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Two studies, concerned with the use of process control computer-generated information for production management decision making, are discussed. One study which has been completed, used data from a large primary steel products company to study and propose a process control/business control interface. The other study deals with the use of process generated information as a basis for automatic decision making at the lower levels of production management.

“Applications Reviews” is a guide to accomplished or partial MS/OR applications, cited in articles appearing in many of the major journals of the field. We cover only applications—except for the occasional brief mention of a survey article or special issue—and so do not claim to cover all the best articles in MS/OR. The abstracts are purposely kept short to emphasize breadth of coverage over depth; we try to tell you what modeling approach has been applied to what problem, and if possible the size and character of the improvements achieved as a result.

An overview of latest results published elsewhere: —Decision Sciences (AIDS), Vol. 9, No. 4, October 1978; —Management Science (TIMS), Vol. 24, No. 11, July 1978; —Management Science, Vol. 24, No. 12, August 1978; —Management Science, Vol. 24, No. 13, September 1978; —MIS Quarterly (SMIS), Vol. 2, No. 3, September 1978; —Operations Research, Vol. 26, No. 5, September–October 1978; —Policy Analysis, Vol. 4, No. 4, Fall 1978.

A machine shop falls victim to the exacting analysis of an “operations researcher”; the results of the research indicate that the small company must drop several of the items currently being produced and sold. “There are more catalog items than constraints”, the O.R. type explains, “If you only had more constraints on your production!” The manager's response to the thought of seeking to identify more constraints than already existed is omitted in the interests of good taste. A manufacturer of injection-molded dinnerware allowed a group of graduate students in industrial engineering to do a study of their production-inventory system. One of the results was a series of recommendations relating to economic lot size production runs for the various items being produced.

“Applications Reviews” is a guide to accomplished or partial MS/OR applications cited in articles appearing in many of the major journals of the field. We cover only applications—except for the occasional brief mention of a survey article or special issue—and so do not claim to cover all the best articles in MS/OR. The abstracts are purposely kept short to emphasize breadth of coverage over depth; we try to tell you what modeling approach has been applied to what problem, and if possible the size and character of the improvements achieved as a result. If an issue of one of our regularly covered journals contains no applications articles, we give the one-line citation for the issue with no articles shown under it. Readers who know of applications articles we may have missed or improperly slighted are invited to let us know. “Applications Reviews” is cosponsored by the TIMS College on Public Programs and Processes, the TIMS College on Marketing, and the ORSA Military Applications Section.