This is the 34th year of the prestigious competition, which has recognized techniques that have changed our technical and business landscape. These include dynamic pricing, which revolutionized pricing in the airlines and hospitality industries; Diagnostic Related Groups, which saved $50 billion in costs faced by the Medicare system in the 1980s; and new methods of conducting online product procurement auctions, managing the supply chain, and fighting AIDS.
Innovations at IBM, Motorola, GM, NBC, Mars, and Merrill Lynch, as well as the U.S. Army, the City of New Haven, and Texas Children's Hospital, have been spotlighted. The Edelman competition has recognized the use of operations research in significant cost savings, most recently $130 million at HP and $600 million at Motorola.
Operations Research, known as the "science of better," is the discipline of applying advanced analytical methods to help make better decisions.
The 2005 finalists will compete in Palm Springs for the Franz Edelman Award, which is presented by INFORMS and CPMS, the Practice Section of INFORMS. The Edelman competition takes place Monday, April 18. The winner will be announced Tuesday, April 19.
This year's finalists include
The Edelman Award recognizes outstanding implemented operations research that has had a significant, positive impact on the performance of a client organization. The top finalist receives a $10,000 first prize.
Last year, Motorola and Emptoris were recognized for achieving increased productivity and reduced costs at the electronics manufacturer. Previous winners include Continental Airlines, Canadian Pacific Railroad, and Sabre Decision Technologies.
The competition is being held at an INFORMS conference, "Applying Science to the Art of Business," which takes place at The Westin Mission Hills Resort in Rancho Mirage near Palm Springs, California from April 17-19. Information about the conference is online at http://informs.org/Conf/Practice2005
The finalist papers will be published in the January, 2006 issue of the INFORMS publication Interfaces. Recent Edelman finalists can be viewed at www.scienceofbetter.org.
The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS®) is an international scientific society with 10,000 members, including Nobel Prize laureates, dedicated to applying scientific methods to help improve decision-making, management, and operations. Members of INFORMS work in business, government, and academia. They are represented in fields as diverse as airlines, health care, law enforcement, the military, financial engineering, and telecommunications. The INFORMS website is www.informs.org. More information about operations research is at www.scienceofbetter.org.