What is Operational Research? – Full feature
Summary
TLDROperational research, or 'O', is the application of analytical methods to improve decision-making across various sectors, from business to healthcare. It permeates everyday life, influencing flight bookings, grocery shopping, and government operations. Organizations like British Airways and Asda utilize 'O' for strategic decisions, enhancing efficiency and customer satisfaction. The script highlights 'O's role in sports stadium design, Formula 1 strategy, and emergency services deployment, emphasizing its impact on real-world outcomes and the importance of an analytical approach in solving complex problems.
Takeaways
- 🔍 Operational Research (O) is a discipline that applies analytical methods to improve decision-making across various sectors.
- 🌐 O is omnipresent, influencing everyday activities from shopping to business and government operations.
- 📈 In the modern world, O is more relevant than ever, with organizations leveraging data, fast communication, and powerful computers.
- 🛫 British Airways uses O to optimize operations, such as determining the right number of staff and boarding strategies for the Airbus A380.
- 🛒 Major UK retailer Asda relies on O techniques to streamline supply chain management, ensuring efficient product distribution to over 500 shops.
- 🏥 Operational Research is crucial in healthcare, like at St George Hospital, where it helps in managing patient flow and resource allocation.
- 🏎 Formula 1 racing utilizes O for strategic decisions, including race strategy, fuel load estimation, and pit stop planning.
- 🏛 The UK government uses O to enhance decision-making processes, impacting services like education, healthcare, and transport.
- 🏭 Operational Research techniques are integral to industrial efficiency, as seen in steel manufacturing where it aids in productivity and cost reduction.
- 🎓 A career in O requires a background in mathematics, statistics, computer science, or management, with a focus on analytical and problem-solving skills.
- 💼 O professionals work on a variety of projects, often involving real-world problem-solving and the opportunity to make significant impacts on business operations and society.
Q & A
What is operational research?
-Operational research is the discipline of applying analytical methods to help make better decisions in various aspects of life, from business to government operations.
How does operational research impact everyday life?
-Operational research impacts everyday life by optimizing processes in areas such as transportation, supply chain management, and healthcare, making services more efficient and accessible.
What role does operational research play in a business like British Airways?
-Operational research at British Airways influences decisions such as aircraft purchasing, flight routes, alliance partners, and ticket pricing, aiming to improve customer satisfaction and profitability.
How is operational research used in the context of the Airbus A380 at British Airways?
-Operational research was used to determine the optimal number of staff and boarding procedures for the Airbus A380 to ensure efficient turnaround times and customer satisfaction.
What is the significance of operational research in supply chain management for a retailer like Asda?
-Operational research is crucial for Asda in managing the supply chain efficiently, ensuring products are delivered on time and in a cost-effective manner, which also benefits the environment.
How does operational research contribute to the planning and operation of a sports stadium?
-Operational research contributes to the planning and operation of sports stadiums by optimizing crowd movement, ensuring safety, and enhancing the spectator experience.
What is the importance of operational research in Formula 1 racing?
-Operational research in Formula 1 is vital for race strategy, including fuel load estimation, pit stop timing, and tire degradation analysis, which can determine the outcome of a race.
How does operational research assist in government decision-making?
-Operational research assists government decision-making by providing analytical support in areas such as education, healthcare, transportation, and national security, leading to improved service delivery.
What is the role of operational research in a hospital setting?
-Operational research in hospitals helps in optimizing patient flow, reducing waiting times, and ensuring efficient resource allocation, which can be critical for patient care.
How does operational research benefit a manufacturing company like TATA Steel?
-Operational research at TATA Steel helps in improving productivity, reducing costs, and planning for increased production capacity by analyzing and simulating real-world processes.
What educational background is typically required for a career in operational research?
-A career in operational research often requires a degree in mathematics, statistics, computer science, or management science, with a focus on learning various analytical techniques and their applications.
Outlines
🔍 Operational Research in Everyday Life
Operational research is the application of analytical methods to improve decision-making. It is omnipresent in modern life, from buying flights to grocery shopping, and plays a crucial role in business and government. With the current investment in data, communication, and computer technology, operational research is more relevant than ever. The script highlights its importance in various sectors, including British Airways, where it influences decisions on aircraft purchases, flight routes, and customer satisfaction, making a significant impact on the business's profitability.
🛒 Operational Research in Retail and Supply Chain Management
In the retail sector, operational research is vital for maintaining an efficient supply chain. The script discusses its application at a major UK retailer, Asda, where it helps in reducing delivery times and environmental impact while cutting costs. It also touches on the strategic use of higher capacity vehicles, saving millions annually. Operational research is also critical in deciding the location for new stores or depots, ensuring the business operates smoothly and meets customer demands.
