bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Product Assembly and Distribution Optimization in an Agribusiness Cooperative
Authors: Harrison H. , Wills Donal R.
Published: October 2008

Large-scale mathematical models were developed to analyze Golden Vale Co-Operative Creameries Ltd. problems collecting milk and transporting it and other products, and also to investigate the likely effect of impending E.E.C. legislation. A vehicle scheduling formulation and an interactive transshipment-type system with heuristics were repeatedly analyzed under various management scenarios, and they led to major rationalizations in milk collection and fertilizer and animal food distribution and warehousing. Annual savings of around $4 million are expected and strategies to achieve this are being implemented.
Issues in Evaluating Standards
Authors: Keeney Ralph L.
Published: October 2008

When the consequences of a decision affect the public, for example, in nuclear power plant design and construction, standards are set to promote decision making in the public interest. The interrelationship of standards, their possible impacts, and the public's values is examined, by focusing on technological tradeoffs between feasible standards and diverse values of members of the public.

When these issues are not explicitly addressed, the resulting standards often do not promote the optimum alternative of the public.
Implementation Exchange: Media Dreams
Authors: Schultz Randall L. , Slevin Dennis P.
Published: October 2008

Woody Allen once said “Man does not live by bread alone, occasionally there must be a beverage.” In our recent columns we have served up loaves of advice on implementation research and implementation measurement. Naturally we hope this advice is well received. But implementation researchers often dream of bigger success. Imagine not just getting your message across but getting the publicity usually reserved for such fields as economics and dieting! We describe below a number of these scenarios.
From the Shadows
Authors: Hirshfeld David S.
Published: October 2008

Does linear programming have a place in the corporate executive suite? Or, does it belong solely in the refinery, the plant, the warehouse, and the terminal, on whose detailed operations and configuration LP applications have historically focused?

In October 1982, Duke University's Center for Corporate Economics and Strategy sponsored a well-attended conference (“The Future of Optimization Models for Strategic Planning”) that shed some new light on this question. The conference explored the actual and potential contributions of mathematical programming (primarily LP and its extensions) to the analysis of the strategic issues that shape businesses and the process of long-term, strategic planning in business organizations. Although no definitive answers emerged from the conference, some encouraging and stimulating ideas did.

The conference reinforced my belief that for many LP practitioners high-impact strategic applications are the shortest path from their current place in the shadows to the corporate sunlight. Hence, I am devoting this column and the next to some thoughts on LP and corporate planning.
Course Evaluation and Design Optimization: A Conjoint Analysis-Based Application
Authors: Zufryden Fred S.
Published: October 2008

In order to evaluate and design a new course offering at the University of Southern California, a study was conducted to derive importance measures for alternative course attributes and also to determine the specific design for a course possessing optimal attributes given student preferences. Using a new product evaluation and design approach involving the application of conjoint analysis, useful information was provided for course planning at the University.
Applications Reviews
Authors: Hall John R. , Millen Roger N. , Sauter Vicki L. , Winer Russell S.
Published: October 2008

“Applications Reviews” is a guide to accomplished or partial MS/OR applications, cited in articles appearing in many of the major journals of the field. We cover only applications—except for the occasional brief mention of a survey article or special issue—and so do not claim to cover all the best articles in MS/OR. The abstracts are purposely kept short to emphasize breadth of coverage over depth; we try to tell you what modeling approach has been applied to what problem, and if possible the size and character of the improvements achieved as a result.
A Minimal Technology Routing System for Meals on Wheels
Authors: Bartholdi John J. , Platzman Loren K. , Collins R. Lee , Warden William H.
Published: October 2008

A novel routing system based on a new travelling salesman heuristic was successfully implemented to handle the efficient daily routing of a varying number of vehicles to more than 200 delivery points whose locations change daily. The system had to be easily mantained by one person and require no resources (for example, no computer). Our system achieved these objectives, cost less than $50, and, moreover, shortened average travel times by 13% compared to previous performance.
Note: The MBA Curriculum: A Different View
Authors: Franklin Carter L.
Published: October 2008

The article by Windsor and Tuggle [Windsor, D., F. D. Tuggle. 1982. Redesigning the MBA curriculum. Interfaces 12(4, August) 72–77.] in the August issues is an interesting statement of what is “wrong” with MBA programs and describes Rice University's solution. The article is flawed because the authors ignore some of the major criticisms leveled at MBA programs. Their major omission is a failure to respond to the widespread comments about the “glut” of MBAs. Such comments imply criticism since, if MBAs were properly trained and motivated, comments would note an increased white colar productivity and a marked improvement in the competence and capability of our managerial cadre.
Misapplications Reviews: The Capital Punishment Controversy: Part I
Authors: Barnett Arnold
Published: October 2008

Few questions in the social sciences have spawned so much empirical research as whether capital punishment can deter murders. An odd collection of inquirers that includes sociologists, lawyers, economists, psychologists, statisticians, and philosophers have examined data that cross the boundaries between nations and centuries; their methods of analysis have ranged from the techniques of multivariate statistics to the recitation of juicy anecdotes. Professor Ernest Van den Haag (1) was not abusing reality when he characterized capital punishment research as a “cottage industry.”

