From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Operations research
Operations Research (OR) in the USA,
Canada, South Africa and Australia, and
Operational Research in Europe, is an in-
terdisciplinary branch of applied mathemat-
ics and formal science that uses methods
such as mathematical modeling, statistics,
and algorithms to arrive at optimal or near
optimal solutions to complex problems. It is
typically concerned with optimizing the max-
ima (profit, assembly line performance, crop
yield, bandwidth, etc) or minima (loss, risk,
etc.) of some objective function. Operations
research helps management achieve its goals
using scientific methods.
Model of Operation research study, based on
Stafford Beer (1959).[1]
Overview
The terms operations research and manage-
ment science are often used synonymously.
When a distinction is drawn, management
science generally implies a closer relation-
ship to the problems of business manage-
ment. The field of operations research is
closely related to Industrial engineering. In-
dustrial engineers typically consider Opera-
tions Research (OR) techniques to be a major
part of their toolset.
Some of the primary tools used by opera-
tions researchers are statistics, optimization,
probability theory, queuing theory, game the-
ory, graph theory, decision analysis, and sim-
ulation. Because of the computational nature
of these fields, OR also has ties to computer
science, and operations researchers use
custom-written and off-the-shelf software.
Operations research is distinguished by its
frequent use to examine an entire manage-
ment information system, rather than con-
centrating only on specific elements (though
this is often done as well). An operations re-
searcher faced with a new problem is
1
Operations research
expected to determine which techniques are
most appropriate given the nature of the sys-
tem, the goals for improvement, and con-
straints on time and computing power. For
this and other reasons, the human element of
OR is vital. Like any other tools, OR tech-
niques cannot solve problems by themselves.
History
Some say that Charles Babbage (1791-1871)
is the "father of operations research" because
his research into the cost of transportation
and sorting of mail led to England’s universal
"Penny Post" in 1840, and studies into the dy-
namical behaviour of railway vehicles in de-
fence of the GWR’s broad gauge.[2] The mod-
ern field of operations research arose during
World War II.
Modern operations research originated at
the Bawdsey Research Station in the UK in
1937 and was the result of an initiative of the
station’s superintendent, A. P. Rowe. Rowe
conceived the idea as a means to analyse and
improve the working of the UK’s early warn-
ing radar system, Chain Home (CH). Initially,
he analyzed the operating of the radar equip-
ment and its communication networks, ex-
panding later to include the operating per-
sonnel’s behaviour. This revealed unappreci-
ated limitations of the CH network and al-
lowed remedial action to be taken. [3]
Scientists in the United Kingdom includ-
ing Patrick Blackett, Cecil Gordon, C. H.
Waddington, Owen Wansbrough-Jones and
Frank Yates, and in the United States with
George Dantzig looked for ways to make bet-
ter decisions in such areas as logistics and
training schedules. After the war it began to
be applied to similar problems in industry.
World War II
Blackett’s team undertook a number of cru-
cial analyses that aided the war effort. Bri-
tain introduced the convoy system to reduce
shipping losses, but while the principle of us-
ing warships to accompany merchant ships
was generally accepted, it was unclear
whether it was better for convoys to be small
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Patrick Blackett.
or large. Convoys travel at the speed of the
slowest member, so small convoys can travel
faster. It was also argued that small convoys
would be harder for German U-boats to de-
tect. On the other hand, large convoys could
deploy more warships against an attacker.
Blackett’s staff showed that the losses
suffered by convoys depended largely on the
number of escort vessels present, rather than
on the overall size of the convoy. Their con-
clusion, therefore, was that a few large con-
voys are more defensible than many small
ones.[3]
In another piece of work, Blackett’s team
analysed a report of a survey carried out by
RAF Bomber Command. For the survey,
Bomber Command inspected all bombers re-
turning from bombing raids over Germany
over a particular period. All damage inflicted
by German air defenses was noted and the
recommendation was given that armour be
added in the most heavily damaged areas.
Their suggestion to remove some of the crew
so that an aircraft loss would result in fewer
personnel loss was rejected by RAF com-
mand. Blackett’s team instead made the sur-
prising and counter-intuitive
2
Operations research
recommendation that the armour be placed
in the areas which were completely un-
touched by damage in the bombers which re-
turned. They reasoned that the survey was
biased, since it only included aircraft that re-
turned to Britain. The untouched areas of re-
turning aircraft were probably vital areas,
which, if hit, would result in the loss of the
aircraft.
Map of Kammhuber Line
When Germany organised its air defences
into the Kammhuber Line, it was realised
that if the RAF bombers were to fly in a
bomber stream they could overwhelm the
night fighters who flew in individual cells dir-
ected to their targets by ground controllers.
It was then a matter of calculating the statist-
ical loss from collisions against the statistical
loss from night fighters to calculate how
close the bombers should fly to minimise RAF
losses.[4]
The "exchange rate" ratio of output to in-
put was a characteristic feature of operations
research. By comparing the number of flying
hours put in by Allied aircraft to the number
of U-boat sightings in a given area, it was
possible to redistribute aircraft to more pro-
ductive patrol areas. Comparison of ex-
change rates established "effectiveness
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Operations research

