bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Decision Analysis of Exploration Opportunities in the Onshore US at Phillips Petroleum Company
Authors: Walls Michael R. , Morahan G. Thomas , Dyer James S.
Published: October 2008

Petroleum exploration managers must allocate scarce resources across a set of risky and uncertain investment alternatives. We developed a decision analysis software package, DISCOVERY, that provided an exploration division of Phillips Petroleum Company an alternative means of evaluating a mix of risky investments and selecting participation levels consistent with the firm’s risk propensity. Managers at Phillips use the software to (1) evaluate projects with a consistent risk-taking policy, (2) rank projects in terms of overall preference, (3) identify the firm’s appropriate level of participation, and (4) stay within their division budgets. This approach increased management’s awareness of risk and risk tolerance and provided insight into the relative financial risks associated with its available investment opportunities. As a result of this project, the company has developed consistent methods of risk analysis that include companywide analysis of all exploration projects.
Facilities Evaluation under Uncertainty: Pricing a Refinery
Authors: Keefer Donald L.
Published: October 2008

During a period of volatile oil prices and of refining margins that were frequently negative, an oil company was considering selling a large refinery that had already been shut down because of unfavorable economics. As a basis for price negotiations, management needed a ballpark figure for what the refinery would be worth to a potential buyer whose economic circumstances and utilization of the refinery might differ substantially from those of the current owner. An initial attempt at conventional economic analysis proved inadequate because of the large uncertainties involved. A quick, straight-forward analysis using probability trees and simple approximations from decision analysis identified a reasonable range of values for the refinery, thereby providing significant insights to management. This approach has potential for a variety of facilities-evaluation problems and for other engineering economic-evaluation problems involving substantial uncertainties.
Knowledge-Based Systems and the Decision Sciences
Authors: Silverman Barry G.
Published: October 2008

Three ways of unifying knowledge-based expert systems and mathematical modeling are (1) knowledge-based decision aids that support the steps of the decision cycle unaddressed by mathematics; (2) intelligent decision modeling systems that help users build, apply, and manage libraries of models; and (3) decision analytic expert systems that integrate theoretically rigorous methods of uncertainty into the expert system knowledge bases. Many contributions have been made to these three types of unification over the past half decade, and working examples of each are now proliferating. Both the applied mathematical sciences and knowledge-based systems are richer fields as a result of this synthesis. More work remains to be done.
Franz Edelman Award for Management Science Achievement
Authors: Finkelberg Howard , Graves Stephen C. , Rothkopf Michael H.
Published: October 2008

Overview of the competition for the 24th annual Franz Edelman Award for Management Science Achievement, sponsored jointly by INFORMS and its practice section, the College for the Practice of the Management Sciences (CPMS). More than 40 entries were submitted. First prize in the competition was given to Harris Corporation—Semiconductor Sector for the innovative use of management science in creating a functioning, companywide integrated manufacturing production-planning and order-quotation system. The system, known as IMPReSS, dramatically improved the on-time delivery of 18,000 products, thereby significantly enhancing the company's global market position and overall profitability.
Information Systems Strategy Development at Sainsbury's Supermarkets Using “Soft” OR
Authors: Ormerod Richard J.
Published: October 2008

In 1989, Sainsbury's, the largest UK supermarket chain, developed a new information systems (IS) strategy. To obtain management ownership of the strategy and commitment to implementation, it adopted a participative approach using “soft” OR methods. The resulting strategy was projected to cost $73 million and give annual benefits of $64 million. Five years into the strategy the outcome can be evaluated. Inevitably the strategy has evolved. Implementation has taken longer and costs are more than estimated; but benefits are exceeding expectations. The results indicate the effectiveness of the decision-making process used, showing that qualitative OR approaches can be used to good effect and can sometimes be subjected to quantitative assessment.
Practice Abstracts
Authors: Keefer Donald L.
Published: October 2008

A short report “Determining Transportation Requirements for Development of a Major Oil Field” is given. McDermott Operations Research helped apply animated simulation to evaluate the transportation and material-movement requirements in a multibillion dollar oil field project situated in the Caspian Sea off Baku, Azerbaijan. The feasibility of developing this field was studied by a consortium led by Amoco. McDermott, which holds an interest in the consortium, assisted Amoco Eurasia in the feasibility study through its Hudson Engineering unit in Houston by building a simulation model.
KeyCorp Service Excellence Management System
Authors: Kotha Shravan K. , Barnum Michael P. , Bowen David A.
Published: October 2008

Since 1991, KeyCorp has been developing its Service Excellence Management System (SEMS) to manage productivity and enhance service throughout its 1,300 branch banking franchise. The SEMS models measure branch activities and generate reports on customer wait times and teller proficiency and productivity levels. These reports help managers to identify reengineering efforts, schedule staff to better match customer arrivals, and enhance productivity and service. For branches using the models, customer processing time has been reduced by 53 percent, customer wait time has improved dramatically with only four percent of customers waiting more than five minutes, and at 94 percent of branches 90 percent of customers are waiting less than five minutes—improvements of 71 and 124 percent, respectively. The SEMS models are expected to reduce personnel expenses by $98 million over five years, yielding an internal rate of return of 3,500 percent.
The AIM Game: Learning Investment Management Principles through Monte Carlo Simulation
Authors: Trippi Robert R.
Published: October 2008

