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Members of the
Center have made distinguished theoretical and applied research
contributions to science, government, business and engineering.
These contributions include the development, implementation, testing
and commercialization of specialized solution methods for many classes
of practical problems. This research has involved the development
of new mathematical algorithms, computer science data structures,
computer implementation techniques, and computational testing techniques. These algorithms are currently
being utilized by over 100 government agencies and companies, and
their This utilization
has been credited with saving over 300 million dollars. |
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Principal research areas
include applications of computers to the fields of optimization,
decision support, industrial planning, financial analysis, systems
design, multicriteria analysis, applied artificial intelligence,
energy, natural resources planning, logistics, transportation and
distribution, manpower planning, large scale allocation models.
COMPUTER IMPLEMENTATION ACCOMPLISHMENTS
OF HEARIN CENTER MEMBERS
- An integrated production, distribution and inventory planning
system based on algorithmic advances in solving large scale
embedded network problems. This research received an International
Achievement of The Institute of Management Sciences, and companies
have used these procedures with savings of over thirty million
dollars. The original article reporting this work has now been
reprinted in seven different volumes on systems design, and
the modeling component of this work is being taught at universities
around the country, including Columbia, Princeton, Wharton,
and the University of Chicago.
- A microcomputer system for scheduling operations and personnel
that has successfully handled problems three orders of magnitude
larger than any of its class by a decade of prior research.
This research effort is widely cited as a pioneering demonstration
of the importance of the artificial intelligence/operations
research interface and received the Best Application of Decision
Science Theory Award of the Institute of Decision and Information
Sciences.
- Formulations and approaches for discrimination analysis
that provide new methods for pattern recognition problems in
artificial intelligence. This work has been implemented and
tested by other researchers across the country and has been
shown capable of solving discrimination problems that classical
models cannot encompass, while yielding superior discrimination
power over the classical models in their own realm of application.
Recent developments are now using these approaches to train
neural networks.
- Expert analysis and computer solution procedures for production
planning and distribution systems for GM Research Laboratories.
This work provided fundamental breakthroughs in machine scheduling
that have been incorporated into manufacturing of plastic molded
parts throughout the industry.
- An interactive microcomputer and graphics system for space
planning and facilities layout design employing new techniques
for AI structural analysis and pattern recognition. This system
produced more than a hundredfold improvement in efficiency over
previous procedures for these problems and is being routinely
used by space planning companies such as Dalton, Dalton, Newport
and Marshall Erdwin around the country. This work was also selected
for citation in a survey of outstanding applications of microcomputer
graphics systems.
- An expert planning system to determine optimal lot-sizing
and machine loading for multiple products used in multi-level
planning of manufacturing operations. This work was implemented
for a major U.S. manufacturing company and reported in a collection
of published articles in Interfaces and AIEE Transactions on
improved computer-based planning systems.
- A modeling and computer solution system for determining
optimal mining and ore extraction sequences for W. R. Grace,
Inc. The model
encompasses an expert system component incorporating zero-one
optimization to make decisions concerning depth and location
of mining activities and has been implemented in the field since
1983.
- A large-scale model and solution system for introducing
new products and determining product distribution in the oil
industry. This work solved large scale nonlinear and mixed integer
programming problems that were previously unsolvable and appeared
as the lead article in a volume dedicated to computer methods
for industrial applications.
- AI and OR models for
plant layout design for General Motors Research Laboratories. This work determined
the subdivision of plant space and relative locations of assembly
lines to inventories to enable efficient fabrication of final
products. GM credited
this research with saving thousands of hours in engineering
design, and with developing improved plant layout procedures
that reduced both operating expense and capital costs of building.
- A large scale expert
system for allocating resources to meet demands of national
and international emergency.
This system made it possible to make coordinated responses
to conditions of national emergency in real time and improved
the emergency response times by a factor of 600 to 1.
ENERGY AND RESOURCES PLANNING ACCOMPLISHMENTS
OF HEARIN CENTER MEMBERS
- A system for analyzing trade-offs among alternative energy
sources and uses, with particular focus on exchanges between
petrochemical and biomass based fuels, for the Solar Energy
Research Institute. The
model and solution procedure of this system won an award from
the Energy Research Institute for the analysis of energy issues,
and has subsequently been expanded to a large scale national
model published as a special invited paper in Energy
Models and Studies.
