Industrial Engineering – Operations Research

Being one of the most most prominent subject in mechanical/manufacturing/industrial engineering curriculum, This subject has very much weightage in every aspect. Be it for academic proficiency, acing competitive exams or cracking that tough interview, OR (Operations Research) plays a very significant role.

In professional front, The field of operations research provides a more powerful approach to decision making than ordinary software and data analytics tools. Employing operations research, professionals can help companies achieve more complete datasets, consider all available options, predict all possible outcomes and estimate risk. . Additionally, operations research can be tailored to specific business processes or use cases to determine which techniques are most appropriate to solve the problem.

The ultimate aim of all the tools & practices involved in OR is to “Optimize”

In this course we are going to get the knowledge of various tools & practices of operations research with an ultimate aim to optimize problems & increase productivity. The course is divided into several sections, Linear Programming Problems, Transportation problems, Assignment problems, Sequencing, queuing theory & lastly PERT & CPM:

Linear Programming Problems (LPP) – In LPP, we will understand how to optimize a problem by using various methods like graphical method, slope method & simplex method. We will also understand about binding constraints & certain special cases.

Transportation & Assignment problems – In transportation, we will understand about popular methods like N-W corner rule & Vogel’s approximation method to optimize a transportation related problem. Whereas for assignment problems, we will look into Hungarian method.

Sequencing – In sequencing we will learn about n jobs in 1 machine via – Shortest Processing Time rule or SPT & Earliest due date rule or EDD. And n jobs in 2 machines.

Queuing theory – In queuing theory, we will get to know about the mathematical study of queues, Kendall notation, various queuing terminologies like arrival rate, service rate, calling population & many more.

Network analysis – We will do network analysis via PERT & CPM which comes very handy for project planning & execution.

The bottom-line of this course is to teach you the academic aspects of operations research keeping in mind the practical application to a greater extent. By taking this course, you are not only increasing your knowledge in academic front but also gaining insights about optimization at industry level.