and replicate results. Agency standards and management enforce incentives for preparing and submitting timely documentation and building archive versions of models throughout the development process. Programs require regular review of models during the development process by outside experts and the detailed mathematical, statistical, and econometric review and software verification at key developmental stages of development. The agency gauges the effectiveness of the model quality program by the numbers of models documented and reviewed and by compliance with recommendations to retire, modify, or enhance the models reviewed.
The Asset-Liability Management Strategy System at Fannie Mae
Authors: Holmer Martin R.
Published: October 2008

Fannie Mae uses the asset-liability management strategy (ALMS) system to support portfolio management decisions regarding a large, highly leveraged portfolio of home mortgage assets. The ALMS system employs a combination of Monte Carlo security cash-flow simulation methods and options-based pricing methods to estimate a holding-period return distribution for each asset and liability considered in the portfolio optimization. It uses the return distributions to determine which portfolio composition maximizes the expected utility of return on portfolio equity. The return distribution calculations are distributed in parallel across a network of Unix workstations. We implemented this distributed computation fairly easily using commercially available client-server database-management software, transforming the feasibility prototype model into an interactive-interface, multi-user, distributed-processing application for use by Fannie Mae staff.
Optimal Lease Structuring at GE Capital
Authors: Litty Charles J.
Published: October 2008

We developed an optimization model to help business analysts allocate and schedule the rental and debt payments of a leveraged lease. It helps them structure competitively priced leases while maintaining profitability requirements in an increasingly competitive market. We also developed a method for applying the optimization model to single investor lease structuring. The model is an optional component of a large lease analysis package used to structure and analyze lease proposals.
A System of Systems Approaches
Authors: Müller-Merbach Heiner
Published: October 2008

Almost every field in the sciences and in the humanities is influenced by the systems movement, and many systems approaches have been suggested within the different disciplines, MS/OR included. Some authors stress their own versions of the systems approach and ignore the manifold variety of others. In contrast, I plead for a methodological pluralism of systems approaches. To serve this purpose, I present a typology of four systems approaches, each one in a dialogue between a master and a scholar: (1) the introspection of analytic reduction, (2) the extraspection of synthetic integration, (3) the construction of creative design, and (4) the contemplation of holistic meditation.
West Churchman and Operations Research: Case Institute of Technology, 1951–1957
Authors: Dean Burton V.
Published: October 2008

West Churchman, his philosophy, and his ideas contributed to the formation of the Case Institute of Technology operations research group. He helped to (1) establish the first graduate program in OR, (2) formulate the philosophy of practice-oriented OR education, and (3) conduct OR conferences and short courses for industry. He (4) published the first textbook on industrial OR, (5) assisted in recruiting multi-disciplinary OR faculty, and (6) organized faculty-student-sponsor OR teams: the Case OR model for problem solving. Many successful OR academic institutions and industrial organizations practice today what West preached to us over 35 years ago.
May the Whole Earth Be Happy: Loka Samastat Sukhino Bhavantu
Authors: Beer Stafford
Published: October 2008

Teachings of Vedantic philosophy, developed in India several thousand years ago, are relevant to today's world. The most renowned script, the Bhagavad Gita, can be viewed as a treatise on management action. I examine Vedantic creation myths for their approach to the creation, recursion, and closure of system; they prefigure these features in contemporary physics. I make a direct and startling comparison between the Vedantic creation model and the viable system model of current managerial cybernetics. I examine Vedic mathematics for its relevance to school teaching and to computers and consider the role of yogic meditation in management training.
Evaluating Automated Work-Flow Systems for Administrative Processes
Authors: Levine Lawrence O. , Aurand Steven S.
Published: October 2008

Electronic imaging (scanning and digitizing documents for computer storage) is used in “work-flow automation,” in which business documents are indexed into an electronic database, electronically routed, and monitored as they proceed through processing. We developed a discrete event simulation model, using the SIMAN computer simulation language, to evaluate the impact of employing work-flow automation to support the processing of travel and expense reports at the Pacific Northwest Laboratory. Our analysis showed that other changes would affect the performance of the process more favorably and that the processing office depended on external systems to achieve better customer service.
Computer-Aided Formulation of Silica Defoamers for the Paper Industry
Authors: Bohl Alan H.
Published: October 2008