The conclusions of the studies have been almost as diverse as their methods and data sources. While a majority have discerned no significant association between execution and homicide levels, several have supported the hypothesis of strong deterrent effects. Some have argued that executions postpone some killings but do not avert them, while others claim to have shown that capital sanctions actually stimulate homicides. (This last finding could make sense if, because of the death penalty, those who kill deem it urgent also to kill witnesses and to resist police capture with gunfire.) An unsurprising result of this cacophony is that partisans of all positions in the capital punishment controversy can cite scholarly investigations to buttress their viewpoints.
An Optimization-Simulation Model of a Rural Health Center in Nigeria
Authors: Lambo Eyitayo
Published: October 2008

In recent years, inadequate resources, especially human resources, have been blamed for the ineffectiveness and inefficiency of health institutions in Nigeria. Using data obtained from health centers in both optimization and simulation models, we determined that such factors as faulty operational policies are more crucial.
The Implementation Exchange: Science and Affairs
Authors: Schultz Randall L. , Slevin Dennis P.
Published: October 2008

In October 1982, the Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh sponsored a national conference entitled “Producing Useful Knowledge for Organizations.” Behavioral scientists from around the nation were invited to present their views concerning rigor versus relevance and the overall usefulness of organizational research.

The interest shown in the conference and the positions taken by the participants clearly indicated to us that a tremendous dilemma exists in the behavioral sciences between rigor and relevance; validity and impact; truth and pragmatism. Such a dilemma also exists in the management sciences.

Managers are people of affairs. They conduct business; they engage in transactions with other people; they implement things; they, in one word, do. Scientists are people of knowledge. They are interested in systematizing knowledge through observation, study, experimentation, replication, and the use of all available scientific tools to develop truth.
The ASCAR Model for Evaluating Military Manpower Policy
Authors: Collins Roger W. , Gass Saul I. , Rosendahl Edward E.
Published: October 2008

The Accession Supply Costing and Requirements Model (ASCAR) uses goal programming to evaluate the accession needs of the All Volunteer Armed Forces to reach or maintain a given strength and optimize the qualitative mix of new recruits. The model has been used extensively by the Congressional Budget Office and the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense to evaluate the All Volunteer Force, develop recruiting goals, and evaluate retention for all services.
Computerized Dressage Scheduling
Authors: Shirland Larry E.
Published: October 2008

Management science techniques are used to schedule classes, riders within classes, and judges among classes for dressage competitions. The procedure for scheduling judges is presented in detail. To date 16 nationally recognized competitions have been scheduled using these computerized procedures.
Management Science and the Manager's Workstation
Authors: Belshaw Paul N.
Published: October 2008

The microcomputer of today's avant-garde manager will be the workstation of the successful manager of tomorrow. This workstation of the future will be designed by management scientists. That statement might be a wish, a prayer, or turn out to be true. If we in the profession play our cards right, we will join the office-of-the-future business boom, not by forsaking our professional heritage and becoming computer mail experts or word processing gurus, but by using our experience in management decision making technology and psychology.
From the Shadows
Authors: Hirshfeld David S.
Published: October 2008

Is there a proper role for linear programming in corporate strategic planning; if so, what is it?

Planners and executives generally believe that strategic planning involves too many essential factors that are subjective, uncontrollable, uncertain, and non-quantifiable to be amenable to quantitative analysis, in general, and to optimization methods, in particular. That belief needs to be re-examined.

Consultants (like Nature) abhor a vacuum, even a conceptual one. So, over the last decade or so, a number of analytical tools have been developed and applied to corporate strategic planning: the growth-share matrix, the GE-McKinsey screen, PIMS, the “experience curve,” and others. The “portfolio analysis” approach embodied in these tools has swept the field, even as optimization has in tactical and operations planning.
An Issue-Oriented History of TIMS
Authors: Hall John R.
Published: October 2008

In honor of its 30th anniversary, TIMS history is reviewed in terms of four major issues: (1) the nature and emphasis of work in the management sciences, (2) the growth and development of TIMS as an organization, (3) the international character of TIMS, and (4) the relationship between TIMS and ORSA. The purpose is to examine TIMS's history as prologue to its future.
Phasing of Income-Producing Real Estate
Authors: Peiser Richard B. , Andrus Scot G.
Published: October 2008

Integer programming techniques were used to determine the order in which to build office buildings and when to put the space on the market for a seven-building, 90-acre, mixed-use real estate project in Texas. The output of the optimization provided development managers with the schedule for opening each building, the amount of space to be leased each year in each building, and the annual cash flows to the owner.
Microcomputer Forum: Microcomputers in the Instruction of Operations Research
Authors: Jensen Paul A.
Published: October 2008