In surveys, computer simulation nearly always tops lists of the most frequently used OR/MS methods, largely because of its great versatility. For example, where nonlinearities or path dependence exists, Monte Carlo simulation is the only practical means available for evaluating financial derivatives and asset allocation or switching policies. Teaching business students the theory and use of Monte Carlo simulation in evaluating investment policies is challenging, especially at the undergraduate level. I developed a management game that requires team effort and provides students with experience in unsupervised research design and hands-on use of state-of-the-art simulation software to analyze an interesting problem in investment management.
The Ombudsman: Management Folklore and Management Science—On Portfolio Planning, Escalation Bias, and Such
Authors: Armstrong J. Scott
Published: October 2008

Management folklore sometimes leads to unprofitable decision making. Thus, studies of the value of such folklore should be of interest to managers, especially when they identify unprofitable procedures. I reviewed empirical research on scientific publishing and concluded that studies supporting. management folklore are likely to be favorably reviewed for publication and to be cited. However, researchers who obtain findings that refute folklore are likely to encounter resistance in publication and are less likely to be cited. My experience with papers on portfolio planning methods and escalation bias illustrates the problem. To encourage the publication of papers that challenge management folklore, editors should use results-blind reviews and, in some cases, constrain, reduce, or eliminate peer review.
The Limits of Japanese Production Systems
Authors: Samaddar Subhashish
Published: October 2008

Zangwill [Zangwill, W. I. 1992. The limits of Japanese production theory. Interfaces 22(5) 14–25.] claims that reductions in setup coat and time can paradoxically increase inventory levels and holding costs without bound and, thereby, blow up total costs. One limitation of this claim is that inventory does not grow without bound for a system with more than one item. Inventory increases conditionally. I offer such a condition. Use of this condition can ensure, wherever possible, that setup time reductions do not back-fire through longer waiting times and higher inventory levels.
Sawtimber Valuation and Sawlog Allocation Through Simulation of Temple-Inland Sawmills
Authors: Wagner Francis G. , Brody James A. , Ladd Douglas S. , Beard Joe S.
Published: October 2008

The cost of delivered sawlogs to a sawmill may account for 70 to 80 percent of all operating costs. Therefore, accurate valuation of standing sawtimber and proper allocation of sawlogs are critical to a sawmill's long-term profitability. Sawmills differ, including the four southern-pine sawmills operated by Temple-Inland Forest Products in east Texas and southwest Louisiana. As a result, one sawmill may process a certain group of sawlogs more efficiently and obtain a higher value from those sawlogs than another group. To determine sawtimber value and to allocate sawlogs to sawmills, Temple-Inland Forest Products has employed a simulation program (Micro-MSUSP) since 1991. During 1994, Temple-Inland Forest Products sawmills processed sawtimber worth $154 million, and analysis showed an approximate 3.3 percent ($5 million) improvement in profit margin through improved valuation of sawtimber and better allocation of sawlogs. Temple-Inland's investment in simulation has amounted to two full-time employees and approximately $95,000 each year.
Using Simulated Annealing to Schedule Oil Field Drilling Rigs
Authors: Eagle Ken
Published: October 2008

Oil companies often have large backlogs of drilling opportunities. Optimizing this portfolio is critical. I used a simulated annealing algorithm to schedule drilling rigs for BP Exploration by making an analogy to the vehicle-routing problem, and I estimated the value of acquiring additional drilling rigs. By considering the perishability of projects' benefits in optimizing over a multi-period planning horizon, I increased the value of portfolios by deferring attractive projects in favor of less attractive ones. This violates the standard practice of maximizing value by sorting projects by such attractiveness measures as net present value or internal rate of return. My program is BP's primary planning tool in the Prudhoe Bay field. The first year's application improved portfolio net present value by approximately $30 million over traditional planning methods.
Iron Ore Handling Procedures Enhance Export Quality
Authors: Everett James E.
Published: October 2008

Iron ore is a major Australian export into a highly competitive market. Customers feed the iron ore into blast furnaces that are tuned to ore of particular composition. They are therefore displeased if successive shipments differ in their percentage content of any element, such as iron, phosphorus, silicon, aluminum, or calcium. Producers need low variability to compete against other Australian suppliers or other sources, such as South Africa or Brazil. They can plan mine production to average a desired composition over a year, but in mining through an actual ore body, short-term fluctuations in composition are inevitable. I showed through simulation studies that producers can reduce this fluctuation in composition by stacking and recovering the iron ore intelligently at the port prior to shipment. Two Western Australian producers have used these studies to improve measurably the quality of their exported ore.
Blending OR/MS, Judgment, and GIS: Restructuring P&G's Supply Chain
Authors: Camm Jeffrey D. , Chorman Thomas E. , Dill Franz A. , Evans James R. , Sweeney Dennis J. , Wegryn Glenn W.
Published: October 2008

