Operations Research Operations Research In Context

The terms operations research and management science are often used synonymously. When a distinction is drawn, management science generally implies a closer relationship to the problems of business management.

Operations research also closely relates to industrial engineering. Industrial engineering takes more of an engineering point of view, and industrial engineers typically consider OR techniques to be a major part of their toolset.

Operations research is distinguished by its ability to look at and improve an entire systemFor the Macintosh operating system, which was called System up to version 7. 5, see Mac OS. A system is an assemblage of inter-related elements comprising a unified whole. From the Latin and Greek, the term "system" meant to combine, to set up, to place t, rather than concentrating only on specific elements (though this is often done as well). An operations researcher faced with a new problem is expected to determine which techniques are most appropriate given the nature of the system, the goals for improvement, and constraints on time and computing power. For this and other reasons, the human element of OR is vital. Like any tools, OR techniques cannot solve problems by themselves.

2 Areas of application

A few examples of applications in which operations research is currently used include the following:

3 Professional societies

The International Federation of Operational Research Societies (IFORS) is an umbrella organizationAn umbrella organization is an association of (often related, industry specific) institutions, who work together formally to coordinate activities or pool resources. In business, political, or other environments, one group, the umbrella organization, prov for operations research societies worldwide. Significant among these are the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) and the Operational Research Society (ORSOC). EURO is the association of European Operational Research Societies (EURO). ASOR is the Australian Society for Operations Research (ASOR).

In 2004, INFORMS began an initiative to better market the OR profession, including a website entitled The Science of Better, which provides an introduction to OR and examples of successful applications of OR to industrial problems.

4 Origins and the name

Although foundations were laid earlier, the field of operations research as we know it arose during World War IIWorld War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the world's nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. The war was fough, as military planners in the United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a state in Western Europe, usually known simply as the United Kingdom the UK Britain or less accurately as Great Britain . The UK was formed by a series of Acts of Union which united the formerly (including Frederick LanchesterFrederick William Lanchester ( October 23, 1868 March 8, 1946) was an English polymath and engineer who made important contributions to automotive engineering, aerodynamics and invented the field of operations research. He also has claim to building the f, Patrick Blackett and Frank Yates) and in the United States looked for ways to make better decisions in such areas as logistics and training schedules. After the war it began to be applied to similar problems in industry.

It is known as "operational research" in the United Kingdom ("operational analysis" within the UK military and Ministry of Defence) and as "operations research" in most other English-speaking countries, though OR is a common abbreviation everywhere. The name is somewhat unfortunate, since OR is no longer concerned only with operations, nor does its application involve any research in the traditional sense (though OR research is still carried out to find new or better techniques).

5 Examples

Blackett's team made a number of crucial analyses which aided the war effort. Britain introduced the convoy system to reduce shipping losses, but while the principle of using warships to accompany merchant ships was generally accepted, it was unclear whether it was better for convoys to be small 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 detect. On the other hand, large convoys could deploy more warships against an attacker and also the proportion of merchant ships sunk by a U-boat would be lower. Blackett's staff clearly showed that:

large convoys were more efficient
the probability of detection by U-boat was statistically unrelated to the size of the convoy
slow convoys were at greater risk (though considered overall, large convoys were still to be preferred)

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 returning from bombing raids over Germany over a particular period. All damage inflicted by German air defences was noted and the recommendation was given that armour be added in the most heavily damaged areas. Blackett's team instead made the surprising recommendation that the armour be placed in the areas which were completely untouched by damage, according to the survey. They reasoned that the survey was biased, since it only included aircraft that successfully came back from Germany. The untouched areas were probably vital areas, which if hit would result in the loss of the aircraft.

6 See also

7 Finding related topics

8 External links

INFORMS OR/MS Resource Collection (a comprehensive set of OR links)
Operations Research: The Science of Better (marketing initiative by INFORMS)
Mastering Simulation: Online Course
Operation everything "A primer on the most influential academic discipline you've never heard of" by Virginia Postrel.

Applied mathematics Operations research Optimization Sociology

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1 Operations research in context