After years of programming and running codes on mainframe computers, I have a closet full of boxes of computer cards, and the university computer center has many tapes assigned to me. I am constantly amazed at the progress of mainframes from the IBM 7094 on which I did my dissertation to the Cyber 175 system that I use for large network flow problems today. I am also very impressed with the timesharing, interactive processing that allows me to write, use and store programs on our systems. Actually, it has isolated me from the mainframe so that I hardly know which computer runs my codes or how or where they are stored. The computer professionals take care of all that, and they seem to do a very good job in the face of constantly increasing demands. However, it is disconcerting to have my codes stored at points unknown with the ever-present possibility of destruction if I don't use them often enough or forget to add money to my computer account. I'm also a little annoyed by the response time of my time-shared system now that hundreds of users share its magnificent resources. Although the system has been continually updated, it can barely keep up with the new users and uses.
Problem Formulation and the Consultant-Client Relationship
Authors: Thomas Howard , Schwenk Charles
Published: October 2008

Research on problem formulation in organizations is briefly reviewed and the types of biases which may operate in this process are discussed. Decision aids which may facilitate the process are examined. Familiarity with this material could increase OR practitioners' effectiveness and improve the relationship between consultants and clients.
A Warehouse Location Model Helps Texas Comptroller Select Out-of-State Audit Offices
Authors: Fitzsimmons James A. , Allen Lou Austin
Published: October 2008

To enhance the collection of sales and other taxes due the State of Texas, the Comptroller uses tax audits of companies doing business in Texas. Auditors make frequent trips to company headquarters in New York, Chicago, Tulsa, Los Angeles, and other cities. To find out how much out-of-state offices would cost and where they should be located, a location-allocation network model developed for warehouse location distribution system design was used. Six cities were agreed upon for locations.
Management Science—Theory, Relevance, and Practice in the 1980s
Authors: Miller James R. , Feldman Howard
Published: October 2008

Periodically the management science profession prognosticates about its importance to management and its future. Also periodically, critics become outspoken about management science's lack of relevance to management. Just as major innovation typically comes from outside an industry, so are the threats to the management science profession coming from outside the profession, from the related fields of strategic management, corporate planning, and production operations. Management science should listen to its critics.
Managing an MS/OR Activity by Peer Review
Authors: Rosenman Bernard B.
Published: October 2008

How do you manage your MS/OR outfit? Here's a brief description of one approach to assuring product quality that has been found to work.
Seen Elsewhere
Authors: Morgan J. I.
Published: October 2008

Digest presented: —“Statistical mechanics alogorithm for Monte Carlo optimization” 1982, Physics Today, Vol. 35, No. 5 (May), pp. 17–19. —Phillips, L. W. (Western Electric) 1982, “Solution of large-scale traveling-salesman problems,” IENews: Operations Research, Vol. 17, No. 3 (Winter), p. 1–3. —Merkhofer, M. W. (SRI International) 1982, “A process for technology assessment based on decision analysis,” Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Vol. 22, No. 384, pp. 237–265.
Improving the Distribution of Industrial Gases with an On-Line Computerized Routing and Scheduling Optimizer
Authors: Bell Walter J. , Dalberto Louis M. , Fisher Marshall L. , Greenfield Arnold J. , Jaikumar R. , Kedia Pradeep , Mack Robert G. , Prutzman Paul J.
Published: October 2008

For Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., inventory management of industrial gases at customer locations is integrated with vehicle scheduling and dispatching. Their advanced decision support system includes on-line data entry functions, customer usage forecasting, a time/distance network with a shortest path algorithm to compute intercustomer travel times and distances, a mathematical optimization module to produce daily delivery schedules, and an interactive schedule change interface. The optimization module uses a sophisticated Lagrangian relaxation algorithm to solve mixed integer programs with up to 800,000 variables and 200,000 constraints to near optimality. The system, first implemented in October, 1981, has been saving between 6% to 10% of operating costs.
A Disciplined Stock Selection Strategy: Addendum
Authors: Farrell James L.
Published: October 2008

An equity investment strategy, “disciplined stock selection,” has risk characteristics like the Standard & Poor 500 yet provides a better return. Updating the paper published in October, 1982, this addendum reports the results through the end of 1982 with the strategy continuing to outperform the S&P 500, by a 3.5% increment in 1982.
The Myth of the Simple Model
Authors: Powers R. F. , Karrenbauer J. J. , Doolittle George
Published: October 2008

When managers say they want simple models, they often mean that they want interface facilities that make it easy to build and solve complex models. Such an “easy-to-use” interface system (DATA-1) was designed for use with production-distribution network models. As an example, a large-scale production-distribution strategy study conducted by Glidden Coatings and Resins using DATA-1 is described.
Vision and Leadership
Authors: Gluck Frederick W.
Published: October 2008

