Operations Engineering

Interest in management science, especially under the name “operations research,” on the part of industry has grown since World War II due partly to the publicity given to military applications and partly to the return to industry of men trained along these lines. The techniques have become more fully developed and it is the purpose of this article to develop some conclusions we have been able to draw from our experience in applying the concepts. These conclusions resulted from an analysis of what was needed to apply operations research techniques to manufacturing. In particular, attention was given to stabilizing procedures, to making decisions in the face of uncertainty and to improving communication. It was found that these and related operating problems could be handled in an engineering fashion so that operations research would be more effective.