In 1993, Procter & Gamble (P&G) began an effort entitled strengthening global effectiveness (SGE) to streamline work processes, drive out nonvalue-added costs, and eliminate duplication. A principal component of SGE was the North American product supply study, designed to reexamine and reengineer P&G's product-sourcing and distribution system for its North American operations. The methodology developed to solve this problem drew on OR/MS and information technology, merging integer programming, network optimization models, and a geographical information system (GIS). As a result of this study, P&G is reducing the number of North American plants by almost 20 percent, saving over $200 million in pretax costs per year and renewing its focus on OR/MS approaches.
A New Formula for Distributing Hospital Funds in England
Authors: Carr-Hill Roy A. , Hardman Geoffrey , Martin Stephen , Peacock Stuart , Sheldon Trevor A. , Smith Peter C.
Published: October 2008

The British National Health Service delivers the great majority of the country's health care. One of the key policy problems confronting the organization is how its funds should be allocated to different parts of the country. We developed indices of health care needs based on empirical hospital utilization data. The national government now uses the indices as the basis for allocating a large part of NHS funds to health authorities. Moreover, the success of the project has encouraged the government to seek to introduce needs indices for the entire NHS budget, and the study team is now extending the area of application to the broader public sector. The study has therefore demonstrated that scientific management methods can have a profound impact at a high level of national policy.
A Solution to Post Crash Debt Entanglements in Kuwait's al-Manakh Stock Market
Authors: Elimam A. A. , Girgis M. , Kotob S.
Published: October 2008

Kuwait's al-Manakh stock market crash in August 1982, which resulted in an outstanding debt of US $94 billion, subjected banks to high risks and precipitated an economic recession, business failures, and bankruptcies. Courts could not settle traders' debts one at a time because of their entanglement. We constructed linear programming models to identify insolvent traders, to determine the fraction of debt insolvent traders could pay their creditors, and to apportion an insolvent trader's payment to his creditors by asset type. The models provided the basis for the final court decisions in resolving the crisis. They proved to be effective, equitable, and robust. Without this work, courts would have been occupied for years with the criminal, commercial, and bankruptcy cases resulting from 29,000 postdated checks; it avoided more than $10 billion in court costs and attorney fees.
FedEx Generates Bid Lines Using Simulated Annealing
Authors: Campbell Kevin W. , Durfee R. Bret , Hines Gail S.
Published: October 2008

We built a bid-line generator to help Federal Express perform what-if analyses of work rules during contract negotiations with ALPA, the bargaining unit for the company's pilots. The objectives were to minimize both the number of bid lines produced (a measure of required manning) and the amount of flying not assigned to bid lines (flying requirements that must be accommodated during subsequent phases of scheduling). The tool was useful in negotiations since it was automated and easily modified in-house to provide quick responses to bid line what-ifs. Using a two-step process, the tool produces a complete set of legal, flyable lines for an airplane fleet and identifies the remaining open (unscheduled) flying. First it uses simulated annealing to find as many good bid lines as possible; then it uses a greedy heuristic to complete as many more lines as possible.
The Fifth Column: Goals Optimization and the Vice-Presidential Assumption, or Optimizing Academia for Fun and Profit, Part 1
Authors: Woolsey Robert E. D.
Published: October 2008

First part of the essay on attempts to apply optimization methods in evaluating research and teaching contribution in a university department. It is shown how wrong assumptions in the mathematical model completely bias the stated goals and distort the participants behavior in the case their raises depend on the outcome of the proposed model.
Practice Abstracts
Authors: Keefer Donald L.
Published: October 2008

Two short reports. One is “The contribution of project analysis to an R&D project at an industrial R&D center” by Paul R. Bruggink, the other is “Decision analysis provides insight to Ford Microelectronics Incorporated” by Jeffrey S. Stonebraker, Jessica J. Sage, and Bruce L. Leak.
Finding the Yellow Brick Road: Part 4, I Wish I Had a Brain
Authors: Powell Warren B. , Mayoras Donald E.
Published: October 2008

Sometimes, there is more truth in fiction than in publicly available accounts. This story by Warren B. Powell, a leading researcher of real-time routing and scheduling models and frequent consultant to the motor carrier industry, and Donald E. Mayoras, a senior transportation executive and president of a trucking company, provides a view into the discussions many carriers undertake prior to adopting an optimization model. The account is too long to appear as a single article and instead is being published in serial form. This is the fourth installment.
Modeling for Litigation: Mixing Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches
Authors: Ackermann Fran , Eden Colin , Williams Terry
Published: October 2008