In many companies, the link between strategic planning and operational decision making is not made because the crucial factors, vision and leadership, are missing. Five organizational and process requirements seem necessary and present in companies that do function well.
Operations Technology: Blind Spot in Strategic Management
Authors: Skinner Wickham
Published: October 2008

Innovation in operations equipment and process technology can be used strategically as a powerful competitive weapon. It can bring to bear many other strategic factors besides achieving low costs—superior quality, shorter delivery cycles, lower inventories, lower investment in equipment, shorter new product development cycles, and new production economics.
Value Based Strategic Investment Planning
Authors: Alberts William W. , McTaggart James M.
Published: October 2008

The problem faced by every diversified company is determining which businesses to include in its portfolio and how much capital to allocate to each of them. We develop the major principles that make up the value based, or profitability, approach to the problem and then argue that this approach is likely to give better solutions than the product portfolio approach.
Strategy, Management, and Strategic Planning Approaches
Authors: Wheelwright Steven C.
Published: October 2008

During the past decade strategic management has been largely dominated by portfolio analysis, experience curves, market share and competitive strategy concepts. While these appear useful in a range of situations, many organizations question their blind adoption and see shortcomings in such an approach. The strengths and weaknesses of such an analytical approach to strategy are explored and contrasted with an incremental value-based approach using Texas Instruments and Hewlett-Packard as examples.
The CEO and Corporate Strategy in the Eighties: Back to Basics
Authors: Lewis W. Walker
Published: October 2008

After 20 years of decline, US corporations need leaders who will set coherent field strategies in a return to the basics.
Strategic Planning for Electric Utilities: Problems and Analytic Methods
Authors: Merrill H. M. , Schweppe F. C.
Published: October 2008

Various peculiarities and problems are associated with strategic planning for electric utilities. “Optimal” generation expansion and strategic planning packages are used, as are corporate model programs. However, strategic planning is better considered a process of multiobjective decision making under uncertainty, and we present here a practical method for solving such problems.
Real-Time Computer Support for Decision Analysis in a Group Setting: Another Class of Decision Support Systems
Authors: Adelman Leonard
Published: October 2008

Real-time, decision-analytic aids developed to support group decision making are an important subset of decision support systems (DSS). They satisfy the basic requirement: provide interactive computer support for the decision making process by assisting decision makers in thinking about the various aspects of the decision problem(s) facing them. How a decision-analytic DSS was successfully applied to a military design problem and, more generally, why decision-analytic DSS effectively facilitate group decision making are discussed.
In Memory of William J. Abernathy
Authors: Chakrabarti Alok K. , Lilien Gary
Published: October 2008

We record with deep sorrow the untimely death of William J. Abernathy in December. Bill was an active member of TIMS and served the organization in many capacities including a term as Chairman of the College of Research and Development.
Technology and Productivity: The Contributions of William J. Abernathy
Authors: Chakrabarti Alok K.
Published: October 2008

Abernathy's research was focused on productivity. His early work in the late 60s and early 70s concentrated on the productivity of research and development organizations. His later work expanded as he investigated the “productivity dilemma” in American industry, particularly the auto industry, leading him to study the “new industrial competition” in the US.
Toward Improving Flood Forecast-Response Systems
Authors: Krzysztofowicz Roman , Davis Donald R.
Published: October 2008

To save lives and reduce property damage, the National Weather Service (NWS) provides flood forecasts and warnings serving 3,000 flood-prone areas. A comprehensive plan for improving this large-scale service has been formulated by the NWS Office of Hydrology based on several systems-economic studies. The one described highlights: (1) the concept of a flood forecast-response system which captures interactions among hydrologic, organizational, behavioral, and economic factors; (2) the concept of performance measures which capture the interplay between the quality of forecasts and the quality of floodplain dwellers' response, and (3) the economic value of flood forecasts and the benefits to be derived by the general public from the planned improvements.
Career Paths and Compensation in Management Science: Results of a TIMS Membership Survey
Authors: Hall John R.
Published: October 2008

A 1982 survey of TIMS members provides some rare hard information on compensation and movement in and out of MS/OR during a career. Differences among professionals in industry, consulting, academia, and government are spotlighted. The survey also provides some insight on whether management science still is a magnet for scientists interested in management or merely a way station for aspiring
Using Bivalent Integer Programming to Select Teams for Intercollegiate Women's Gymnastics Competition
Authors: Ellis Peter M. , Corn Raymond W.
Published: October 2008

The coach of an intercollegiate women's gymnastics team must choose a lineup to maximize the potential total team score by optimally assigning gymnasts to the different events. Manual computation of total scores possible from several lineups is burdensome. A bivalent integer programming formulation was used to establish the competitive lineup for intercollegiate matches at Utah State.
The Strange Case of the Lagging Forecasts
Authors: Gardner Everette S.
Published: October 2008

