摘要:

AbstractThis paper presents views based on experiences as team member, project leader and Director of a large O.R. group, followed by observing the performance of several O.R. groups and finally as a user of O.R. in the position of part-time director of several companies. It looks at the importance of sponsorship, finding the right sponsor and ensuring that he is well-motivated and understood, the importance of management skills at the project leader level, correct definition of the project objective, thorough planning, selection and presentation of recommendations, implementation and checking the actual pay off. It also discusses the O.R. group as a whole, its place in the organisation, the portfolio of projects, development of O.R. staff and some thoughts on how the method of charging the organisation for O.R. projects may affect the long-term development of this activity. Finally, it presents symptoms of inefficiency and of impending failure of O.R. groups.

ISSN:0160-5682    

DOI:10.1057/jors.1979.171

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1979

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

AbstractThis paper sponsored by forecasting Study Group of the O.R. Society surveys the alternative extrapolative forecasting models regularly used and examines the various problems that arise. Extrapolative models are particularly appropriate when used for inventory control and materials purchase, and these two situations are considered. The paper concludes with an analysis of the evidence on the forecasting accuracy of extrapolative models.

ISSN:0160-5682    

DOI:10.1057/jors.1979.172

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1979

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

AbstractAs the materials handling revolution continues, the techniques of Management Science are finding more and varied application in the design and operation of production and distribution systems. This paper discusses the use of these techniques to batch orders in a semi-automated order-picking system of a Canadian provincial liquor board. The problem is formulated as a mixed-integer programming problem with the objective of arranging orders into batches so that the processing time is minimised. A sample problem is presented and solved, and computational aspects are discussed. Other possible application areas are outlined.

ISSN:0160-5682    

DOI:10.1057/jors.1979.173

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1979

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

AbstractA case study is presented showing how a simple logical analysis of the causes of a problem, rather than its symptoms, efficiently solved some production and accounting difficulties.Discrepancies between accounting records and physical stocks, and substandard production were found to be caused by a badly designed factory bonus scheme. Modification of the scheme solved both problems.

ISSN:0160-5682    

DOI:10.1057/jors.1979.174

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1979

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

AbstractThis paper is an extension of previous work which described a model for a hierarchical manpower system with two grades. The model is first extended to a system with several grades, and then to a system with several types of entrant or in which the type of entrant has changed over time. Finally, a calculation is described which can be used to determine the best mix of qualifications amongst the entrants.

ISSN:0160-5682    

DOI:10.1057/jors.1979.175

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1979

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

AbstractThis article considers scheduling production in a multi-stage system with converging branches and assumes an infinite time horizon, deterministic parameters, finite production rates, and constant lot sizes at each stage. The objective is the minimization of total time-averaged setup-shutdown and holding cost.The interdependence of successive stages is accounted for by delaying the initial startup at one stage relative to that at its immediate predecessors, to prevent shortages between the stages. Analytical expressions are found for such delay times and written under an "integer multiple" assumption on the cycle times at adjacent stages. Total cost is then minimized for a given set of integer multiples, and a heuristic search procedure for finding the optimal integer multiple values is described. Extensions of this procedure are then discussed.

ISSN:0160-5682    

DOI:10.1057/jors.1979.176

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1979

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

AbstractThis paper examines the relationship between a number of export policy measures and the export sales performance of a sample of companies in the U.K. clothing industry. Policy measures are used first in a discriminant analysis of above- and below-average exporters and, second, to explain a multi-dimensional measure of export performance using canonical correlation. The "jack-knife" technique is used to test the stability of these analyses.

ISSN:0160-5682    

DOI:10.1057/jors.1979.177

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1979

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

AbstractFor the multi-channel bulk-arrival queue,Mx/M/c, Abol'nikov and Kabak independently obtained steady state results. In this paper the results of these authors are extended, corrected and simplified. A number of measures of efficiency are calculated for three cases where the arrival group size has: (i) a constant value, (ii) a geometric distribution, or (iii) a positive Poisson distribution. The paper also shows how to calculate fractiles for both the queue length and the waiting time distribution. Examples of extensive numerical results for certain measures of efficiency are presented in tabular and chart form.

ISSN:0160-5682    

DOI:10.1057/jors.1979.178

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1979

数据来源: Taylor

ISSN:0160-5682    

DOI:10.1057/jors.1979.179

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1979

数据来源: Taylor

ISSN:0160-5682    

DOI:10.1057/jors.1979.180

出版商:Taylor&Francis    

年代:1979

数据来源: Taylor