| “Operations research is concerned with
optimisation problems in the business world. We
use techniques from mathematics and computer
sciences to discover the most efficient solution for
various planning problems. This can most easily be
explained by a couple of examples of areas that we
are researching ourselves.
Telecommunications
In the landline networks of every country, there has
to be a physical connection between telephone
exchanges, not just so that all exchanges are
interconnected, but so that the loss of any
exchange and/or connection leads to as few
problems as possible. In addition, the various
services such as telephone, internet and,
nowadays, TV, must cause as few problems to each
other as possible. The aim is to then do this using as
little apparatus as possible. Currently, the most
significant problem is the migration of various
types of networks to one network based on the
internet protocol. Mobile networks rely heavily on
the GSM protocol, which uses fixed frequencies for
mobile aerials. To prevent interference from
signals, the frequencies must be carefully selected
from the available spectrum. Setting prices of both
services and connections is extremely important
for telecommunications suppliers due to the
revenues generated. How do you ensure as a
supplier that your prices are not too high (loss of
customers) and not too low (loss of income per
customer)?
Traffic
Road haulage and public transport in particular
often raise the question of how to make the most
efficient use of the available means. Determining
routes is a classic problem for road haulage: what
should be the sequence in which customers are
served in order to process all orders as quickly as
Stan van Hoesel possible? In public transport, such as with the
Dutch Railways, there are many issues of
optimisation at play, from strategic – what new
lines shall we build? – to operational – which
guards and drivers should be assigned to certain
trains?
Production management
Strategic decisions also play a role here: where
should you site a factory, and how many expensive
machines should you purchase? But it also involves
day-to-day decisions: how many of a certain
product should you manufacture? Given the costs
structure of manufacturing processes, Operations
Research can help to make the most cost-efficient
choices.
Finance
The quality of share portfolios is determined by risk
and return. To calculate the optimum balance
between different shares we apply techniques
from econometrics and Operations Research.
However, Operations Research also plays a role in
many other fields where planning issues need to be
optimised. At the moment, planning within the
health sector is extremely important, including the
planning for recruitment of nursing staff, but also
of new techniques such as DNA analysis.” |
