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Or Introduction

Operations Research (O.R.) originated during World War II to optimize military resource allocation and has since expanded into various industries, including finance and logistics. In India, O.R. began in 1949 with the establishment of dedicated units and has contributed to national planning efforts. The methodology involves defining problems, constructing mathematical models, solving them, and implementing results, while also facing limitations such as high costs and potential inaccuracies in model representation.

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28 views12 pages

Or Introduction

Operations Research (O.R.) originated during World War II to optimize military resource allocation and has since expanded into various industries, including finance and logistics. In India, O.R. began in 1949 with the establishment of dedicated units and has contributed to national planning efforts. The methodology involves defining problems, constructing mathematical models, solving them, and implementing results, while also facing limitations such as high costs and potential inaccuracies in model representation.

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bharathplkm1234
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© © All Rights Reserved
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THE ORIGINS OF OPERATIONS RESEARCH

The term Operations Research was first coined in 1940 by


McClosky and Trefthen in a small town Bowdsey of the U.K. This
new science came into existence in military context. During Word
War II (1939-1945), Britain was having very limited military
resources, therefore there was an urgent need to allocate scarce
resources to the various military operations and to the activities
within each operation in an effective manner. Therefore, the British
and then the U.S. military management called upon a large number
of scientists to apply a scientific approach to dealing with this and
other strategic and tactical problems. Because the team was dealing
with research on military operations, this new scientific approach
was called Operational Research and later it was adopted by U.S.A.
as Operations Research (abbreviated as O.R.)
In the decades after the war, the techniques
began to be applied more widely to problems in
business, industry and society. Since that time,
Operations Research has expanded into a field
widely used in industries ranging from
petrochemicals to airlines, finance, logistics and
Government, moving to a focus on the
development of mathematical models that can be
used to analyse and optimize complex systems
and has become an area of active academic and
industrial research.
In this context, the first mathematical O.R.
technique (which turned out to be a powerful tool in O.
R. later) called the Simplex method was developed by the
American mathematician Dantzig of Rand
Corporation in the US. Since then, various O.R.
techniques have been developed and used in several
fields (apart from military and industry), such as city
planning, railways, airlines, hospital management, library
management.
DEVELOPMENT OF OPERATIONS RESEARCH IN INDIA

In India, Operations Research came into existence in the year 1949, with the
establishment of an Operations Research unit at the regional research laboratory
Hyderabad, for the purpose of planning and organizing research. At the same time
Prof. R.S. Verma (Delhi University) set up an OR team in defence science
laboratory (later named Defence Science Centre) for the specific purpose of solving
the problems of storing, planning and purchasing. Operations Research received a
further boost with the setting up on an Operations Research team in the Indian
Statistical Institute, Kolkata by Prof. P.C. Mahalanobis in 1953 for solving the
problems related to national planning and survey. Later, the Operations Research
Society of India (ORSI) was established in 1959. This society started publishing its
journals OPSEARCH in 1964.

Prof. Mahalanobis, first applied OR in India by formulating second five


year plan with the help of OR techniques. Planning Commission made the use of OR
techniques for planning the optimum size of the Caravelle Fleet of Indian airlines.
DEFINITION OF OPERATIONS RESEARCH

Operations Research is the applications of the methods of


mathematical science to complex problems arising in the direction and
management of large system of men, machines, materials and money in
industry, business, government and defence. The distinctive approach is
to develop a scientific model of systems incorporating measurements of
factors such as chance and risk with which to predict and compare the
outcomes of alternatives, decisions, strategies or controls. The purpose is
to help management determine its policy and actions scientifically.
Examples of OR
Applications
• Rescheduling aircraft in response to groundings and
delays
• Planning production for printed circuit board assembly
• Scheduling equipment operators in mail processing &
distribution centers
• Developing routes for propane delivery
• Adjusting nurse schedules in light of daily fluctuations
in demand

7
PHASES OF OPERATIONS RESEARCH STUDY

OR is a scientific methodology applied to study the activities of an organisation


with a view to access the implementation of various alternative courses of action. The
OR approach to solve problems consists of the following steps.

PROBLEM DEFINITION
Firstly, the OR team should define the problem under investigation, set –up
objectives and determine the constraints against which decisions should be adopted.

MODEL CONSTRUCTION
The next step is to express all the variables of the problem into a mathematical model
such as Linear Programming. The generalised mathematical model is of the form

Where, is the objective, is a controllable variable, and is an uncontrollable variable.


MODEL SOLUTION
In the next step, the values of decision variables that optimise the given
objective function are determined. It deals with the mathematical calculations used
to obtain model solution.

MODEL VALIDITY
It is the measure of accuracy. A model is valid or accurate if all the
objectives, constraints and variables included in the model are relevant and the
functional relationships are valid. If the proposed model is representing a new
system, no historical data would be available to make the comparison. In such
cases, we may use simulation as an independent tool for verifying the output of the
mathematical model.

Implementation
Finally, the tested results of the model are implemented. Implementation
involves the translation of the results into understandable operating instructions to
the managers.
Operations Research Models

Deterministic Models Stochastic Models


• Linear Programming • Discrete-Time Markov Chains
• Network Optimization • Continuous-Time Markov Chains
• Integer Programming • Queuing Theory (waiting lines)
• Nonlinear Programming • Decision Analysis
• Inventory Models Game Theory
Inventory models
Simulation

10
FEATURES OF OR
Using OR approach,

i. A decision maker can solve a complex problem involving multiple


variables more quickly.
ii. A decision maker can examine a situation from various angles by
simulating the model constructed for the real problem.
iii. A decision maker can change various conditions of the problem
under consideration and determine the optimal solution by
examining the effect of changes through experiments on the
model.
LIMITATIONS OF OR

1)Construction of OR model for solving certain


problems is too expensive.
2)OR model constructed may not represent the real
world problem for which the decision has to be made.
3)If the basic data are subject to frequent changes,
modification of the OR models becomes costly.
4)Other shortcomings are the magnitude of
computation involved, lack of consideration for non-
quantifiable factors, etc.

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