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Contents
Introduction
Origin Phases and Process Techniques Advantages Applications
Introduction
Today, almost every large organization or corporation in
developed nations as well as to some extent in developing countries has executive applying operations research, and in government the use of operations research has spread from military to widely varied departments at all levels.
India was one of the first few countries who started using
OR. In 1949, the first OR unit was established in the Regional Research Laboratory at Hyderabad. ALL THE BEST for this wonderful Journey.
ORIGIN
The ambiguous term Operations Research (OR) was
coined during world war II, when the British Military Management called upon a group of scientists together to apply a scientific approach to the study of military operations to win the battle. Operations Research originated in Great Britain during World War II(1940s) to bring mathematical or quantitative approaches to bear on military operations. The main objective was to allocate the scarce resources in an effective manner to the various military operations and to the activities within each operation. The effectiveness of operations research in military spread in it to other government department and industry. Due to the availability of faster and flexible computing facilities and the no. of qualified O.R. professionals, it is now widely used in military, business, industry, transportation, public health etc.
INTRODUCTION
It is concerned with co-ordinating and
controlling the operations or activities within the organization. O.R. can be regarded as the mathematical and quantitative techniques to substantiate the decisions being taken. O.R. takes tool from subjects like statistics, mathematics, engineering, economics, psychology etc. and uses them to know the consequences of possible alternative actions. Operations research (OR) is a discipline explicitly devoted to aiding decision makers.
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OPERATIONS
The activities carried out in an organization related to attaining its goals and objectives.
RESEARCH
The process of observation and testing characterized by the scientific method. The steps of the process include observing the situation and formulating a problem statement, constructing a mathematical model, hypothesizing that the model represents the important aspects of the situation, and validating the model through experimentation.
ORGANIZATION
The society in which the problem arises or for which the solution is important. The organization may be a corporation, a branch of government, a department within a firm, a group of employees, or perhaps even a household or individual.
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DECISION MAKER
An individual or group in the organization capable of proposing and implementing necessary actions.
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DEFINITIONS
OR is a scientific method of providing
executive departments with a quantitative basis for decisions regarding the operations under their control. Morse & Kimball Operations research is a scientific approach to problem solving for executive management. H.M. Wagner Operations research is an aid for the executive in making this decisions by providing him with the needed quantitative information based on the scientific method of analysis. C. Kittel
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Use of models
Require willing executives Reduces complexity
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subsystem
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Operational problem is analyzed in detail. The problem is broken into small units. This is presented graphically.
factors.
cluster of major subsystems. Then ask where one should expect modifications to produce the greatest positive impact on outputs.
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solutions to the operational problem. These are usually stated in terms of system efficiency that is conservation of inputs and maximization of outputs. Fixed inputs with maximum outputs. Minimum inputs with maximum outputs.
role in determining how a system functions and are also within the control of the system manager. Amount of ORS packets Training methods Factors that limit the the practical range of one or more decision variables are called constraints. Socio-economic, ethnicity, occupation,
Cost-analysis
Quasi-experimental
refinements of inputs
Integrating the solution within the system
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The OR Process
Combining the steps we obtain the complete OR
process. In practice, the process may not be well defined and the steps may not be executed in a strict order. Rather there are many loops in the process, with experimentation and observation at each step suggesting modifications to decisions made earlier. The process rarely terminates with all the loose ends tied up. Work continues after a solution is proposed and implemented. Parameters and conditions change over time requiring a constant review of the solution and a continuing repetition of portions of the process.
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O.R. APPROACH
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TECHNIQUES OF OR(1)
Linear programming- It has been used to solve problems
involving assignment of jobs to machines, blending, product mix, advertising media selection, least cost diet, distribution, transportation and many others.
Dynamic programming- It has been applied to capital
budgeting, selection of advertising media, cargo loading and optimal routing problems.
Waiting line or queuing theory- It has been useful to solve
problems of traffic congestion, repair and maintenance of broken-down machines, number of service facilities, scheduling and control of air-traffic, hospital operations, counter in banks and railway booking agencies.
Inventory control / planning- These models have been used
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to determine economic order quantities, safety stocks, reorder levels, minimum and maximum stock level.
TECHNIQUES OF OR(2)
Decision
theory- It has been helpful in controlling hurricuanes, water pollution, medicine, space exploration, research and development projects.
been used in planning, scheduling and controlling construction of dams, brides, roads and highways and development & production of aircrafts, ships, computers etc.
Simulation-
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determine the optimum replacement interval for three types of replacement problems: i) Items that deteriorate with time. ii) Items that do not deteriorate with time but fail suddenly. iii) Staff replacement and recruitment.
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described in very vague terms. Therefore, a mostimportant step in a scientific or quantitative analysis of a problem is to formulate a model that adequately captures the essence of a problem. The result of such a formulation, or an abstraction, is called a mathematical optimization model. Generally speaking, a mathematical optimization model has the following typical components: a set of decision variables an objective function, expressed in terms of the decision variables, that is to be minimized or maximized a set of constraints that limit the possible values of the decision variables
ADVANTAGES
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Provides a tool for scientific analysis. Provides solution for various business problems. Enables proper deployment of resources. Helps in minimizing waiting and servicing costs. Enables the management to decide when to buy and how much to buy? Assists in choosing an optimum strategy. Renders great help in optimum resource allocation. Facilitates the process of decision making. Management can know the reactions of the integrated business systems. Helps a lot in the preparation of future managers.
LIMITATIONS
The inherent limitations concerning mathematical
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expressions High costs are involved in the use of O.R. techniques O.R. does not take into consideration the intangible factors O.R. is only a tool of analysis and not the complete decision-making process Other limitations Bias Inadequate objective functions Internal resistance Competence Reliability of the prepared solution
Application Fields
Industry
Defense
Planning Agriculture Public utilities
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