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doi: 10.1057/jors.1970.4pmid: N/A
AbstractThe process engineer is committed to improving the operation of his process by (i) building models of his processes and (ii) developing control systems which will incorporate such models and lead to optimum plant operation. Such studies almost always lead to significant changes in the operating constraints and costs and this in turn, will affect decisions at the Inventory and Production Control level. Operational research work on resource allocation affects the direction of work at the process control level. The skills and techniques required by the process engineering team are many and often overlap those of the operational research team in their interdisciplinary nature.An example is presented of what may be referred to as a combined operational research/process engineering study undertaken in a continuous processing industry (cement manufacture). The first results obtained from this study are being implemented and the advantages to the company at present are indicated.
Bakes, M. D.; Bramson, M. J.; Freckleton, S.; Roberts, P. C.; Ryan, D.
doi: 10.1057/jors.1970.6pmid: N/A
AbstractThis paper describes some aspects of cost effectiveness methodology and operational research as they have been applied in a system design study for a military communications system. There are two main areas of interest from an operational research point of view:(a) The attempt to use cost effectiveness analysis as an integral part of system design.(b) The development and application of new techniques (notably in stochastic network analysis and simulation) which are potentially of much wider application.There are several ways of attacking the problem of multiple objectives encountered in a cost effectiveness analysis. These are briefly described and the preferred method of a single measure of effectiveness is discussed in detail. The measure used in the communications system design study is presented and the method of evaluating it by simulation is described. The next step after evaluation of the effectiveness is optimization and here the use of the Lagrange multipliers is introduced. This method requires iteration on the values of performance parameters and their costs and this becomes very time-consuming if a simulation must be performed each time. It is here that the novel methods of analysing networks are developed. The main use of these methods of analysis, or reduction rules, has been in reducing the size and complexity of the simulations. The technique which has contributed most to the reduction in the number of simulations required to arrive at an optimum disposition of resources is a method of carrying out a sensitivity analysis based on data collected during a single simulation run. This hybrid analytical-cum-simulation technique is discussed in detail with reference to a communications system, and its application to a wider range of problems, such as probabilistic PERT, indicated.
Green, Paul E.; Carmone, Frank J.
doi: 10.1057/jors.1970.8pmid: N/A
AbstractThis paper discusses the experiences gained in conducting a variety of pilot-level applications of multi-dimensional scaling studies in buyer perceptions and evaluations of products and services. One study, dealing with expert vs. non-expert judgements of print advertisements, is examined in some detail as an illustration of the methodology. The paper concludes with a discussion of the major problems-computational, substantive and philosophical-which remain for further research and future developments likely to occur in application of the methodology.
doi: 10.1057/jors.1970.10pmid: N/A
AbstractThe paper describes work done by the Mathematical Advisory Unit of the Ministry of Transport to derive the net transport value of a Barrage across Morecambe Bay, as a contribution to the assessment of non-water benefits made by an Economic Study Group under the aegis of the Department of Economic Affairs' North West Regional Office. The basic method was to establish a traffic model which could represent traffic movements on the road network of north Lancashire, Westmorland and west Cumberland, to use this model to predict the traffic consequences of a road-bearing Barrage (and a number of other projects in combination), and to estimate the economic benefits accruing from these different alternative networks.Problems which arose in establishing the net value of the Barrage included the strong interdependence of the benefits to the Barrage on the possible existence of other projects such as the Arnside Link and the Duddon estuary crossing (and vice versa), the budget constraint for road building in the Ministry of Transport, which has the effect of raising the criteria for road projects above those normally required for other public sector investments, and the timing of other projects on the worthwhileness of the Barrage. The effect of tolls was studied also.Under certain assumptions about other planning decisions, the gross transport benefits of the Barrage were estimated to be £24·5m, in present-value terms calculated at 8 per cent to 1981. An investment of £6·6m was required, in link and approach roads, to yield this benefit. The net present value at 1981 is thus about £18m. In view of the Ministry of Transport's budget constraint, a figure which more appropriately represents the value of the Barrage as a road-bearing structure, given other road projects on which money might be spent, is £24·5m £ 2·5 less £6·6m, which is £3·2m.
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