OPERATIONS RESEARCH

INTRODUCTION
During World War II, the military managements in the U.K and the USA engaged a team of scientists to study the limited military resources and form a plan of action or programme to utilize them in the most effective manner. This was done under the name 'Operational Research' (OR) because the team was dealing with research on military operation.

Started in 1937 in Britain Two essential characteristics Systems oriented Behaviors of any part of the system have some effect on the behaviors of the system as a whole O R attempts to evaluate effect on performance of whole system, because of change in any part of the system. Application of scientific methods Earlier scientific methods involved laboratories Now we use MODELS Models represent the system under study.

Operational Research can be considered as being the application of scientific method by interdisciplinary teams to problems involving the control of organised systems so as to provide solutions which best serve the purposes of the organisation as a whole.

CONCEPTS OF OPERATIONS RESEARCH

Operations Research (OR) is an interdisciplinary team approach Aims at finding out Optimal Solution to a problem Uses Mathematical modeling to arrive at optimal solution Optimization is usually maximization of profit or revenue or Minimization of cost or loss of time within the limitations of problem It is a total systems approach

PHASES OF OR

Judgement Phase Determination of the problem Establishment of objectives Determination of suitable measures of effectiveness

Research Phase Observations and data collection for better understanding of the problem Formulation of hypothesis and models Observation and experimentation Prediction of the various results , generalisation of results

Action Phase Making recommendations for decision process Implementation of the tested results of the model

Methodology of OR

Formulating the problem Constructing the model Deriving the solution Testing the validity Controlling the solution Implementing the results

Techniques of OR

Classified in two types Deterministic Model Means information and data are totally available All relations are completely known There is full understanding of the situation This is ideal and extreme situation Probabilistic Model There are many alternatives as outcome Data and information are only known partially More and more information collection will lead to improvement in understanding the situation

Techniques Under Two Models

Deterministic Models Linear Programming Transportation Assignment Dynamic Programming Sequencing Probabilistic Models Queuing Inventory Replacement Network Analysis Game Theory Decision Theory Simulation

Applications of O R

RESOURCE ALLOCATION Through LP, Assignment, Transportation, Sequencing LINEAR PROGRAMMING Mathematical optimization techniques INVENTORY CONTROL Deals with when to replenish the stock and by how much REPLACEMENT AND MANTAINANCE Problem is when to replace an equipment with minimizing the cost of operating, maintenance and investment.

Applications of O R
QUEUING Problem consists of either determining what facilities to provide or scheduling their use Cost of providing service and waiting time is minimized NETWORK ROUTING Problem consists of finding an optimum route between two or more nodes in relation to total cost, time or distance.

LIMITATION OF O R
Underlying assumptions should be clearly understood for each problem differently. Expensive; so Managers prefer Intuition Inaccuracies enter because of Improper Inadequate Inaccurate methodological steps

Queuing Theory

Queuing Theory is a collection of mathematical models of various queuing systems. Queues or waiting lines arise when the demand for a service facility exceeds the capacity of that facility, that is, the customers do not get service immediately upon request but must wait, or the service facilities stand idle and wait for customers.

Some customers wait when the total number of customers requiring service exceeds the number of service facilities, some service facilities stand idle when the total number of service facilities exceeds the number of customers requiring service.

Supermarkets must decide how many cash register check out positions should be opened. Gasoline stations must decide how many pumps should be opened and how many attendants should be on duty.

Banks must decide how many teller windows to keep open to serve customers during various hours of the day. Airplanes waiting for landing, patients waiting for doctors ,etc. are examples of queuing systems

Input ( arrival pattern) Service Mechanism Queue Discipline Customer's behaviour

The Input

The input describes the way in which the customers arrive and join the system We deal with those Queuing system in which the customer arrive in Poisson fashion ( random fashion )

Mean arrival rate is denoted by

The Queue Discipline

If the customers are served in the order of their arrival , then this is known as the first come , first served (FCFS) service discipline . Taxi at airports where a taxi is engaged on a 'first come , first served ' basis is an example .

First in First out ( FIFO) Queue for ration at ration store . Last in First out ( LIFO)

Ex : This discipline is practised in most cargo handling situations where the last item loaded is removed first .

The Customer's Behaviour

Balking: A customer who leaves the queue because the queue is too long and he has no time to wait or has no sufficient waiting space . Reneging This occurs when a waiting customer leaves the queue due to impatience .

Priorities: In certain applications some customers are served before others regardless of their arrival . These customers have priority over others . Jockeying : Customers who switch from one queue to another hoping to receive service more quickly are said to be jockeying.

PERFORMANCE MEASURES (OPERATING CHARACTERISTICS)

n = number of customers in the system (waiting and in service) Pn = probability of n customers in the system = average (expected) customer arrival rate or average number of arrivals per unit of time in the queuing system = average (expected) service rate or average number of customers served per unit time at the place of service = = Average service completion time (l/ ) Average inter-arrival time (1/ ) (Utilization factor i.e. the expected fraction of time for which the server is busy)

s = number of service channels (service facilities or servers) N = maximum number of customers allowed in the system. Ls = average (expected) number of customers in the system (waiting and in service) Lq = average (expected) number of customers in the queue (queue length) Lb = average (expected) length of non-empty queue Ws = average (expected) waiting time in the system (waiting and in service) Wq = average (expected) waiting time in the queue Pw = probability that an arriving customer has to wait

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