Operational Research

(CSC-412)
Credit Hours: 3 + 0

By

Engr.Shakeel Ahmed Shaikh

Lecturer
Email: shakeel.sheikh@buetk.edu.pk

CSE&S Department
Balochistan University of Engineering and Technology
Khuzdar
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 Chapter 1
Introduction to Operation Research

(Lecture 1-2)

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 Chapter Objectives
Upon completion of this chapter, you will learn:

 Introduction to Operations Research

 Describe the history of Operations Research
 Describe the Stages of O.R
 Describe the techniques/tools of operational research
 Explain the Applications of Operations Research
 Describe the Limitations of Operation Research
 Understand the OR specialist and Manager relationship

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 Course Learning Outcome (CLO)
CLO-1 Cognitive Level Relationship with Program
Learning Outcome (PLO)
Understand the characteristics
of different types of decision-
making environments and the C2 PLO-11
appropriate decision-making
approaches and tools to be
used in each type

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1. Introduction (1)

• The British/Europeans refer to "operational research", the

Americans to "operations research" - but both are often shortened
to just "OR" - which is the term we will use
• Operation Research is a relatively new discipline
– But, contents and the boundaries of the OR are not yet fixed.
Therefore, to give a formal definition of the term Operations
Research is a difficult task.
• OR starts when mathematical and quantitative techniques are used
to substantiate the decision being taken
• The main activity of a manager is the decision making
– In our daily life we make the decisions even without noticing
them.
– The decisions are taken simply by common sense, judgment and
expertise without using any mathematical or any other model in
simple situations 5
1. Introduction (2)

• Operations Research tools are not from any one discipline

– takes tools from different discipline such as mathematics,
statistics, economics, psychology, engineering etc. and combines
these tools to make a new set of knowledge for decision making

• Today, O.R. became a professional discipline which deals with the

application of scientific methods for making decision, and especially
to the allocation of scarce resources.

• The main purpose of O.R. is to provide a rational basis for decisions

making in the absence of complete information, because the systems
composed of human, machine, and procedures may do not have
complete information
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1. Introduction (3)

• Operations Research can also be treated as science in the sense it

describing, understanding and predicting the systems behavior,
especially man-machine system.

• Thus O.R. specialists are involved in three classical aspect of

science, they are as follows:
 Determining the systems behavior
 Analyzing the systems behavior by developing appropriate
models
 Predict the future behavior using these models

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1. Introduction (4)
“Operational Research is a systematic and analytical approach to decision
making and problem solving.”
O.R. as termed in USA, Canada, Africa, Australia and Operational
Research as termed in Europe, is an Branch of applied mathematics that
uses techniques and statistics to arrive at Optimal solutions to solve
complex problems.
It is typically concerned with determining the maximum profit, sale,
output, crops yield and efficiency
And minimum losses, risks, cost, and time of some objective function. It
have also become an important part of INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING
PROFESSION.
Some of the PRIMARY TOOLS used by operation researchers are-

 STATISTICS
 GAME THEORY
 PROBABILITY THEORY, etc.
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 4, What is Operations Research?
Operations
The activities carried out in an organization.
 

Research
The process of observation and testing characterized by the
scientific method. Situation, problem statement, model
construction, validation, experimentation, candidate
solutions.
 
Operations Research is a quantitative approach to decision making based
on the scientific method of problem solving.

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5. Definitions (1)
 According to the Operational Research Society of Great Britain
 Operational Research is the attack of modern science on
complex problems arising in the direction and management of
large systems of men, machines, materials and money in
industry, business, government and defense. Its distinctive
approach is to develop a scientific model of the system,
incorporating measurements of factors such as change and risk,
with which to predict and compare the outcomes of alternative
decisions, strategies or controls.
 Randy Robinson stresses that
 Operations Research is the application of scientific methods to
improve the effectiveness of operations, decisions and
management. By means such as analyzing data, creating
mathematical models and proposing innovative approaches
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5. Definitions (2)

 Saaty considers O.R. as tool of improving quality of answers. He

says, “O.R. is the art of giving bad answers to problems which
otherwise have worse answers”.

 Morse and Kimball have stressed O.R. is a quantitative approach

and described it as “ a scientific method of providing executive
departments with a quantitative basis for decisions regarding the
operations under their control

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6. History of Operational Research (1)
• There is no clear history that marks the Birth if O.R., it is generally accepted that
the field originated in England during the World War II. Some say that Charles
Babbage (1791-1871) is the Father of O.R because his research into the cost of
transportation and sorting of mail led to England’s University Penny Post in 1840.

• Modern Operations Research originated at the Bowdsey Research Station in U.K. in

1937 to analyze and improve the working of the UK’s Early Warning Radar System.

• During the Second World War about 1000 Men and Women were engaged to work
for British Army.

• After World War II, Military Operational Research in U.K. became Operational
Analysis (OA) within the U.K. Ministry of Defence with expanded techniques and
graving awareness.

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6. History of Operational Research (2)

• Thus the Operation Research started just before World War II in

Britain with the establishment of teams of scientists to study
the strategic and tactical problems involved in military
operations. The objective was to find the most effective utilization
of limited military resources by the use of quantitative techniques.
Following the end of the war OR spread, although it spread in
different ways in the UK and USA.
• In 1951 a committee on Operations Research formed by the
National Research Council of USA, and the first book on “Methods
of Operations Research”, by Morse and Kimball, was published. In
1952 the Operations Research Society of America came into being

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6. History of Operational Research (3)

• Success of Operations Research in army attracted the attention

of the industrial mangers who were seeking solutions to their
complex business problems.