A contractor to the channel tunnel project instigated litigation to claim for the costs of disruption and delay. We used several interacting models to make the case for the claim more persuasive, coherent, and verifiable. Mixing qualitative modeling (large cognitive maps) with influence models and with system dynamics simulation modeling improved the quality of the claim. Quality, in this case, being that the modeling process was understandable to the client to the extent that it could argue the claim in court, that every aspect was expected to be transparent to the judge, and that it was robust and defensible management science. Cycling between modeling approaches gave benefits that could not have been attained by either hard or soft modeling in isolation. The claim ultimately was settled satisfactorily out of court with the client acknowledging that the modeling played a significant role.
Evaluation of Vision Correction Alternatives for Myopic Adults
Authors: Brown G. Mark
Published: October 2008

Prior to 1980, eyeglasses and contact lenses were the only widely available corrective treatments for myopia, commonly known as nearsightedness. In recent years, surgical procedures such as radial keratotomy (RK) and photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) have become viable corrective alternatives for myopic adults. I developed a decision model that a myopic adult can use to periodically revisit his or her decision regarding vision correction, given the expected costs, benefits, and risks of the surgical and nonsurgical alternatives. I exercised this decision model using my own personal values, and found that although the expected outcomes of the surgeries are already preferable to the perpetual use of external corrective lenses, my best near-term decision was to delay surgery and give the surgeons a chance to further improve their success rates.
The Institute of Management Sciences: A Prehistory and Commentary on the Occasion of TIMS' 40th Anniversary
Authors: Salveson Melvin E.
Published: October 2008

TIMS was founded December 1, 1953 at a meeting held at Columbia University in the City of New York. I wrote this report in commemoration of TIMS' 40th anniversary and to answer such questions as, What were the origins of TIMS? What led up to the founding of TIMS? What were its original purposes? Who were its originators? What were their motivations? Have its founding purposes been fulfilled? Is there any valuable hindsight to be gained?
Assigning Telephone Operators to Shifts at New Brunswick Telephone Company
Authors: Thompson Gary M.
Published: October 2008

I developed a procedure for assigning telephone operators to shifts at New Brunswick Telephone Company (NBTel). Although the problem has received scant attention in the literature, its solution greatly affects employees' satisfaction with their work schedules. NBTel requires that all shifts be assigned to employees, and it is obligated contractually to satisfy preferences for shifts in order of employee seniority. The specialized shift assignment heuristic (SSAH) that I developed runs on a personal computer, generating approximately three solutions per second. Employee and shift databases are maintained in a spreadsheet, and macros are used to integrate the heuristic into the spreadsheet. Both management and employees see SSAH as an improvement over the previous manual procedure.
Finding the Yellow Brick Road: Part 6, Courage!
Authors: Powell Warren B. , Mayoras Donald E.
Published: October 2008

Sometimes, there is more truth in fiction than in publicly available accounts. This story by Warren B. Powell, a leading researcher of real-time routing and scheduling models and frequent consultant to the motor carrier industry, and Donald E. Mayoras, a senior transportation executive and president of a trucking company, provides a view into the discussions many carriers undertake prior to adopting an optimization model. The account is too long to appear as a single article and instead is being published in serial form. This is the sixth installment.
Editorial: Which Universities Contribute to the Practice Literature? The Second Interfaces Ranking
Authors: Rothkopf Michael H.
Published: October 2008

Two years ago Interfaces published its first ranking of universities with respect to their contributions to the INFORMS practice literature. This is an updated version that covers seven years of data, from 1990 to 1996.
An Integrated Spatial DSS for Scheduling and Routing Home-Health-Care Nurses
Authors: Begur Sachidanand V. , Miller David M. , Weaver Jerry R.
Published: October 2008

Currently over 10,000 organizations in the United States provide nursing-related services in patients' homes. These organizations face an interesting manpower-deployment decision problem—scheduling which available nurse to see which patient, when, and what travel routes to use. Such issues as adhering to physician-specified requirements on the number of weekly visits make the underlying optimization problem challenging. In a joint project, the University of Alabama's Productivity Center and the Visiting Nurses Association developed a spatial decision support system (SDSS) to address this problem. It successfully integrates stand-alone PC-based geographic-information-system software with scheduling heuristics and databases to form a user-friendly tool that saves the association travel time and schedule-preparation time (over $20,000 a year) and improves the balance of work among nurses.
The Problem of Generating Crew Bidlines
Authors: Jarrah Ahmad I. Z. , Diamond James T.
Published: October 2008

Most US airlines generate pairings (or several-days-long work schedules) for airline crews and then string these pairings together into efficient month-long assignments or bidlines. In addition to meeting all relevant federal and union regulations, the generated bidlines must meet unwritten quality-of-life criteria. We developed an efficient optimization-based system for a major US airline to address this problem. It takes into account all relevant federal and union regulations and possesses a host of parameters that schedulers use to control the quality of the bidlines generated. The benefits from the system include reducing the time and resources needed to generate bidlines, improving crew utilization, and the ability to conduct what-if analyses to assess the impact of changes in the work rules and environment.
Practice Abstracts
Authors: Keefer Donald L.
Published: October 2008