Erroneous versions of exponential smoothing models have been repeated in the literature since 1965.
A Domination Sequence—MS/OR; DSS; and the Fifth Generation
Authors: Wynne Bayard E.
Published: October 2008

The current half century is spanning three very significant means of providing assistance to those responsible for producing tangible results. Those three each supplement one another even while the latest one dominates its predecessor(s). It is argued that this domination sequence has as one basis the common thread—“the more personalization of the tool to the user, the better.”
Implementation Exchange: Self-Starters in MS/OR—A Growth Area
Authors: Lockett Geoff
Published: October 2008

There has been much discussion about the future of MS/OR and about how MS/OR ought to change if it is to survive and prosper. But in general the literature speaks for MS/OR practitioners, rather than the subject itself, and there has been some evidence that MS/OR is no longer contained within the profession.

In a recent survey of 100 managers about 50 percent stated that they had used OR, and 20 percent of this group had done it themselves. It is this latter phenomenon that interests us here; we will call them “self-starters.”
Reinventing Inventory Control
Authors: Schonberger Richard J. , Schniederjans Marc J.
Published: October 2008

Western notions about inventory control revolve around economic order quantities and buffer stocks that are aimed at avoiding running out of stock but which result in high inventories and long lead times. Our inventory models need to be recast into principles: The lot-size principle is simply to keep cutting it—and cut setup times as partial justification. The buffer-stock principle is also to keep cutting—and solve the exposed quality, equipment, and other problems thereby exposed.
Letter to the Editor
Authors: Tinker Tony
Published: October 2008

Remark of the authors of Tinker, Tony, Tony Lowe. 1984. One-dimensional management science: The making of a technocratic consciousness. Interfaces 14(2, March–April) 40–56 about comments to their paper on pages 51–54 following their original article.
Misapplications Reviews: Hinckley and the Chemical Bath
Authors: Greenberg Irwin , Machol Robert E.
Published: October 2008

It has happened as I (Barnett) had hoped: I have begun hearing from readers, and their remarks are not uniformly critical. Rather, some wish to discuss what they perceive as misapplications in the newspapers, professional journals, or their own encounters. It is a pleasure to devote this column to two recent communications, one concerning an article that appeared here in Interfaces, and the other about some evidence that was used in the Hinckley trial.
Do Economic Sanctions Against the Soviet Union Make Sense?
Authors: Brandsma Andries S. , Hallett A. J. Hughes
Published: October 2008

Economic sanctions against the Soviet Union, as a response to its policies in Poland and Afghanistan, have been criticized as ineffective. Optimal sanctions can be derived as strategies which solve a dynamic mathematical game subject to uncertainty. They are analyzed here using a macroeconomic model of the Soviet economy and show that the Soviet Union is vulnerable to induced foreign exchange shortages. Current policies exploit that weakness.
Random Number Generation on Microcomputers
Authors: Modianos Doan T. , Scott Robert C. , Cornwell Larry W.
Published: October 2008

In a study of the statistical and temporal characteristics of random number generators for microcomputers, several peculiarities related to seeding random number generators were noted. Some vendor-supplied generators, including those on the Apple II+, Apple IIe, Osborne Executive, and IBM-PC, were so seriously flawed that they should not be used for simulation studies.
Toward a Microcomputer-Based DSS for Planning Forest Operations
Authors: Robak E. W.
Published: October 2008

For a decision support system for operational planning of forest operations to be effective it should be based upon contemporary deterministic planning procedures and should improve a planner's ability to evaluate the effects of decision alternatives on the entire plan's budget. The computational and information-handling functions of microcomputers would allow sensitivity analyses to be performed by those most likely to understand the alternatives and their probable effects: the operating mangers.
An Evaluation of Forest Fire Initial Attack Resources
Authors: Martell D. L. , Drysdale R. J. , Doan G. E. , Boychuk D.
Published: October 2008

To help forest fire managers of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources evaluate initial attack resources, a relatively simple simulation model of the kinds of fires that occur in the province of Ontario and the resources used to fight them was developed. The model was useful in planning the acquisition of air tankers and the future use of air tankers, transport aircraft, and fire fighters, for initial attack purposes.
An Integrated Decision Support and Manufacturing Control System
Authors: Hehnen M. T. , Chou S. C. , Scheurman H. L. , Robinson G. J. , Luken T. P. , Baker D. W.
Published: October 2008

A successfully implemented manufacturing decision system is used to maximize the return achieved by a forest products mill from the raw material flowing to it. The system integrates real-time decision making and control with a concurrent simulation capability. This combination was extremely successful in gaining operations and management acceptance of new technology and enhancing its economic benefit. The return on capital investment exceeds 40 percent, and the integration and system-wide economic perspective have proved extremely important.
Determining Target Inventories of Wood Chips Using Risk Analysis
Authors: Finke Gary F.
Published: October 2008

