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A heuristic procedure for scheduling production rolls of paper through a finishing operation to cut them down to finished roll sizes is described. The ratio of service time to interarrival time of production rolls at the initial cutting station is large so that insufficient time is available to set it up unless a minimum number of production roils are to be processed in the same manner. Otherwise, some portion of each production roll must go through a reprocessing operation to complete the cutting of finished sizes. The objective is to minimize the cost of trim loss and reprocessing. The procedure generates cutting patterns and usage levels sequentially until all the requirements are satisfied. At each step the search is dependent upon the characteristics of the unsatisfied requirements. A maximum of three solutions is generated for each problem. If none satisfies a predetermined aspiration level, the best of the three is chosen. The procedure was evaluated by scheduling a specific paper production facility and observing the results for a set of 15 problems. For each problem, the best solution was recorded. The overall results from this set of problems were then compared to previously recorded results on problems solved manually. There was a 16% improvement in solution quality for the heuristic procedure relative to the manual method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the 1966-1969 meeting schedule for The Institute of Management Science (TIMS). The 13th International meeting will take place in Philadelphia from September 6-8, 1966. Warsaw, Poland, will host the European Section meeting held jointly with the Econometric Society from September 2-7, 1966. The American Meeting of TIMS will be held in Boston from April 5-7, 1967.

The article presents the meeting schedule for The Institute of Management Science (TIMS). The 13th International meeting will take place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from September 6-8, 1966. Warsaw, Poland, will host the European Section meeting from September 2-7, 1966. The American meeting is scheduled for April 5-7, 1967 in Boston, Massachusetts. Detailed meeting information is provided.

The program for the 1966 TIMS American Meeting at the Statler Hilton, Dallas, Texas is presented.

The article presents the author's comments on criticisms of the management science paper "On Sequencing n Jobs on One Machine to Minimize the Number of Late Jobs," by William L. Maxwell. Maxwell presented an integer programming formulation for a one-machine job shop problem. The author contends that Maxwell's formulation was erroneous due to the intermediate steps leading from the original problem. He explains that the steps are not adequately described and therefore problematic. The author also explains that the counterexample to Maxwell's assessment is unable to be proven.

Many methods have been developed to determine the proper reorder points and order quantities in an inventory system. These methods are based on a wide range of inventory models—from elementary deterministic models to sophisticated probabilistic models with time-varying parameters. This paper deals with two topics related to these calculations which were encountered during the design of an inventory control system for a firm in the heavy goods industry. A mathematical model is developed to describe the average annual variable cost of maintaining the inventory. Based on this model, the paper evaluates the savings obtained by using a simultaneous solution for reorder point and order quantity rather than a simpler separate solution. Then, this model is extended to describe the effect of batch withdrawals as a renewal process. The paper presents an adjustment which can be applied to the original reorder points based on unit withdrawals. Both of these topics are described in the context of a practical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses some of the problem associated with the increasing membership and responsibility of The Institute of Management Science (TIMS). Some of the problems mentioned by the author are the need to adjust the publication policy in order to satisfy a new membership balance, as well as the need to publish a larger percentage of papers that TIMS receives. Moreover, the author mentions the complications from the use of computers in organizing the increasing membership of TIMS.

The problem of determining continuous flows of minimum cost in a network with convex cost functions is considered. The approach used is that of finding, for any given feasible flow, circuit flows of negative incremental costs. In the main theoretical result of this paper, it is proved that if at each stage, given a feasible nonoptimal flow X, the circuit flow with most negative incremental cost is added to X, linear convergence to the optimal solution will be obtained. In addition, this most negative incremental cost determines an upper bound on the difference in cost between the given feasible solution and the optimal. Based on these concepts, an algorithm, which preserves linear convergence, is presented to determine minimum cost flows in networks with convex costs in the arcs. Results of computer runs made for this algorithm are given. The special case of networks with linear costs is also considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this paper is to delineate an algorithm for fractional programming with nonlinear as well as linear terms in the numerator and denominator. The algorithm presented is based on a theorem by Jagannathan [7] concerning the relationship between fractional and parametric programming. This theorem is restated and proved in a somewhat simpler way. Finally, it is shown how the given algorithm can be related to the method of Isbell and Marlow [6] for linear fractional programming and to the quadratic parametric approach by Ritter [10]. The Appendix contains a numerical example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports some research, ideas, and theory about managerial decision making. The first research projects dealt with are aggregate production and employment scheduling. From this is developed the idea that management's own (past) decisions can be incorporated into a system of improving their present decisions. Decision rules are developed, with the coefficients in the rules derived from management's past decisions (rather than from a cost or value model). Half a dozen test cases are used to illustrate and test these ideas (theory). Some rationale about decision making in organizations and criteria surfaces is supplied to help interpret the major ideas presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commentary is presented for an article published in the July 1960 issue of "Management Science," written by L. V. Kantorovich with an introductory note by T. C. Koopmans. According to the author, in his introduction Koopmans addresses in particular a linear programming problem and a matrix game presented by Kantorovich. Also presented is an interpretation of the article's treatment of decision variables and mathematical optimization. The author notes that the article presents algorithms that have been improved from their contemporary presentations.

The article reports on key issues relevant to the use of statistical techniques by middle management. A group of student economists taking the statistics course of the Executive Program of the University of Chicago during 1952, 1953, and 1954 were required by their professor, W. Allen Wallace, to turn in a term paper analyzing the effect communication patterns have upon the operation of groups. The author focuses on examining the information compiled from the term papers, including general problems that the students observed as well as inefficiencies generated in eight specific categories including business forecasting, predictive techniques, and scheduling and inventory control. Marketing techniques are called into question. Common mistakes made in the interpretation of data are also discussed.

The article presents an announcement and meeting details of the Joint Meeting of the Econometric Society and the Institute of Management Science in Warsaw, Poland, from September 2-7, 1966.

The article presents a preface to the October 1, 1970 issue of "Management Science."