🏥 Operational Research in Sports and Healthcare
Operational research extends beyond business into sports and healthcare. It played a significant role in the design and operation of the Emirates Stadium, ensuring spectator safety and efficiency. In healthcare, it is used to optimize patient flow, bed allocation, and resource planning in hospitals like St George's in London. The script emphasizes the life-saving potential of operational research in healthcare settings.
🏗️ Operational Research in Government and Industry
Operational research is extensively used in government to improve decision-making at all levels, from local services to national security. It influences emergency services deployment, border control, and crime reduction strategies. The script also highlights its role in industry, such as in steel manufacturing, where it helps in planning, timing, and reducing costs to increase productivity. The use of simulation and modeling allows for safer and more cost-effective operations.
🎓 Career Opportunities in Operational Research
The script concludes by discussing the career opportunities in operational research, emphasizing the variety of problems to solve and the impact on real-life decisions. It suggests that a degree in mathematics, statistics, computer science, or management is beneficial, with operational research techniques such as computer simulation, optimization, and queuing theory being key components of the curriculum. The career offers the chance to innovate and make a tangible difference in various sectors.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Operational Research
💡Analytical Methods
💡Simulation
💡Supply Chain
💡Optimization
💡Risk Analysis
💡Government
💡Hospitals
💡Continuous Improvement
💡Career
Highlights
Operational research is a discipline that applies analytical methods to improve decision-making.
Operational research is integral to everyday activities, from buying flights to grocery shopping.
It plays a crucial role in saving lives, driving business, and supporting government operations.
Organizations are increasingly investing in operational research due to the availability of data and sophisticated technology.
Operational research is not just theoretical math but is applied in the real world to make a tangible difference.
British Airways uses operational research to enhance customer satisfaction and business profitability.
Operational research helps in making complex decisions such as aircraft purchases and flight routes.
Simulation is used to solve problems by running multiple scenarios in a virtual environment.
Operational research techniques are essential in supply chain management for businesses like Asda.
Asda uses operational research to optimize delivery vehicle capacity, saving millions annually.
Operational research is vital in determining the best locations for new stores or depots.
In sports, operational research contributes to spectator experience and stadium design.
Formula 1 relies on operational research for risk analysis and strategic decision-making during races.
Operational research improves government decision-making, affecting various public services.
St George's Hospital in London uses operational research to optimize patient flow and hospital capacity.
Operational research techniques are key to improving productivity and reducing costs in manufacturing.
TATA Steel uses operational research to plan infrastructure upgrades and increase production efficiency.
A career in operational research offers a variety of problems to solve and the opportunity to make a real-world impact.
Operational research requires analytical, mathematical, and logical skills to address real-life challenges.
Academic paths into operational research often include degrees in mathematics, statistics, computer science, or management.
Operational research involves learning techniques such as computer simulation, optimization, and queueing theory.
The work of an operational researcher involves a balance between theoretical knowledge and practical application.
Operational research can lead to a career that is both intellectually challenging and practically significant.
Transcripts
what is operational research in a
nutshell o is the discipline of applying
appropriate analytical methods to help
make better
[Music]
decisions in today's world o is all
around us it can be found in just about
everything we do
[Music]
it forms the building blocks for our
everyday World from buying a flight to
curing for our weekly
groceries it helps save lives it drives
business and
government without o the modern world we
take for granted wouldn't
[Music]
exist there has never been a better time
to be an operational researcher today
most organizations have masses of data
the ways we communicate are fast
computers are sophisticated and
powerful and the business world is now
investing heavily in putting operational
research at the center of what they
do this is not maths in theory but maths
in the real world making a real
[Music]
difference
never before have so many people all
products needed to be moved around the
world as passengers and consumers we
expect everything to run
smoothly whether we are buying flights
commuting to work or wanting food
readily available at the
supermarket for businesses moving people
and products around can be a complicated
and expensive matter here at British
Airways getting the maths right can make
passengers more satisfied with the
service and make millions of pounds
worth of difference to the business the
O Department of British Airways has been
here a long time we influence a whole
range of decisions we're a big
complicated business and O thinking is
pretty critical to taking the right
decisions our helps influence a range of
decisions across the business right from
which aircraft should we buy uh where we
should fly who our alliance Partners
should be how we should board the new
a380s how many tickets we should sell of
what type what our customer data is
telling us right across the range of the
business this is the Airbus A380 the
largest passenger aircraft in the world
these new aircraft are a fantastic
opportunity for British Airways to
expand but with this opportunity comes