- A system for the U.S. Department of Agriculture for large
scale forest planning operations over an eighty year planning
horizon. The system
integrates the determination of economically feasible investment
levels with the determination of policies for harvesting, transporting,
clearing and re-planting of different types of timber to assure
adequate supply and reserves for future needs.
- A model formulation and solution methodology for scheduling
nuclear refueling operations to coordinate use of electrical
energy with hydroelectric and chemical energy sources for the
Tennessee Valley Authority.
This work succeeded in generating schedules that improved
on the schedules found by the best previous methods by over
ten million dollars.
- A procedure for optimally locating and sizing electrical
power substations for the U.S. Department of Energy (ERDA),
determining the most effective way to expand and contract electrical
power facilities to meet the changing energy demands resulting
from growth and population shifts.
- A procedure for scheduling and coordinating the allocation
of water at dams, reservoirs, and channels to maintain optimal
levels and flows for hydroelectric and agricultural needs. This procedure has
been implemented in the United States, India, Sweden, the German
Democratic Republic and Poland.
TRANSPORTATION AND DISTRIBUTION ACCOMPLISHMENTS
OF HEARIN CENTER MEMBERS
- A prototype of a Decision Support System (DSS) for a real-world
tank truck dispatching problem which occur in a case study concerning
the transportation of raw material throughout Europe. It was
a consulting project for the Matra Cap Systems (France). This
work resulted in a system that rapidly provided feasible an
high quality solutions which were not possible to be obtained
by general purpose optimization software.
- Part of a Decision Support System (DSS) for the crew scheduling
management of the Lisbon Subway. This is a complex crew scheduling
problem (CSP) involving a number of additional constraints which
do not occur in standard CSPs. This system reduced the number
of duties for all the train timetables provided by the company.
- Partnered in creating the first efficient methods for solving
networks with tens of thousands of equations and millions of
variables using external storage devices.
This development has allowed the U.S. Military to substantially
improve its human resource planning and assignment activities. It has also allowed
the U.S. Treasury to obtain merged micro-data files, which are
substantially better for evaluating the fiscal impact of taxation,
welfare, social security, etc., policy changes.
- Efficient algorithms for solving multicriteria network flow
problems. In 1975, the Assistant Secretary of Defense mandated
that in order to reduce personnel turbulence "the Services
will utilize simultaneous rather than sequential assignment
selections in programming personnel reassignments." Following this, the
U.S. Army conducted an extensive study that credits these algorithms
with making it possible to meet the mandate.
Their study showed that these algorithms made it possible
to solve optimally multicriteria manpower assignment problems
with 8,000 people and over a million eligible job assignments
in less than 15 minutes.
- A generalized network model that has made it possible for
the U.S. Government to develop a nationwide natural gas distribution
model for evaluating national regulatory policies.
The Congressional records indicate that this code was
50 times more efficient that any other code for these problems.
HUMAN RESOURCES AND NATIONAL
PLANNING ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF HEARIN CENTER MEMBERS
- Personnel planning models and solution approaches for human
resource planning and career path planning.
Due to the success of these approaches, the military
services in 1982 issued a request for proposals totaling over
300 man years of effort which required the use of these models.
- Modeling and solution of a problem for the U.S. Department
of the Treasury and the National Bureau of Standards to determine
categories, levels, and eligibility status for welfare payments,
social security insurance payments and tax assessments. Economic and social
implications are analyzed by a model structure involving more
than 62 million variables,
an order of magnitude larger than any comparable model
previously considered by either government or industry.
- Models and solution models for the Urban Mass Transit Authority
of the Department of Transportation. The solution methods have
proved capable of handling problems with thousands of junctions
and hundreds of thousands of interconnections and demonstrated
greater efficiency for the UMTA/DOT problems than any methods
produced by two decades of prior research.
- A study concerning the staff dimension and time tabling
for a petrol port (SOPONATA) in Portugal. This study reduced
the staff dimension while significantly improved the workforce
(rostering) plan used by the company
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