Operations Research is a field of Mathematics that deals with obtaining efficient methods or obtaining better solutions in real-life problems using calculations. Most of the research in this field was motivated by some real-life problem.
The problems are not only limited to industries, but can also be a small day-to-day problem, such as minimizing travel time from home to work or trying to optimize your phone calls to minimize bills or on a large scale as for an industry: price a product depending on the demand and popularity it has in the market.
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Interestingly, this branch started around the time of World War II when operations research was used to predict enemy movements and plan strategies. This comes under a sub-branch called Decision Analysis and Game Theory.
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In this article you will find:
Operations investigation process
The operations investigation process can be broadly divided into the following steps:
- Identify a problem that needs to be solved.
- Build a model around the problem that resembles the real world and the variables.
- Use the model to derive solutions to the problem.
- Test each solution in the model and analyze its success.
- Implementing the solution to the real problem.
- Disciplines that are similar to or overlap with operations research include analytics statistician, management science, game theory, optimization theory, artificial intelligence and network analysis. All of these techniques are aimed at solving complex problems and improving quantitative decisions.
Importance and uses
Operations research can be applied to a variety of use cases, including:
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- Scheduling and time management.
- Urban and agricultural planning.
- Enterprise resource planning (ERP) and supply chain management (SCM).
- Inventory management.
- Network engineering and optimization.
- Packet routing optimization.
- Risk management.
The field of operations research provides a more powerful approach to decision making than ordinary software and data analysis tools.
By employing operations research within an organization, you can help make data sets more complete. It also helps to consider all the available options in a problem, predict the results and estimate the risk to take.
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This is the main importance, where in addition, operations research can be adapted in specific commercial processes or what would be the use cases to reach an agreement or know what would be the most appropriate techniques to solve said trouble.
Operations Research Models
The models for operations research are as follows:
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- Allocation models
- Replacement Models
- Theory of tails
- Network Models
- Game theory
- Inventory Models
- Markov models
- Job sequencing models
- Simulation models
- Distribution models
Assignment Models
These models are related to the allocation of available resources to maximize profits or minimize losses subject to existing and anticipated limitations. The methods used to solve assignment models are as follows:
- Linear programming problems
- Assignment problems
- Transportation problems
Theory of tails
This model is used to forecast the following:
- How much average time will the customer spend waiting in line?
- What will be the standard length of the tail?
- What can be the utilization factor of a queuing system?
This model allows reducing the sum of the costs of providing the service and the cost of obtaining the service, linked to the value of the time spent by the customer in a queue.
Game theory (competitive strategy models)
These models are generally used to decide the behavior of decision-making in situations of conflict or competition. The methods for solving such models are not considered suitable for industrial practices. mainly because they are destined for an idealistic world that neglects many necessary characteristics of reality.
Inventory models (production)
These models are related to the search for the best order quantity and order production intervals considering factors such as cost ordering, demand per unit of time, costs related to goods held in inventory and shortage cost of goods, etc.
Replacement Models
These models try to find the best time to compensate a team in situations that arise when some elements or machinery require replacement by a scientific advance or a new one or deterioration due to wear, accidents, etc. The principles of individual and group replacement can be used in case of such equipment that fails completely instantly.
Job sequencing models
These models include the selection of a sequence to carry out a series of jobs to be carried out on machines that maximizes the measure of the system's operating efficiency.
Network Models
These models are relevant in large projects that involve interdependencies and complexities of activities. CPM (Critical Path Method) and PERT (Project Evaluation and Review Technique) are used to plan, organize or schedule and control the activities of a complex project that can be described by a diagram network.
Simulation models
This model is used primarily to solve problems when there are a large number of variables and restricted relationships.
Markov models
These models are applicable in situations where the state of the system can be established by some explanatory measure of numerical value and in which the system changes from one state to another on a basis of probability.
Operations research is a tool and technique to obtain an optimal result with limited resources both in companies, companies or even in real life situations. In other words, we can say better use of our resources, which is anything. In operations research we can analyze all the answers, all the decisions that are the result of our resource and choose the best one.