A short report entitled “Balancing resource capacities, inventory positioning, staffing requirements, and operating policies in pharmaceutical manufacturing cells” by David B. Magerlein and James M. Magerlein, Pharmacia & Upjohn, Inc., 7000 Portage Road, Kalamazoo, Michigan 49001.
Simulating Queue Scheduling Policies for a Spacecraft Simulator
Authors: Savory Paul , Saghi Gene
Published: October 2008

The mission of the Cassini spacecraft is a unique opportunity to gain insights into major scientific questions about Saturn, the creation of the solar system, and the conditions that led to life on Earth. In preparation for the launch, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory developed a software simulator to emulate the hardware data-control system of the spacecraft. Its primary use is to validate and verify commands that will be transmitted to the spacecraft. To improve the performance of the simulator, we used the SIMAN simulation language to model numerous queue-scheduling policies. Implementation of the simulation results combined with a software-code redesign has greatly improved the performance of the simulator's key control module.
Teaching Undergraduate Operations Research in Some of the Business Schools in Asia
Authors: Kao Chiang , Yeh Quey-Jen , Tsai Yao-Chuan
Published: October 2008

Operations research and management science (OR/MS) have long been accepted as an inherent part of management studies in the US; however, the pedagogy of OR/MS in most of the Asian countries has not yet evoked the attention of Western scholars. We carried out a questionnaire survey to explore the teaching of undergraduate OR/MS in business schools in Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. The responses revealed some similarities among these four countries. In particular, less than half of the respondents indicated that OR/MS was a required course in their undergraduate curricula. They saw the two most important objectives of this course as improving students' ability to think logically and enhancing their overall quantitative skills. Among OR/MS subjects, linear programming is the major topic covered. Simulation receives insufficient attention. In addition, instructors in Asia commonly rely on example calculations and the explanation of theory.
Practice Abstract
Authors: Keefer Donald L.
Published: October 2008

A short report on “BNSF Railway implements locomotive maintenance routing system” by Michael F. Gorman, Director, Operations Research, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, 3017 Lou Menck Drive, Building B, Fort Worth, Texas 76131.
Teaching Decision Analysis
Authors: Corner James L.
Published: October 2008

In teaching decision analysis at the University of Waikato in New Zealand, I employ four techniques that appear unusual relative to what others commonly describe in the literature: (1) exploring descriptive decision processes to motivate students to use prescriptive approaches, (2) using a student-centered approach to learning, (3) incorporating cultural issues when discussing decision analysis, and (4) using computers to support teaching and learning. Many readers will have meaningful experiences to share in these areas, and I hope that this paper generates some discussion in the literature regarding such experiences.
The Easy Chair: Is It Possible to Have a Good Definitional Description of Operations Research and Management Science?
Authors: Miser Hugh J.
Published: October 2008

Discussion of a number of definitions of operations research and management science with all their pitfalls and shortcomings.
Management Science—Total Quality Management Interfaces: An Integrative Framework
Authors: Ahire Sanjay L.
Published: October 2008

Management science (MS) and total quality management (TQM) are powerful approaches to improving the operations of organizations. While MS uses quantitative techniques to yield information-based strategies for decision problems, TQM aims at improving the quality of processes to produce superior products at lower cost. Hence, MS and TQM should, in principle, be intertwined to attain efficient and cost-effective operations. However, neither researchers nor practitioners in these two fields have recognized the vital linkage. By viewing TQM from process-improvement and implementation perspectives, I establish links of prominent MS techniques, such as decision analysis, forecasting, mathematical programming, and simulation, to various facets of TQM. Applications of two important tools (linear programming and simulation) to the service operations of high customer-contact organizations illustrate these linkages. I strongly encourage organizations to systematically integrate MS techniques into TQM programs. Such efforts will result in better planning and implementation of TQM efforts.
Nortel Redefines Factory Information Technology: An OR-Driven Approach
Authors: Brinkley Paul A. , Stepto David , Haag Kristopher R. , Folger John , Wang Kui , Liou Kuanlian , Carr W. David
Published: October 2008

Nortel recruited a team of operations researchers and engineers to develop and implement an enterprise information system for Nortel's new PCS1900-cellular-equipment manufacturing operation. This system provides online access to quality, inventory, and cycle-time measurements, as well as linked analysis tools that provide real-time decision support. Production workers, managers, and engineers can access these tools through the Nortel intranet using Netscape. Inexpensive access to current factory information eliminated the costly delays formerly experienced gathering, analyzing, and transferring data. The OR specialists developed and implemented the network and decision-support system in less than one year. This marked a major shift from traditional shop-floor systems deployment within Nortel and within the industry in general and demonstrates an opportunity for OR to assume a leadership role in systems implementation in manufacturing operations.
Schedule Optimization at SNCF: From Conception to Day of Departure
Authors: Ben-Khedher Nejib , Kintanar Josephine , Queille Cecile , Stripling William
Published: October 2008