ratios" useful in planning. The ratio of 60 The influence of systems analysis on the
mines laid per ship sunk was common to sev- Vietnam war is debated by scholars. Van
eral campaigns: German mines in British Creveld, in ’Command at War’ argues that
ports, British mines on German routes, and the influence has been exaggerated, but on
United States mines in Japanese routes.[5] the other hand, it ’did help create the inform-
Operations research doubled the success ation pathologies’ in the war and ’made no
rate of aerial attacks on submarines by re- small contribution to its outcome’[6]
commending a shallower detonation setting
on the depth charges being dropped by air-
craft. The depth charges had previously been
Scope of operations
set to detonate at the depth where the shock research
of the explosion would be most efficiently
Examples of applications in which operations
transferred through the water, but submar-
research is currently used include:
ines were unable to reach that depth in the
• critical path analysis or project planning:
limited time available after being spotted by
identifying those processes in a complex
the aircraft. Shallower detonation depth set-
project which affect the overall duration of
tings reduced the distance of the detonation
the project
from the submarine: a close detonation with
• designing the layout of a factory for
lower shock transmission efficiency was more
efficient flow of materials
destructive than a more distant detonation
• constructing a telecommunications
with better transmission.[5]
network at low cost while still
Operations research doubled the on-target
guaranteeing QoS (quality of service) or
bomb rate of B-29s bombing Japan from the
QoE (Quality of Experience) if particular
Marianas Islands by increasing the training
connections become very busy or get
ratio from 4 to 10 percent of flying hours; re-
damaged
vealed that wolf-packs of three United States
• road traffic management and ’one way’
submarines were the most effective number
street allocations i.e. allocation problems.
to enable all members of the pack to engage
• determining the routes of school buses (or
targets discovered on their individual patrol
city buses) so that as few buses are
stations; revealed that glossy enamel paint
needed as possible
was more effective camouflage for night
• designing the layout of a computer chip to
fighters than traditional dull camouflage
reduce manufacturing time (therefore
paint finish, and the smooth paint finish in-
reducing cost)
creased airspeed by reducing skin friction.[5]
• managing the flow of raw materials and
On land, the operational research sections
products in a supply chain based on
of the Army Operational Research Group
uncertain demand for the finished
(AORG) of the Ministry of Supply were
products
landed in Normandy in 1944, and they fol-
• efficient messaging and customer
lowed British forces in the advance across
response tactics
Europe. They analysed, among other topics,
• robotizing or automating human-driven
the effectiveness of artillery, aerial bombing,
operations processes
and anti-tank shooting.
• globalizing operations processes in order
to take advantage of cheaper materials,
After World War II
labor, land or other productivity inputs
After World War II, military operational re- • managing freight transportation and
search in the United Kingdom became known delivery systems (Examples: LTL
as "operational analysis" (OA) within the UK Shipping, intermodal freight transport)
Ministry of Defence, where OR stands for • scheduling:
"Operational Requirement". With expanded • personnel staffing
techniques and growing awareness, military • manufacturing steps
OR or OA was no longer limited to only oper- • project tasks
ations, but was extended to encompass • network data traffic: these are known
equipment procurement, training, logistics as queueing models or queueing
and infrastructure. systems.
Vietnam

