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PUBLICATIONS
While
the semester is coming to a close, we are often surrounded by thoughts of
implementation of our methodologies. Two of the chosen publications for this
edition, provide some guidance in this direction. These articles provide valuable
insight regarding the many facets of successful practice of OR professionals.
We have also chosen
a third article, focused on a simulation optimization of a response surface.
This article was chosen for inclusion in ORMS Tomorrow as it employs several
different OR techniques that many of us will encounter as we move towards the
path of graduation...
Lessons for Success in OR/MS Practice Gained from Experiences
in Indian and US Steel Plants
GOUTAM DUTTA Indian Institute of Management
Ahmedabad,India 380015
Abstract
I
worked on modeling integrated steel plants in India (as an analyst)and in the
USA (as a doctoral student).The following factors influence the success of OR/MS
practice: positioning the OR/MS team in operations, not in research and development;
selecting the right problems;emphasizing problem solving, not model building;learning
from failures;the right academic and practical training; and experience working
on the shopfloor of a factory. Universities should teach OR as research into
operations and emphasize the process of implementation.
Full
Article
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Copyright
2000 INFORMS 0092-2102/00/3005/0023/$05.00 1526 –551X electronic ISSN INDUSTRIES
—MINING/METALS PROFESSIONAL —OR/MS IMPLEMENTATION
This
paper was referee:INTERFACES 30:5 September –October 2000 (pp.23 –30).
- Internal OR Consulting:Effective Practice in a Changing
Environment
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ROBERT
FILDES Department of Management Science Lancaster
University Lancaster,United Kingdom LA1 4YX
- JOHN
RANYARD Department of Management Science Lancaster
University
Abstract
- Around
1970 some 96 percent of the largest Fortune-500 companies had established
OR groups. The recessions of the ’70s and ’80s led many to close their groups.
In 1993,the UK OR Society,disturbed by further closures,funded a study to
identify factors that influenced the success and survival of internal OR
groups. The study team found three categories of factors: changes in the
external environment,in the organization,and in the OR group ’s management.
This research shows that to be effective, an OR group needs good consulting
skills, expert project management, active marketing of its services, and
responsiveness to changes in its clients’ requirements and in the surrounding
organizational culture.
Full
Article
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Copyright
2000 INFORMS 0092-2102/00/3005/0034/$05.00 1526 –551X electronic ISSN
PROFESSIONAL —OR/MS IMPLEMENTATION ORGANIZATIONAL STUDIES —EFFECTIVENESS,PERFORMANCE
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This
paper was referee:INTERFACES 30:5 September –October 2000 (pp.34 –50).
TOP
Abstract
We
develop a variant of the Nelder-Mead (NM) simplex search procedure for stochastic
simulation optimization that is designed to avoid many of the weaknesses encumbering
similar direct-search methods-in particular, excessive sensitivity to starting
values, premature termination at a local optimum, lack of robustness against
noisy responses, and computational inefficiency. The Revised Simplex Search
(RSS) procedure consists of a three-phase application of the NM method in which:
(a) the ending values for one phase become the starting values for the next
phase; (b) the step size for the initial simplex (respectively, the shrink coefficient)
decreases geometrically (respectively, increases linearly) over successive phases;
and (c) the final estimated optimum is the best of the ending values for the
three phases. To compare RSS versus NM and procedure RS_S9 due to Barton and
Ivey, we summarize a simulation study based on four selected performance measures
computed for six test problems that include additive white-noise error, with
three levels of problem dimensionality and noise variability used in each problem.
In the selected test problems, RSS yielded significantly more accurate estimates
of the optimum than NM or RS_S9, and both RSS and RS_S9 required roughly four
times as many function evaluations as NM. .
Full
Article
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INFORMS
Journal on Computing 0899-1499 100 1204-0272 $05.00 Vol. 12, No. 4,
Fall 2000 © 2000 INFORMS
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Last Updated: March 21, 2001