The optimal inventory level for wood chips in front of a pulp mill involves trade-offs between losses due both to biological degradation and to financial carrying costs and the risks of running out of stock and shutting down the mill. The Springfield Inventory Target (SPRINT) model is used at a half dozen Weyerhaeuser pulp mills to assist in managing chip inventories of close to 200,000 dry tons. More important, SPRINT has contributed to chip inventory reductions at these mills totaling 190,000 dry tons in the last three years, lowering annual inventory costs by more than $2,000,000.
Using Fire in Forest Management: Decision Making Under Uncertainty
Authors: Cohan David , Haas Stephen M. , Radloff David L. , Yancik Richard F.
Published: October 2008

Prescribed fire—fire used under controlled conditions—is an important tool in modem forest management. Planning and executing prescribed fires is challenging because of uncertainties in weather, fire behavior, and other factors. Decision analysis techniques are used to evaluate prescribed fire decisions in three national forest case study applications.
Educational Productivity Council Employs Management Science Methods to Improve Educational Quality
Authors: Bessent A. , Bessent W. , Elam J. , Long D.
Published: October 2008

In response to escalating costs, and declining test scores and enrollment in public schools, Texas has required public schools to teach minimum competence in basic skills and to operate the $8.5 billion school system more efficiently. A large-scale application of management science was employed by 25 independent public school districts, members of the Educational Productivity Council (EPC) formed in 1981. The application reports three years experience in the EPC with resulting improvements in effectiveness and efficiency.
Seen Elsewhere
Authors: Morgan J. I.
Published: October 2008

“Seen Elsewhere” consists of digests of articles on the application and implementation of management science seen in other publications.

—Nutt, Paul C. (Ohio State University) 1984, “Pseudoplanning,” Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Vol. 25, No. 2 (April), pp. 91–108

—Hertz, David B. (University of Miami), 1983, “Artificial intelligence and the business manager,” Computerworld, Vol. 17, No. 43 (October 24, 1983) pp. ID 20–26.
Applications Reviews
Authors: Hall John R. , Millen Roger N. , Sauter Vicki L. , Winer Russell S. , Dale Charles
Published: October 2008

“Applications Reviews” is a guide to accomplished or partial MS/OR applications, cited in articles appearing in many of the major journals of the field. We cover only applications—except for the occasional brief mention of a survey article or special issue—and so do not claim to cover all the best articles in MS/OR. The abstracts are purposely kept short to emphasize breadth of coverage over depth; we try to tell you what modeling approach has been applied to what problem, and if possible the size and character of the improvements achieved as a result.
A Markovian Model for the Valuation of Human Assets Acquired by an Organizational Purchase
Authors: Flamholtz Eric G. , Geis George T. , Perle Richard J.
Published: October 2008

A corporation acquires the assets and liabilities of a securities brokerage firm for a price in excess of net book value. A Markov analysis is used in conjunction with human resource accounting to value a pool of account executives employed by the brokerage firm. The tax implications of imputing a portion of the purchase price premium to the pool of human assets (as opposed to goodwill) are discussed.
Linear Programming on Microcomputers: A Survey
Authors: Sharda Ramesh
Published: October 2008

Growth of microcomputers has led to proliferation of Management Science/Operations Research software. Some linear programming packages running on popular microcomputers are compared and summarized. A directory of software, publishers, and prices is also included.
Misapplications Reviews: Newswatch
Authors: Barnett Arnold
Published: October 2008

Everybody knows that some people lie with statistics and that others, while having no intention to deceive, nonetheless cite figures in misleading ways. But this knowledge has not stopped the widespread and often preposterous misuse of statistics in the newspapers and magazines and on the television and radio. And I am referring to data “analyses” that are transparently weak, not the unknown number of others that appear plausible but would collapse under scrutiny.

Let me not weaken the case by overstating it. Seldom do the data presented actually refute the point they were meant to support. Far more often, the problem is that numbers consistent with a wide range of hypotheses are offered as proof of the correctness of one of them. And with distressing frequency, the hypothesis “confirmed” in this manner is not the one the Goddess of Reason would have chosen in advance.
Forecasting by Extrapolation: Conclusions from 25 Years of Research
Authors: Armstrong J. Scott
Published: October 2008

Sophisticated extrapolation techniques have had a negligible payoff for accuracy in forecasting. As a result, major changes are proposed for the allocation of the funds for future research on extrapolation. Meanwhile, simple methods and the combination of forecasts are recommended.
Editorial: Interfaces: Fact or Fiction
Authors: Lilien Gary L.
Published: October 2008

Editorial about Interfaces and the reviewing process and its specific, often humorous, style.
Determination of Optimal Bridge Design
Authors: Brar G. S. , Sarin S. C. , Bishara A. G.
Published: October 2008