Because of the upcoming deregulation and the advent of high-speed rail networks, European passenger railroads are battling for customers among themselves and with other means of transportation. To maintain a competitive advantage, they rely on the scheduling process as a key factor in winning market share. Societé Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français (SNCF), in partnership with SABRE Technology Solutions, has developed RailPlus, a strategic schedule planning system, and RailCap, a tactical capacity-adjustment system, to meet the new challenges of the rail business. The heart of these systems is a set of advanced operations research models that enable analysts to take a global approach to decision making. The two systems combined provide 110 million francs in incremental revenue per year and substantially reduce operating costs. In addition, the two systems have become the foundation for the reorganization of SNCF/TGV.
An Integrated Labor-Management System for Taco Bell
Authors: Hueter Jackie , Swart William
Published: October 2008

Taco Bell Corporation has approximately 6,490 company-owned, licensed, and franchised locations in 50 states and a growing international market. Worldwide yearly sales are approximately $4.6 billion. In 1988, Taco Bell introduced six core-menu items for the reduced price of 59 cents and offered free drink refills. Taco Bell has since continued to change and innovate. Its new strategy meant restructuring the business to become more efficient and cost-effective. To do this, the company relied on an integrated set of operations research models, including forecasting to predict customer arrivals, simulation to determine the optimum labor required to provide desired customer service, and optimization to schedule and allocate crew members to minimize payroll. Through 1997, these models have saved over $53 million in labor costs.
The Teachers' Forum: Requiem for the Management Science Course?
Authors: Powell Stephen G.
Published: October 2008

Many observers of the management science scene believe that the traditional management science course is in serious decline in MBA programs throughout the United States. This trend, if prolonged, could reduce the number of academic jobs for OR/MS PhDs and, more important, could cause one or more generations of MBA graduates to have no appreciation of the power and scope of the management science approach. The author argues that the reason for this is in that the MBA curriculum is increasingly driven by a need to please students, who view themselves as consumers.
Error Noted in a Paper by Jacobs, Silan, and Clemson
Authors: Baki Mohammed Fazle
Published: October 2008

In the May–June 1996 issue of Interfaces, Jacobs, Silan, and Clemson present an analysis of alternative locations and service areas of American Red Cross blood facilities. The authors develop two integer-programming models. Both the models, as described, are erroneous. Counterexamples are given.
Advances in Solving the Multicommodity-Flow Problem
Authors: McBride Richard D.
Published: October 2008

The multicommodity-flow problem arises in a wide variety of important applications. Many communications, logistics, manufacturing, and transportation problems can be formulated as large multicommodity-flow problems. During the last few years researchers have made steady advances in solving extremely large multicommodity-flow problems. This improvement has been due both to algorithmic and to hardware advances. At present the primal simplex method using the basis-partitioning approach gives excellent solution times even on modest hardware. These results imply that we can now efficiently solve the extremely large multicommodity-flow models found in industry. The extreme-point solution can also be quickly reoptimized to meet the additional requirements often imposed upon the continuous solution. Currently practitioners are using EMNET, a primal basis-partitioning algorithm, to solve extremely large logistics problems with more than 600,000 constraints and 7,000,000 variables in the food industry.
Improving Generator Availability at a Western United States Electric Power Plant
Authors: Sweetser Al
Published: October 2008

On several occasions, as an operations research analyst, I have been asked to work on project teams formed to address some particular problem, even though no specific need for operations research abilities had been identified at the outset. In this case, the Public Service Company of Colorado asked me to work on a project team formed to improve the availability of a coal-fired steam generator at an electric power plant. Plant personnel had been trying unsuccessfully for several years to reduce system downtime. I recognized that the plant could make immediate improvements by reducing the duration of breakdowns rather than their frequency. The company initially estimated the payoff for these improvements at $544,000 annually, but has since revised it upward, and it may be as high as $2 million annually. The insights that produced these process improvements were possible because of the hands-on approach to problem solving taught at Colorado School of Mines.
Proctor Assignment at Carleton University
Authors: Awad Rania M. , Chinneck John W.
Published: October 2008

Carleton University needs proctors during examination sessions to oversee the students as they write their final examinations. The process of assigning proctors to examinations is quite complex because of the sheer number of examinations and various complex constraints on allowable assignments. We developed a computer-based system to replace an existing manual system for assigning proctors, freeing up valuable staff time in the overloaded scheduling office. Our system combines some problem-specific heuristics, a genetic-algorithm framework, and a simple user interface based on readily available software tools.
The US Army Relies on Decision Support Systems in Allocating Housing Resources
Authors: Forgionne Guisseppi A. , Frager Yehuda S.
Published: October 2008