risk we've never operated an aircraft
this big before and getting it wrong can
have huge imp impacts on the entire
operation there could be delays which
would impact customer satisfaction and
getting it wrong could incur additional
costs which obviously will impact
profitability the business was
interested in seeing how long it would
take between the aircraft arriving and
then being ready to leave again we chose
to solve the problem using simulation
and the reason we used simulation was
because it allowed us to run multiple
scenarios in a safe and virtual
environment we were able to
recommend to the business how many staff
were required how many doors we needed
to use to board the aircraft to ensure
that boarding took no longer than it
currently does on the Boeing 747 whilst
making sure the customers have the best
experience
possible o really valued here by the
company o thinking and O insights are
incredibly useful when you're trying to
take really difficult business decisions
uh and also our people often bring that
different way of looking at a problem
that you you don't see
[Music]
yourself in today's world all of us
expect the things we want and need to be
readily available that means shelves to
be always stocked and deliveries to
arrive on time this is what we term the
supply chain of a business
for a major UK retailer like Asda it's
crucial that this process runs like
clockwork and O techniques lie at the
very heart of keeping the business
running we service over 500 shops in the
UK serving almost 8 million customers
every week of the year clearly in
distribution we have a huge
responsibility to make sure that our
customers served on time with product
that's as fresh as
possible we use operational research
pretty much every day in our working
lives one of our biggest challenges in
The Last 5 Years is about how quickly we
can get the products from point of
manufacturer to point of delivery into
our
depos our focus on root planning
analysis has made a real big difference
to the way that we operate it means that
we take miles off the road we we reduced
the impact on the environment and has
helped our cost
position one of our biggest recent
initiatives is the utilization of higher
capacity delivery vehicles um into our
shops through the analysis that we
completed we were able to prove that by
getting almost twice as much product on
these vehicles had a substantial cost
benefit for us and it saves US 10
million a year which could reinvest back
into price here at Asda o techniques run
right through the business helping to
influence big decisions such as where to
build a new store or Depot building a
new Depot is a big investment for Asda
and can cost up to 60 million so it's
critical that we build in the right
location we do this through a large
amount of modeling and Analysis tools to
help us understand where in the country
we will be building new stores so where
that Depo needs to be here o is used to
ensure that Asda are constantly
improving every process within the depos
to get the products out to the stores
more quickly I work in continuous
Improvement for distribution and we look
at our depos um the processes that we
complete how long they take and how we
can improve them so that we can make the
Depo more
efficient every single day that we come
to work it's a new challenge and if we
can use operational research to support
that and make it easier and better for
our customers then we've done a great
job
[Music]
[Applause]
collectively the World of Sport isn't an
obvious place where operational research
is at hand yet many of our much loved
activities rely on
o and whether designing a sports Stadium
or even an Olympic Village o helps make
the spectator's experience much more
[Music]
enjoyable this is the Emirates Stadium
in North London home of Arsenal Football
Club here o had a big part to play in
the design and construction of the
stadium as well as in the efficient
running of the site on Match
day just imagine a match day situation
when you arrive at the station itself uh
o starts defeat you immediately you get
off the off the train uh people Marshall
you towards the stadium that part of the
process has already got o taken into
account trying to find the safest way
for you to move then when you reach the
stadium itself a number of turnstyles
for example will have been determined by
uh an O technique and then as you move
around the stadium the places where the
signs are located and the the way you
move to your seat will also have been
determined by by different o techniques
so it's really important to everything
about this this
Stadium the design of this stadium is
obviously magnificent it's a it's a
60,000 capacity stadium and without a
model of people moving in and out you'd
never know whether during a match
situation if there was a fire for
example if those people could be
evacuated safely within the 8 Minute
guidelines
[Applause]
[Music]
the explosive world of Formula
1 highp speeds multi million pound
racing
technology in Formula 1 we we require
more and more uh expert on kind of uh
risk analysis and uh Game Theory and
simul
Formula 1 where split-second decisions
are the difference between success and
failure and often these decisions are a
matter of mathematics resting in the
hands of some of the world's finest
operational
researches I think the first thing that
people will see the direct application
of O is on Define the race strategy the
initial fuel load estimating
uh competitors uh Fu load and where they
going to stop and when we're going to
hit traffic during the race when is a
good LA to come out of the pit stops and
tire degradation this is a all
estimation that we need to do as the
race
[Applause]
develop I strongly believe that OA has a
great role to play in Formula 1 for the
[Music]
future don't try to apprehend
it central government is the biggest
business in
Britain and in government o gets
involved in just about everything that
affects our day-to-day
lives operational research plays a
crucial role in improving the quality of
decision making right the way through
the system from senior decision makers
in apartments right the way up to the