In the manufacture of paper, wood chips are “cooked” in a vat of chemicals that has a tendency to boil over, much like spaghetti cooked in a pot of water. An important use of precipitated silica, fine particle silicon dioxide (a noncrystalline form of sand), is in eliminating such foams from industrial processes. To be effective, the silica must be dispersed, often in a mixture of mineral oil and other chemicals. Based on an empirical equation of the defoamer's performance as well as on a deterministic equation of ingredient cost, I developed a nonlinear programming model for optimal performance. Paper manufacturers confirmed the validity of the predicted optimal formula in four out of five paper plant trials.
Routing Tankers for Dairy Milk Pickup
Authors: Sankaran Jayaram K. , Ubgade Rahul R.
Published: October 2008

Etah Dairy, a unit belonging to Lipton India Ltd. and located in the state of Uttar Pradesh, routes tankers every day to pick up milk from collection centers and deliver it to the dairy. The time between pickup and delivery must not exceed a certain season-specific limit. Through heuristics for route construction and improvement, a decision support system, CARS, finds feasible and cost-effective solutions each day for the milk pickup problem. CARS has been implemented at Etah, and the resulting total annual benefits are projected to be Rs. 1 million.
Model Decomposition Speeds Distribution Center Design
Authors: Johnson M. Eric , Lofgren Tom
Published: October 2008

Recently, in designing Hewlett-Packard's new North American distribution center, we decomposed the modeling (and design) process into loosely independent pieces that could be developed in a parallel or concurrent fashion, rather than trying to model the entire system at once. Using this approach, we developed simulation models of four different facets of the distribution center, with each model providing useful results in time to aid in system design decisions. While not all systems can be easily decomposed, we believe many simulation modeling projects could benefit from such an approach. The new distribution facility is now operating with a 60 percent improvement in order-picking efficiency and an 80 percent increase in shipment-preparation efficiency.
How Case-Based Reasoning Solves New Problems
Authors: Gupta Uma G.
Published: October 2008

Case-based reasoning (CBR) captures lessons from past problem-solving experiences to critique or find solutions to new problems. Case-based reasoning systems have been used in several domains, both as a problem-solving methodology and as a cognitive model of the reasoning capabilities of the human mind. It is both a problem-solving approach and a computer aid that augments the memory of the human expert.
Creativity in MS/OR: Training for Creativity—Findings in a European Context
Authors: Rickards Tudor , de Cock Christian
Published: October 2008

For the past 40 years in the United States and the past 20 in Europe, researchers and practitioners in the emerging field of creativity have recommended various interventions to facilitate creative thinking in the workplace. They share the premise that practice and encouragement of creative thinking in training courses can increase the creativity manifested by participants in the workplace.
Productivity in the US and Japan: A Reexamination
Authors: Gardner Everette S. , Ivancevich John M.
Published: October 2008

US-Japan productivity comparisons published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics are misleading. In the US, growth is understated because the BLS is unable to measure productivity for more than half of the labor force. Productivity growth is assumed to be zero for all of these people. In Japan, growth is exaggerated because small business output is counted, while small business employment is not. The BLS also assumes that work hours per person are about the same in the US and in Japan. We present corrected statistics showing that American output per hour is roughly double that of Japan. During the last 10 years, the Japanese have made little progress in closing the productivity gap.
Planning China's Coal and Electricity Delivery System
Authors: Kuby Michael , Qingqi Shi , Watanatada Thawat , Xufei Sun , Zhijun Xie , Wei Cao , Chuntai Zhang , Dadi Zhou , Xiaodong Yu , Cook Peter , Friesz Terry , Neuman Susan , Fatang Lin , Qiang Rong , Xusheng Wang , Shenhuai Gao
Published: October 2008

Although China produces 1.1 billion tons of coal per year, demand is projected at almost 1.6 billion tons in 2000. Transport bottlenecks, coal and electricity shortages, and worsening air pollution threaten the country's double-digit GNP growth. To address these problems, the World Bank and the Chinese State Planning Commission developed a decision support system consisting of a mixed-integer program, a geographic information system, and related submodels. The Coal Transport Study (CTS) model covers coal mining, washing, and transport; thermal, hydro, and nuclear power generation; electricity transmission; pollution levels; and scrubbers; which together will require at least $240 billion in new investments over a 15-year horizon. The analysis results influenced several government policies concerning GNP growth, coal imports, and various capital investments, with a potential benefit of about $6.4 billion from 1991 to 2005.