• Now a days, almost every organization in all countries has staff

applying operations research, and the use of operations
research in government has spread from military to wide variety
of departments at all levels

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7. Stages of Development of Operations Research(1)

– Step I: Observe the problem environment

– Step II: Analyze and define the problem

– Step III: Develop a model

– Step IV: Select appropriate data input

– Step V: Provide a solution and test its reasonableness

– Step VI: Implement the solution

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 Problem Solving Process

• ag

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7. Stages of Development of Operations Research (2)

Step I: Observe the problem environment

 First step in the process of O.R. development is the problem
environment observation
 This step includes different activities; they are conferences, site
visit, research, observations etc.
 These activities provide sufficient information to the O.R. specialists
to formulate the problem
Step II: Analyze and define the problem
 Analyzing and defining the problem
 In this step in addition to the problem definition, the objectives,
uses and limitations of O.R. study of the problem also defined
 The outputs are clear grasp of need for a solution and its nature
understanding
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7. Stages of Development of Operations Research (3)
Step III: Develop a model
 This step develops a model; a model is a representation of some
abstract or real situation
 The models are basically mathematical models, which describes
systems, processes in the form of equations, formula/relationships
 The model is tested in the field under different environmental
constraints and modified in order to work and some times the model
is modified to satisfy the management with the results.
Step IV: Select appropriate data input
 A model works appropriately when there is appropriate data
input. Hence, selecting appropriate input data is important step in
the O.R. development stage or process.
 The activities in this step include internal/external data analysis, fact
analysis, and collection of opinions and use of computer data bank
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7. Stages of Development of Operations Research (4)

 The objective of this step is to provide sufficient data input to operate

and test the model developed in Step_III.
Step V: Provide a solution and test its reasonableness
 This step is to get a solution with the help of model and input
data
 This solution is not implemented immediately, instead the solution
is used to test the model and to find there is any limitations.
 Suppose if the solution is not reasonable or the behavior of the
model is not proper, the model is updated and modified at this
stage.
 The output of this stage is the solution(s) that supports the current
organizational objectives

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7. Stages of Development of Operations Research (5)

Step VI: Implement the solution

 At this step the solution obtained from the previous step is
implemented.
 The implementation of the solution involves so many behavioral
issues. Therefore, before implementation the implementation
authority has to resolve the issues.
 A properly implemented solution results in quality of work and
gains the support from the management.

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8. Relationship between the Manager and O.R. Specialist

 The key responsibility of manager is decision making

 The role of the O.R. specialist is to help the manager make

better decisions

 Figure 1-1 explains the relationship between the O.R. specialist and
the manager/decision maker

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9. Techniques/Tools of Operational Research

 Linear Programming
 Queuing Theory
 Sequencing
 Transportation Problems
 Integer Problems
 Assignment Problems
 Decision Theory and Games Theory
 Replacement Problems
 Symbolic Logic

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10. Applications of Operations Research (1)
• Operations Research (OR) applies scientific method to the
management of organized systems in business, industry,
government and other enterprises.

• OR can play a significant role in bringing a balance among different

inter disciplinary people to managerial problem.

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10. Applications of Operations Research (2)

• OR is regularly applied in areas such as:

– supply chain management
– marketing and revenue management systems
– manufacturing plants
– financial engineering
– telecommunication networks
– healthcare management
– transportation networks
– energy and the environment
– service systems
– web commerce
– military defense
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 11. Limitations of operational research
 Magnitude of Computation

 Non-Quantifiable Factors

 Distance between User and Analyst

 Time and Money Costs

 Implementation

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 Magnitude of Computation

Operations research models try to find out optimal

solution taking into account all the factors. But, these
factors are enormous
and,
expressing them in quantity,
and,
establishing relationships among these, Require
voluminous calculations which can be handled only by
computers.

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 Non-quantifiable Factors

OR provides solution only when all elements related to

a problem can be quantified. All relevant variables do
not lend themselves to quantification. Factors which
cannot be quantified, find no place in OR study. Models
in OR do not take into account qualitative factors or
emotional factors which may be quite important.

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 Distance between User and Analyst

OR being specialist’s job requires a

mathematician or statistician, who might not
be aware of the business problems.
Similarly, a manager fails to understand the
complex working of OR. Thus there is a gap
between the two. Management itself may
offer a lot of resistance due to conventional
thinking.

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 Time and Money Cost

When basic data are subjected to frequent changes,

incorporating them into the OR models is a costly
proposition.
Moreover, a fairly good solution at present may be,
More desirable than a perfect OR solution available
after sometime. The computational time increases
depending upon the size of the problem and accuracy
of results desired.

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 Implementation

Implementation of any decision is a delicate task.

It must take into account the complexities of
human relations and behaviour. Sometimes,
resistance is offered due to psychological factors
which may not have any bearing on the problem
as well as its solution.

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 Reading Material

• Ravindran, A., Philips, D.J and Silberg, J.J. (2007). “Operations

Research: Principles and Practice” (2nd ed.) John Wiley.
• Gupta, P.K. & Hira, D.S. (2008). “Operations Research”. (7th
ed.) S. Chand & Co., New Delhi.
• Hillier, F.S. and Lieberman G. J. (2005). “Introduction to
Operations Research”, (8th ed.)Holden Day.
• Taha, H.A. (2002) Operations Research. Macmillan. London

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