The materials on this site support the book Operations Research Models and Methods, published by John Wiley and Sons in 2003. The book is designed to bridge the gap between theory and practice by presenting the tools and techniques most suited for modern operations research. A principal goal is to give engineers, analysts, and decision makers a larger appreciation of the role of operations research (OR) through examples of its application and by explanation of its solution methodologies.

Topics are structured along functional lines and span mathematical programming, stochastic processes, and simulation. The presentation is designed to give a full picture of the relationships that exist among modeling, analysis, computations, algorithmic implementation, and decision-making. Separate chapters are included on models and methods for each topic. By separating models and methods in a formal way, those whose main interests do not lie in the mathematics of OR can study the modeling material without intimidation. For those who have the motivation or need to understand the mathematics, a simple but rigorous development of OR methods is provided.

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This page provides an index to the supplements to the chapters of the text Operations Research Models and Methods. We also provide several new chapters. All supplements are PDF documents.

ORMM Site

This part of the site contains a variety of materials that support the textbook. Its contents are organized under the five general headings of models, methods, computation, problems, and OM/IE. The models section contains brief discussions on how decision problems can be expressed in a form amenable to analysis along with examples. The methods section contains pages that explain the theoretical constructs behind the solution methods. The computation section provides instructions for the Excel add-ins that can be used to solve the models. The problems section has modeling or algorithm problems. The OM/IE section opens a separate site describing OR applications. It is described below.

Major topics on the ORMM site include linear programming, nonlinear programming, network flow programming, dynamic programming, stochastic programming, combinatorics, analysis of functions and general optimization. Probability models considered include random variable analysis, decision analysis, queuing analysis, stochastic processes and simulation.

OM/IE Site

The OM/IE section provides models and methods for solving a variety of applications of OR studied in the fields of Operations Management and Industrial Engineering. The section is divided into four main categories. The Design section includes procedures that can be used while designing a system including: Economics, Facility Layout and Process Flow Analysis. The Operation section includes procedures that are useful during the day-to-day operation of a system including: Inventory Theory and Material Requirements Planning. Both design and operations are considered in the Computations section where one finds instructions for Microsoft Excel add-ins that address ten applications. The Problems section holds problems that illustrate the models and methods of this section.

Excel Documents

Excel Add-ins

Computational support is provided by Microsoft Excel add-ins. The add-ins are quite robust and extremely easy to use. They cover all of the subjects described in the textbook as well as many others that would be covered by operations management and industrial engineering courses. They are divided into three classes, Operations Research (ORMM), Operations Management and Industrial Engineering (OR/IE), and Teaching Methods of OR (Teach OR). All are downloaded individually from the Excel download page. The entire collection is included in the Jensen Library download. The add-in user selects the model type from a menu, enters basic size parameters in a dialog box, enters the instance data on a data form, and selects a solution process. Model results are automatically computed and presented on the Excel worksheet. Very little instruction is necessary for the user to input and solve complex problems. The spreadsheet medium is very useful because most people are familiar with its basic operations, data analysis can be in the same file as models and solutions, several OR methods can interact through the common interface, and data can be easily modified for what-if analyses.

The add-ins are implemented in Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) and stored in Excel add-in files (.xla). Add-ins are not used like regular Excel workbook files. They must be installed through the add-in dialog on the Tools menu of Excel or with the control add-ins provided witht the collection. Review the General Instructions before using the add-ins. Some add-ins use the Solver add-in that comes with Excel.

The Excel add-ins and data files work with Excel 97 or later versions of Excel on either the Macintosh (except Excel 2008) or Windows operating systems. Excel 2008 for the Macintosh does not include VBA so it is excluded.

Add-ins in the ORMM collection include: linear programming, nonlinear programming, network flow programming, dynamic programming, stochastic programming, combinatorics, analysis of functions and general optimization. Add-ins involving probability models include random variable analysis, decision analysis, queuing analysis, stochastic processes (included with dynamic programming) and simulation.

Links on this page allow you to download Excel add-ins for problem solving in OM/IE including: capital budgeting, economic decision making, equity analysis, cost estimating, forecasting, inventory analysis, facility layout, materials requirement planning, process flow analysis and project planning and control.

Add-ins in the OM/IE collection involve subjects often taught in operations management and industrial engineering courses. They include: capital budgeting, economic decision making, equity analysis, cost estimating, forecasting, inventory analysis, facility layout, materials requirement planning, process flow analysis, project planning and control, routing and data envelopement analysis.

Add-ins in the Teach OR collection assist in teaching/learning mathematical programming algorithms. The six Excel add-ins describe the traditional math programming methods: linear programming, network flow programming, transportation method, nonlinear programming, integer programming and dynamic programming. Each add-in allows user interaction to guide the solution process.

Demonstration Excel Files

There are one or more demonstration files for each Excel add-in. The demonstration files are downloaded through the Excel Download page. On that page, select the add-in title of interest and the description page lists the available demonstration files. Once downloaded, a demonstration file is opened in Excel by double clicking the file title or through the Open File command of Excel.

The entire collection of demonstration files is downloaded with the Jensen Library. The file is zipped to reduce the size of the download. When unzipped, the files are placed within a directory called demo_xls. That directory is placed within the Jensen.Lib directory. The ORMM Control, OMIE Control, and Teach OR Control add-ins have dialog boxes that open the main demonstration file for each add-in.

Template Files

A few programs are included as Templates. These documents are opened as Excel files. Some contain macros. These are listed on the Excel Download page.

Chapter Excel Files

These are Excel data files (.xls) that solve almost all of the examples in the textbook. One or more files are provided for each chapter that contain numerical examples. Most of the examples are solved using the add-ins provided on this site.

Commercial Software

The book CD provided student versions of popular commercial software. This software is no longer included with the book, but low cost or free demonstration versions are listed below.

Excel Solver by Frontline Systems

The Excel Solver add-in is developed by Frontline Systems. The Solver is a free addition to Excel and is sufficient for all optimization examples and exercises in the book. Frontline Systems offers a wide variety of solvers for larger problems and more complex optimization. The newer versions of Solver also provide Monte Carlo simulation analysis.

MPL Modeling System by Maximal Software

MPL Modeling System from Maximal Software, Inc. is an algebraic modeling system for mathematical programming with the optimization solvers CPLEX from ILOG, Inc, and CONOPT from ARKI Consulting. This software is available for the Windows operating system. Download the free student/trial versions from the Maximal Software site.

Extend from Imagine That

Extend is a discrete event and continuous simulation package for modeling dynamic systems. This software is available for both the Macintosh and Windows operating systems. A free Demo version is available for small problems from the Imagine That site.