In bridge construction, basic structural elements are used repeatedly. Usually, designs are developed using standard guidelines and according to the preferences of the designer, but they are not necessarily the best from the viewpoint of cost. However, cost-effective designs can be produced using mathematical programming techniques. Here two typical bridge design problems are solved using GPALL (a geometric programming theory based optimization procedure). The cost for one bridge is compared with the cost of a commonly used design.
Development and Implementation of an Integrated Inventory Management Program at Pfizer Pharmaceuticals
Authors: Kleutghen P. P. , McGee J. C
Published: October 2008

Pfizer developed and implemented an integrated system to manage inventories in its US pharmaceutical business. A series of MS models covering the length of a complex supply chain and using a variety of mathematical methods was introduced. The program reduced inventories by $23.9 million and back orders by 95 percent over a three-year period.
Optimizing Chemical Production at Monsanto
Authors: Boykin Raymond F.
Published: October 2008

A chemical production economic optimization system has been developed for maleic anhydride operations at Monsanto. The system is based on mathematical models that select the miminum cost operating strategy for a given production target with respect to operating parameters such as raw material feed rate, reactor air flow velocity, and pressure. Implementation of the system is generating estimated annual savings of one to three million dollars, dependent upon plant operating rates.
Evaluating Slot Machine Placement on the Casino Floor
Authors: Bayus Barry L. , Banker Robert L. , Gupta Shiv K. , Stone Bradley H.
Published: October 2008

Gambling activities in Atlantic City have been tremendously successful; yet there is room for improvement in current planning. An effort to allocate floor space to slot machines at the Sands Hotel and Casino combines management intuition with quantitative modeling in a deterministic simulation model used in tandem with empirical data to evaluate policy
Misapplications Reviews: The Parable of the Red Line
Authors: Barnett Arnold , Saponaro Anthony
Published: October 2008

For several years, the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) has been expanding its rapid-transit Red Line northward from Cambridge. The required excavations have caused much pain: traffic jams are even worse than before, large numbers of people have been uprooted from their homes, and a hideous ditch has dominated Harvard Square for almost half a decade. Many suspect that the benefits of the extension—even if extrapolated through T = ∞—cannot possibly outweigh the agony that accompanied its construction.

For a long time, however, the project had no effect on service on the existing Red Line. But that situation changed in the fall of 1983, when the tracks were diverted to include a short stretch in the new tunnel. At once, major troubles with the automatic signals and train-turnaround facilities induced all kinds of delays. The disruption once confined to a section of Cambridge spread quickly to the heart of Boston and the city's southern suburbs; now 125,000 daily riders joined the earlier victims of the Red Line's improvements.
What's So Scientific about MS/OR?
Authors: Hall Randolph W.
Published: October 2008

Basic precepts of research in the natural sciences can be used to guide research in MS/OR. To prosper as a science, mathematical elegance is not enough. Attaining an improved understanding of the real world is essential.
An Interactive Decision Support System for Analyzing Ship Voyage Alternatives
Authors: Boykin Raymond F. , Levary Reuven R.
Published: October 2008

An interactive DSS designed to simulate ship voyage alternatives was used to schedule a ship for Monsanto, where several different voyage alternatives needed to be evaluated periodically. The DSS saves an estimated $20,000 per year.
Introduction: Productivity as a Strategic Variable
Authors: Starr Martin K.
Published: October 2008

We have taken a lot of time to prepare this special issue of Interfaces, which treats productivity as a strategic variable. By strategic, rather than tactical, we mean the whole picture instead of piece by piece. We mean a dynamic evaluation in which the evolution of technology, shifts in competitive capabilities, and managerial learning take place.

Another goal was to obtain articles from experts whose work is at the cutting edge and whose contributions can be implemented. We hope that management science and OR practitioners will factor the ideas presented in this special issue into the models they build and use. We hope that academic programs will integrate the concepts into the existing body of knowledge, assumptions, and teaching. We hope that all research will be affected and redirected.
Improving Purchasing Productivity at IBM with a Normative Decision Support System
Authors: Bender Paul S. , Brown Richard W. , Isaac Michael H. , Shapiro Jeremy F.
Published: October 2008

A computerized vendor selection system was implemented for the purchasing department of IBM's Poughkeepsie manufacturing facility. The system, called the Vendor Selection System (VSS), employs advanced mixed integer optimization techniques within a flexible but structured environment to help purchasing personnel to make better contract decisions. They can use the VSS without prior training in computer science or programming and achieve significant savings.
Software Productivity as a Strategic Variable
Authors: Grammas Gus W. , Klein June R.
Published: October 2008

In recent years the major incentive for adopting computer technology—increased productivity through automation of labor intensive tasks—is eroding as the field of data processing itself becomes labor intensive. Systems must be made more productive to cope with the magnitude and complexity of the tasks performed and the scarcity of trained software personnel. Hindering progress are systems maintenance problems and operational and aggregate bottlenecks.
20/30 Hindsight
Authors: Chamberlain Robert G.
Published: October 2008

