Imagine working as a dispatcher for a medium-sized freight logistics company. Your day begins by matching a set of orders to a group of drivers. Maybe a computer helps you in this task, but ultimately the outcome is the same – a schedule for the day. This schedule has been carefully constructed to serve all orders at least cost while taking a variety of constraints (e.g. equipment type, time windows, hours of service regulations, etc) into account. Immediately after enacting this plan, changes occur. A truck breaks down, a customer cancels, a load is bigger than expected. The phone starts ringing, and your growing headache reminds you that you should ask your boss for a raise.
Volume 36, Number 3, June 2009
FEATURE ARTICLES
DIGITAL EDITION
DEPARTMENTS 
Inside Story
And the Winner is …
Perhaps the most impressive legacy of INFORMS’“Science of Better” marketing campaign, besides a good-looking Web site (www.INFORMS.org), is the annual Edelman Awards Gala. If memory serves, the initial goal of the gala was to put on an Oscars-like event that combined presentations by the Edelman finalists and the announcement of the winner with the suspense and glamour of its Hollywood counterpart while attracting a cadre of reporters from the big-time, mainstream business media.
President's Desk
Thoughts on Publications
Recently, I have been thinking about the business of scientific publications. Our 12 scholarly journals are among our most valuable assets. They have a well-deserved reputation for high-quality articles, with worldwide demand from faculty members and their research libraries. Our members volunteer tremendous amounts of unpaid labor by serving as authors, referees and editors. INFORMS adds significant value by facilitating a rigorous peer review process, applying high standards of professionalism to the publication process, and arranging for archival storage and dissemination of both print and on-line versions. This supports our mission by promoting the growth of scholarly knowledge in our field.
Issues in Education
Teaching Effectiveness Colloquium
The 2008 INFORMS Teaching Effectiveness Colloquium (TEC) marked a turning point for INFORMS’ educational programs. Prior to last year, the forum traditionally held two pedagogical meetings each year: the original daylong TEC the day before the INFORMS Annual Meeting and the multiple-day Teaching of Management Science (TMS) Workshop held in the summer. While this model was highly successful for several years, participants’ budget constraints limited attendance in recent years. INFORMS is committed to offering educational programs on pedagogical methods for operations research and management science, so the organization added an extra day to the 2008 TEC filled with some of the content usually covered at the TMS Workshop.
INFORMS in the News
Edelman Winner, Rhodes Scholar, Baseball Star & March Madness
The big news for INFORMS in recent months was the Franz Edelman competition. Hewlett-Packard won the competition, but for some time INFORMS has been insisting that all the finalists are, in a sense, winners. The press took note of this: Below you’ll see not only a New York Times blog about winner HP, but also a BusinessWeek article about finalist Norske Skag, a newsprint manufacturer that has used O.R. to bring dignity to downsizing.
Was It Something I Said
Who’s SORiors Now?
In the immortal words of Michael Palin from Monty Python’s Flying Circus, “I’d like to have an argument, please” [1]. Our topic today will be “Soft O.R.”
Viewpoint
Economic Recovery Through Supply Chain Reasoning
With economic gloom spreading globally, governments are under pressure on many fronts: families want relief on mortgages in the United States, the auto industry wants help in western countries, and banks need more help despite questionable results thus far. The economy itself is a complex network that defies a clear starting point. How should governments develop and explain an integrated set of initiatives as they face a growing number of demands? Businesses too have to make sense of the apparent pot pourri of government initiatives.
PuzzlOR
To Queue or Not to Queue
Grocery stores are one of the last commercial entities that continue to use the multiple-queue, multiple-server method for providing service to their customers. Banks and post offices have adopted a single-queue, multiple-server method that not only services customers faster but is a fairer system for providing service.
ORacle
The Unsung Hero
“Really interesting, Warren,” Anne, the IT manager, said as the waiter cleared the plates from the main course and brought dessert menus. “This ‘soft O.R.’ you asked me to read about does sound more useful than what you O.R. guys typically offer me. Maybe there is more you could do for us. But why don’t we hear more about this less technical, more problem-focused part of the profession?”