OR/MS Today - February 1999

February 1999

What They're Saying About Operations Research

By Barry List

There's news being made by operations researchers and management scientists. And the public is finally catching on. The research and accomplishments that INFORMS members share through papers and studies published in INFORMS journals are beginning to reach readers' attention. So are their thoughts about ways that operations research can help shoppers and consumers. In this new segment, take a look at how the press has recently covered INFORMS and its members:

Operations research, as their field is known, draws on the rising power of computing, the information explosion and mathematical algorithms to winnow through the myriad details of complex problems. For the most part, we take their solutions for granted.

A routine cross-country airplane trip, for instance, will involve dozens of options in which operations research has had a hand, from the super-saver fare to the updated flight plan to the hub system to the gate where you step off.

United Airlines officials at April's INFORMS meeting in Montreal said their operations-research office had saved the company $60 million in the past year.

"Our field, in many ways, helps to run the airlines," said Tom Magnanti, president-elect of the INFORMS board.

— Seattle Times, Oct. 26, 1998

All too often, the radio reports tell us what we already know — that we're stuck in a godawful traffic jam.

That's because most traffic info for motorists is merely descriptive, not prescriptive, says Athanasios Ziliaskopoulos.

Even when such information is helpful, he says, it usually just redirects drivers to other roadways.

"Which in itself isn't always helpful," sighs the professor of civil engineering and transportation. "Sometimes Murphy's Law kicks in and you have another accident on the alternate route."

Ziliaskopoulos and his associates at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., recently developed the Dynamic Traffic Assignment Model, which they hope will keep America's motorists on the move.

— Mad or Rad?, ABCNEWS.com, Nov. 6, 1998, Trade Press

National Car Rental System, Inc. in Bloomington, Minn., credits dynamic pricing with snatching it from the jaws of bankruptcy four years ago.

National's pricing system was manual, cumbersome and extremely slow — the company could handle only about 60 price changes per day. Even worse, prices were stagnant. At peak demand, National was emptying its lots but leaving money on the table; at slack times, cars stood idle while drivers flocked to lower-priced competitors.

A new automated pricing system, which can make 40,000 price changes per day, boosted National's revenue $56 million in the first year and returned it to profitability, according to published reports.

National declined to be interviewed for this story. But an account by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences says the revenue management system combines 60-day forecasts with continuous, transaction-level information on advanced bookings, car availability, booking restrictions, cancellations, and booking inquiries. It then sends recommendations on pricing, availability and booking restrictions to the computer terminals of National's revenue managers.

— ComputerWorld, Dec. 21, 1998

A PR Tip

When you're preparing for an interview with a reporter, make sure to jot down the three or four most important points you want to make. During the interview, use a little ingenuity to make sure you mention these points, even if the reporter doesn't ask about them directly.

And remember: It's up to you to educate the public about operations research and management science. Make sure that one of your talking points is a mention of the profession and how OR/MS techniques helped you reach your findings.

INFORMS PR Director Barry List can be reached at 410-691-7852, 800-4INFORMS, pager 410-368-6580, and barry.list@informs.org.

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