Editorial invitation to readers to share their own personal experiences in solving OR/MS problems where first something went wrong. It is followed by the author's story about the Los Angeles Police Department and their considerations whether to use helicopters are patrol vehicles.
Foundations of Strategic Planning for Productivity Improvement
Authors: Gold Bela
Published: October 2008

A variety of prevailing concepts and measures of “productivity” fail to satisfy management's need for practical productivity analysis systems which can be effectively integrated into company performance evaluation and strategic planning. An analytical framework can meet these needs by combining the “network of productivity relationships” with the “structure of cost relationships” and the “managerial control ratios,” thus paralleling the hierarchy of management's evaluation criteria in appraising past results and in establishing future targets.
The 10 Commandments of Service System Management
Authors: Chase Richard B.
Published: October 2008

There is no need to recount the statistics relating to service system growth or the frequent calls to utilize productivity as a strategic variable. These issues are well understood—services are the most rapidly growing of our economic sectors, and there is plenty of effort being devoted to studying ways of improving their productivity. What is needed, in my opinion, is a better understanding of the very nature of services themselves, and more specifically, some practical philosophy for designing the service delivery process. These two related issues can be addressed by 10 “commandments” gleaned from my 10 years of studying services, my recent research on branch banking, and a lifetime of living with services as a consumer.

In order to provide some structure to an admittedly idiosyncratic list, the commandments are grouped under the following headings: The Facility, The Customer, and The Server. (In reading the list and explanations, please assume that the normal academic caveats such as “other things being equal” and “subject to cost/benefit analysis” have been stated. In other words, grant me exemption from the type II error.)
A Hierarchical Production Planning System
Authors: Liberatore Matthew J. , Miller Tan
Published: October 2008

Hierarchical integration of production planning, scheduling, and inventory control is required to coordinate organizational levels responsible for developing and executing plans. A hierarchical planning system has been developed for American Olean Tile Company and is being implemented. Since several system components were already in place, development costs to date include five months of an analyst's time and timesharing charges of about $10,000. Improved coordination and communication between manufacturing and marketing, the development of new sales forecasting procedures, and reduced distribution costs of $400,000–750,000 per year are the principal benefits.
Visual Interactive Modeling as an Operations Research Technique
Authors: Bell Peter C.
Published: October 2008

Visual interactive models are increasingly used to solve both static and dynamic decision problems, and general purpose commercial software is making these techniques more accessible to the OR practitioner. The reasons for this explosive growth are outlined, as well as some disadvantages of these methodologies and some suggestions for directions for future developments.
Product Blending: A Simulation Case Study in Double Time: An Update
Authors: Golovin Lewis B.
Published: October 2008

Increasing applications for the Exxon simulation model originally described in Interfaces in November 1979.
Note: More Gymnastics
Authors: Land A. , Powell S.
Published: October 2008

The paper by P. M. Ellis and R. W Corn, “Using bivalent integer programming to select teams for intercollegiate women's gymnastics competition” [1984] has some fascinating aspects and can be used as an illustration for alternative formulations of integer programming problems.

The authors observed that it was easy to obtain ILP solutions and that usually the LP solution was also integer. With the formulation presented in this paper it can be shown that (with four all-rounders and four events) there is always an optimum LP solution which satisfies the integer constraints.
Marketing the Results of Analysis
Authors: McDaniel Reuben R. , Ashmos Donde P.
Published: October 2008

After spending over one million dollars on a major study, a major state agency found that the information was not used by decision makers. Interviews with the decision makers indicated that three heuristics from behavioral decision theory may explain the data neglect. A marketing strategy, rather than a training strategy, was proposed and adopted by the agency. The result was that the data analysis effort on the second data collection was of much more use to the agency.
Policy Models for CEOs: A Case Study in Banking
Authors: Mulford John E.
Published: October 2008

A large portfolio of nonperforming residential construction loans severely threatened a large commercial bank's earnings. A hastily constructed, simple cash-flow model suggested that subsidizing mortages for financially troubled builders was the best policy, but interpersonal relations outweighed discounted cash flows in the final decision.
Managing the Armed Services' Delayed Entry Pools to Improve Productivity in Recruiting
Authors: Morey Richard C.
Published: October 2008

With the delayed entry option, an Armed Services recruit can defer the date he reports to boot camp for up to a year from the time he signs a contract. A recruiter's productivity is enhanced by such recruits since they often encourage their peers to investigate the services also. The national delayed entry pool can be viewed as a scarce resource to be allocated to recruiters on an equitable basis. Area level imbalances in the size of the pool per recruiter can be reduced by altering the assignment of accession quotas across the areas using a lexicographic goal programming formulation. The approach has been successfully used by the Navy to reduce inequities and imbalances.
Preface: Manufacturing Strategy Papers
Authors: Hax Arnoldo C.
Published: October 2008

Editorial to the special topic issue about OR/MS methods in a wide variety of activities aimed at enhancing manufacturing capabilities.