Since 1991, the US Department of the Army has been using a heuristic programming model to better plan its housing construction and leasing. It obtained substantial economic and management benefits from using the original model. We enhanced the original model and developed a new delivery system to yield additional benefits.
Can Difficult-to-Reuse Syringes Reduce the Spread of HIV Among Injection Drug Users?
Authors: Caulkins Jonathan P. , Kaplan Edward H. , Lurie Peter , O'Connor Thomas , Ahn Sung-Ho
Published: October 2008

Sharing of syringes by injection drug users is a principal means by which the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is spread. Some have suggested that distributing syringes that are difficult to reuse (DTR) would slow the spread of HIV. We developed a simple mathematical model that describes how changes in the numbers of DTR syringes or regular syringes consumed over the course of a fixed number of injections affects the proportion of injections that are potentially infectious and, thus, the transmission of HIV. It suggests that increasing consumption of either type of syringe will reduce the proportion of potentially infectious injections, but that, per syringe added, the reduction is always greater if a regular rather than a DTR syringe is added. Similarly, introducing a certain number of DTR syringes and simultaneously reducing the consumption of regular syringes by the same number will increase, not decrease, the proportion of infectious injections. DTR syringes are more expensive than regular syringes, so there is little justification for substituting them for regular syringes.
OR Modeling and AIDS Policy: From Theory to Practice
Authors: Kahn James G. , Brandeau Margaret L. , Dunn-Mortimer John
Published: October 2008

The AIDS epidemic is a serious, growing public health problem worldwide, but resources for treating HIV-infected patients and for combating the spread of the virus are limited. Governments, public-health agencies, and health-care providers must determine how best to allocate scarce resources for HIV treatment and prevention among different programs and populations. OR-based models have influenced—and can influence—AIDS policy decisions. Mathematical modeling has had an effect on AIDS policy in a number of areas, including estimating HIV prevalence and incidence in the United States, understanding the pathophysiology of HIV, evaluating costs and benefits of HIV-screening programs, evaluating the effects of needle-exchange programs, and determining policies for HIV/AIDS care in California. Further work is needed to model a range of programs using comparable methods, to model overall epidemic control strategy, and to improve the usefulness of OR-based models for policy making.
The Cost-Effectiveness of Preventing Cytomegalovirus Disease in AIDS Patients
Authors: Paltiel A. David , Freedberg Kenneth A.
Published: October 2008

To examine the costs and consequences of prophylaxis against cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection, we developed a compartmental model of the natural history of late-stage HIV disease. We used data on the progression of illness, economic costs, the incidence of infections, the efficacy and toxicity of therapy, and patient quality of life from national cohort studies, randomized clinical trials, and resource-utilization surveys. We found that CMV prophylaxis confers additional quality-adjusted life-years at a lower-bound, marginal cost of $160,000. While this cost-effectiveness result compares unfavorably with alternative uses of scarce resources, it is sensitive to assumptions regarding the price of therapy and the incidence of infection.
Effect of Relapse to High-Risk Behavior on the Costs and Benefits of a Program to Screen Women for Human Immunodeficiency Virus
Authors: Owens Douglas K. , Brandeau Margaret L. , Sox Carol H.
Published: October 2008

We carried out an analysis to determine the effect of women's relapse to high-risk sexual and needle-sharing behavior on the costs and benefits of a voluntary program to screen women of childbearing age for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The analysis is based on a dynamic model of the HIV epidemic, combined with an economic model that assesses costs and benefits of such a program. We find that, for women with high prescreening levels of high-risk behavior, even small and short-lived reductions in sexual or needle-sharing high-risk behaviors in response to counseling and testing can produce benefits that outweigh costs. The effect of relapse to high-risk behaviors on screening program costs and benefits can be substantial, and this effect is most notable in screening programs that reach women of all risk groups. Behavioral interventions that produce sustained reductions in risk behavior could be cost saving even if the interventions were expensive.
The Ombudsman: Reaction to Armstrong's “Management Folklore and Management Science”
Authors: Miser Hugh J.
Published: October 2008

In the July–August 1996 issue of Interfaces, “The Ombudsman” column consisted of an article by J. Scott Armstrong, which dealt primarily with the difficulties that academics face in getting papers published describing findings that are controversial or that contradict management folklore, and comments by three other authors, each of whom had similar difficulties with controversial work of their own, yet each of whom took a different perspective on the issue.
Repairing Misbehaving Mathematical Programming Models: Concepts and a GAMS-Based Approach
Authors: McCarl Bruce A.
Published: October 2008

Mathematical-programming formulations can yield faulty answers. Models can be unbounded, infeasible, or optimal with unrealistic answers. I develop techniques for screening mathematical-programming formulations for structural problems pre- and postsolution. The presolution approaches identify problems within single variables and constraints. The postsolution techniques may require model augmentation and rely on theory-based examination of primal and dual solutions. I demonstrate these approaches in the context of linear programming and have computerized them in association with GAMS. They are freely distributed through a web page.
Book Reviews
Authors: Lev Benjamin
Published: October 2008

Armistead, Colin and Rowland, Philip 1996, Managing Business Processes: BPR and Beyond, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 362 pp., $42.00—reviewed by Belarmino Adenso-Díaz