prime minister to confront our problems
if you've ever interative with schools
obviously you have or with hospitals or
with a transport system you'll have had
some benefit from the role o has played
in improving the way that those services
are
delivered traveling on motorways how
does the Department of Transport
actually deploy its various Emergency
Services UK borders agency plays a role
in actually modeling the number of
people who arrive and leave the country
the home office they do significant
amounts of work on how we're trying to
reduce crime across the country doing o
in the hard of government really gives
you the opportunity to influence
decision makers right at the very
center it's a real Buzz on a drive to
actually be changing the way that we're
delivering the things that we all live
and breathe and interact with on a daily
[Music]
basis this is St George Hospital in
London here using o techniques can
literally be the difference between life
and death one of the really big things
that hospitals have to think about is
how long patients stay and so therefore
how many beds and how many Wards and how
many doctors you have to look after them
it's really important for us to be able
to get as far as we can the right
capacity for the patients who are going
to come through the door so that we can
give them the treatment that they need
when they need
[Music]
it PTI patients when they're referred by
their GP either into A&E or into
outpatients um enter a series of cues
and one of the things that we really
have to do and we've been working very
hard on is getting those cues as short
as we can and making sure that we don't
have bottlenecks in our system and so
therefore we need queuing Theory and
operational research techniques to help
us make sure that we can get that
right
operational research is often at the
heart of what makes a business run
efficiently here everything must be
planned and timed precisely to avoid
bottlenecks tter steel manufactures
steel products and operational research
techniques are key to improving
productivity and reducing
costs what we produce here are big steel
coils that we sell on to various
companies that produce everyday objects
such as tin cans office furniture cars
and
fridges the O team currently consists of
12 members we provide an in-house
service where we incorporate ourselves
into various project teams for all the
Departments we use lots of software
within the department where we can build
real world processes on a computer
screen and Visually show these to the
project managers the process Specialists
and they can play out various scenarios
without having to work them out on real
world processes this in turn can save a
lot of money and is a lot safer in the
long
run dur on the plant we've had a
throughput of up to 4.4 uh million tons
of uh steel and we're looking to take
that up to 5.3 million tons so we got a
project to look at the infrastructure to
see if it can handle the extra 20%
through but the benefits of uh producing
5.3 million tons as opposed to 4.4 will
mean that our cost per T will come down
as an
organization
the reason why we got the O team
involved is because when you're looking
at your own process and you're so close
to it I think you make a lot of
assumptions and the model will take
those assumptions away they started
coming to our meetings first of all but
then we got into the nitt actually going
out on plant and getting them as close
to the process as we could so they could
see for
[Music]
themselves as you think about what the
future may hold for you if you want to
consider taking up a career in
operational research take a look at the
interesting University degrees out there
that are the best route into what we
call O the science of
better offering you a truly
inspirational challenge that will test
even the most inquisitive of Minds where
are many different academic paths into
operational research although most
people tend to have degrees um with
mathematics statistics computer science
or management content pupils will learn
a number of O techniques such as
computer simulation optimization
queueing Theory inventory control
problem structuring methods to name just
a few you also get a good balance
between a theoretical work and and an
appreciation of the application of these
techniques that will involve case
studies Project work which might involve
working with a real life company on a
real world
problem operational researchers
encouraging innovation in successful
organizations what I really like about
working in a is the variety of problems
we need to solve and being able to work
on the different production processes on
a week toe basis and going out and
visiting the plant and helping process
Specialists solve their problems if you
really want to use your analytical
mathematical logical skills to actually
make a difference o gives you the
perfect opportunity to actually change
the way people live their lives
excellent problem solvers that the rest
of us turn to to help revolutionize the
way we live thing about an operational
research career is that the variation
you work in you you can work for any
Department you can work even within the
department the projects you work on are
almost buried after the first two weeks
I was on a project right from the start
you know I felt really a important
member of the team I was meeting with
clients and it was really exciting I
enjoy the role that I do because of the
variety of the things that I can be
involved in um and I also get to see
behind the scenes of a a big UK retailer
um and the scale of the operations that
we have and the different processes we
complete within our depos and I also get
to be involved in the decision making
process behind our projects MTH at work
is somewhat different than mass at
school you're not given a structured
problem you become you get a general
problem you to structure it into a math
problem and then solve it and also the
decision and result you come up with is
actually used in real life decisions do
you want to take decisions that can make
a real
difference if you'd like to learn more
about o go to learn about .co.uk
UK okay UK UK
UK
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