3
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• sports events and their television
coverage
• blending of raw materials in oil refineries
• determining optimal prices, in many retail
and B2B settings, within the disciplines of
pricing science
Operations research is also used extensively
in government where evidence-based policy
is used.
Societies and journals
The International Federation of Operational
Research Societies[7] is an umbrella organiz-
ation for operations research societies world-
wide. Significant among these are:
• Institute for Operations Research and the
Management Sciences (INFORMS)[8]
• The Operational Research Society.[9]
• EURO is the association of European
Operational Research Societies.[10]
• CORS is the Canadian Operational
Research Society.[11]
• ASOR is the Australian Society for
Operations Research.[12]
• MORS is the Military Operations Research
Society[13]: based in the United States
since 1966 with the objective of enhancing
the quality and usefulness of military
operations research analysis in support of
defense decisions. (MORS)[14]
• ORSNZ is the Operations Research
Society of New Zealand.[15]
• ORSP is the Operations Research Society
of the Philippines[16]
• ORSI the Operational Research Society of
India,[17] and
• ORSSA the Operations Research Society
of South Africa.[18]
Other important Operations Research organ-
izations are:
• Simulation Interoperability Standards
Organization (SISO) [19]
• Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation
and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) [20]
In 2004 INFORMS began an initiative to mar-
ket the OR profession better, including a
website entitled The Science of Better[21]
which provides an introduction to OR and ex-
amples of successful applications of OR to in-
dustrial problems.
Journals
INFORMS publishes twelve scholarly journ-
als about operations research, including the
top two journals in their class, according to
2005 Journal Citation Reports.[22] They are:
4
Operations research
• Decision Analysis
• Information Systems Research
• INFORMS Journal on Computing
• INFORMS Transactions on Education (an
open access journal)
• Interfaces: An International Journal of the
Institute for Operations Research and the
Management Sciences
• Management Science: A Journal of the
Institute for Operations Research and the
Management Sciences
• Manufacturing & Service Operations
Management
• Marketing Science
• Mathematics of Operations Research
• Operations Research: A Journal of the
Institute for Operations Research and the
Management Sciences
• Organization Science
• Transportation Science.
Other journals
• European Journal of Operational Research
(EJOR): Founded in 1975 and is presently
by far the largest operational research
journal in the world, with its around 9,000
pages of published papers per year. In
2004, its total number of citations was the
second largest amongst Operational
Research and Management Science
journals;
• INFOR Journal: published and sponsored
by the Canadian Operational Research
Society;
• Journal of Defense Modeling and
Simulation (JDMS): Applications,
Methodology, Technology: a quarterly
journal devoted to advancing the science
of modeling and simulation as it relates to
the military and defense.[23]
• Journal of the Operational Research
Society (JORS): an official journal of The
OR Society;[24]
• Journal of Simulation (JOS): an official
journal of The OR Society;[25]
• Military Operations Research (MOR):
published by the Military Operations
Research Society;
• Opsearch: official journal of the
Operational Research Society of India;
• OR Insight: a quarterly journal of The OR
Society;[26]
• TOP: the official journal of the Spanish
Society of Statistics and Operations
Research.[27]
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Operations research

See also • Wayne Winston, Operations Research:

Applications and Algorithms, Duxbury
Operation Operation Related fields Press; 4th. Edition, 2003
research researchers • Database
topics
• Assignment
• Operations normalization
researcher • Industrial
References
problem category Engineering[1] Stafford Beer (1959). Cybernetic and
• Decision • Russell L. • Industrial Management. English Universities Press.
Analysis Ackoff organization[2] M.S. Sodhi, "What about the ’O’ in O.R.?"
• Dynamic • Anthony • Management OR/MS Today, December, 2007, p. 12,
programming Stafford science http://www.lionhrtpub.com/orms/
• Linear Beer • Managerial orms-12-07/frqed.html
programming • Alfred economics [3] "Numbers are Essential": Victory in the
• Inventory Blumstein • Military North Atlantic Reconsidered, March-May
theory • C. West simulation 1943
• Optimal Churchman • Modeling &[4] [1]
Maintenance • George Simulation [5] ^ Milkman, Raymond H. (May 1968).
• Optimization Dantzig • Search Based Operations Research in World War II.
• Real options • Richard Software United States Naval Institute
analysis Karp Engineering Proceedings.
• Scheduling • Frederick • Simulation [6] Van Creveld, Command at War, p 241
• Stochastic W. • System [7] IFORS
processes Lanchester Dynamics [8] INFORMS
• Systems • Thomas L. • System [9] The OR Society
analysis Magnanti Safety [10] EURO
• Systems • Alvin E. • Systems [11] CORS
thinking Roth theory [12] ASOR
• Wargaming [13] MORS
[14] [2]
[15] ORSNZ
Further reading [16] ORSP
• C. West Churchman, Russell L. Ackoff & [17] ORSI
E. L. Arnoff, Introduction to Operations [18] ORSSA
Research, New York: J. Wiley and Sons, [19] SISO
1957 [20] I/ITSEC
• Joseph G. Ecker & Michael Kupferschmid, [21] The Science of Better
Introduction to Operations Research, [22] INFORMS Journals
Krieger Publishing Co. [23] JDMS
• Frederick S. Hillier & Gerald J. [24] The OR Society;
Lieberman, Introduction to Operations [25] The OR Society;
Research, McGraw-Hill: Boston MA; 8th. [26] The OR Society;
(International) Edition, 2005 [27] TOP
• Maurice W. Kirby, Operational Research
in War and Peace, Imperial College Press,
London, 2003
External links
• Michael Pidd, Tools for Thinking: • INFORMS OR/MS Resource Collection: a
Modelling in Management Science, J. comprehensive set of OR links.
Wiley & Sons Ltd., Chichester; 2nd. • International Federation of Operational
Edition, 2003 Research Societies
• Hamdy A. Taha, Operations Research: An
Introduction, Prentice Hall; 8th. Edition,
2006

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Operations research

Categories: Applied mathematics, Formal sciences, Operations research, Mathematical optim-

ization, Management, Mathematical science occupations, Fields of application of statistics

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