Kanji, Gopal K. and Asher, Mike 1996, 100 Methods for Total Quality Management, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, California, 237 pp., $25.95—reviewed by Jack S. Cook

Winkelmann, Rainer 1997, Econometric Analysis of Count Data, second edition, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Germany, 193 pp., $99.95—reviewed by Alan Rimm-Kaufman

Glover, Fred and Laguna, Manuel 1997, Tabu Search, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 382 pp., $160.00—reviewed by Belarmino Adenso-Díaz

Enright, Donald J. 1995, Queueing Analysis: The Pseudo State Model, Texas Queueing Software, Austin, Texas, xii + 287 pp., $47.00—reviewed by J. Ben Atkinson
Minnesota's Nutrition Coordinating Center Uses Mathematical Optimization to Estimate Food Nutrient Values
Authors: Westrich Brian J. , Altmann Michael A. , Potthoff Sandra J.
Published: October 2008

We developed, evaluated, and deployed computer software that uses mathematical optimization rather than trial-and-error methods to estimate the nutrient content of commercial food products. Linear programming (LP) and quadratic programming (QP) optimization methods were evaluated by comparing nutrient values estimated for 31 commercial products with known values for these nutrients. The optimization software was able to estimate nutrient values four times faster than conventional methods with the same degree of accuracy, although the QP method was slightly slower than LP. Nutritionists found the software easy to learn and use. The Nutrition Coordinating Center at the University of Minnesota now uses the LP version of the software as a decision support tool to maintain a food composition database.
Optimal Sequential Decisions and the Content of the Fourth-and-Goal Conference
Authors: Hurley W. J.
Published: October 2008

During fourth-and-goal conferences toward the end of very close football games, teams sometimes decide whether to kick a field goal or try for a touchdown. Such conferences should never involve this subject matter.
Applying GIS and OR Techniques to Solve Sears Technician-Dispatching and Home Delivery Problems
Authors: Weigel Don , Cao Buyang
Published: October 2008

Sears, Roebuck and Company uses a vehicle-routing-and-scheduling system based on a geographic information system to run its delivery and home service fleets more efficiently. Although the problems to be solved can be modeled as vehicle-routing problems with time windows (VRPTW), the size of the problems and thus practical complexity make these problems of both theoretical and practical interest. We constructed a series of algorithms, including the algorithm to build the origin-and-destination matrix, the algorithm to assign resources, and algorithms to perform sequencing and route improvement. The combination of GIS and OR techniques makes the system quite efficient. The system has improved the Sears technician-dispatching and home-delivery business; resulting in over $9 million in one-time savings and over $42 million in annual savings. The success of this application also suggests a promising link between GIS and OR techniques.
Robust Process Control at Cerestar's Refineries
Authors: Rajaram Kumar , Jaikumar R. , Behlau Franz , van Esch Frans , Heynen Corrie , Kaiser Ralph , Kuttner Albert , van de Wege Izaak
Published: October 2008

With annual sales of over $2 billion, Cerestar is Europe's leading manufacturer of made-to-order wheat- and corn-based starch products. Cerestar relies on refineries that are highly automated and require large fixed investments. Starting in 1993, we developed Robust Process Control (RPC) to increase average throughput and reduce throughput variation by combining engineering principles with OR/MS techniques. RPC includes a mathematical-programming model to reduce downtimes due to product switchovers, models for process optimization, and dynamic control models for process-flow synchronization. Cerestar implemented the resulting decision support system at eight refineries in six countries. It has increased average daily throughputs by 20 percent and reduced average throughput variation by 50 percent. Concomitantly, the refineries have reduced their consumption of supplies and utilities. In addition to over $11 million in annual benefits, RPC has had major strategic and organizational impact.
Integrated Planning for School and Community: The Case of Johnston County, North Carolina
Authors: Taylor Raymond G. , Vasu Michael L. , Causby James F.
Published: October 2008

OR/Ed Laboratories and the Johnston County schools created a planning system, Integrated Planning for School and Community, to forecast enrollments, to compare the enrollment projections to capacity, to find the optimal locations for new school buildings, and to set distance-minimized boundaries for all schools to avoid overcrowding and to meet racial balance guidelines. Implementing the system has increased the school district's success in passing bond issues, reduced pupil-transportation costs, and eliminated frequent adjustments to school-attendance boundaries.
Just Modeling Through: A Rough Guide to Modeling
Authors: Pidd Michael
Published: October 2008

Skill in modeling is one of the keys to success in OR/MS practice. This has been recognized for many years, but we often give it only lip service. Models are used in many ways in OR/MS practice. A few simple principles of modeling may be useful. The six principles discussed here cover simplicity versus complexity; model development as a gradual, almost piecemeal process; dividing larger models into smaller components; using analogies; proper uses of data; and finally the way in which the modeling process can seem chaotic. Others may wish to comment on these principles and add their own.