<p>Hey, redbeard</p>
<p>where can OR be applied in a non-govt. field?
Whats the scope of OR in the private industry?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Hey, redbeard</p>
<p>where can OR be applied in a non-govt. field?
Whats the scope of OR in the private industry?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I don't want to speak for redbeard, so I encourage him to answer these questions himself.</p>
<p>But I would say that OR is applicable in a wide range of private sector jobs. Factory optimization is an obvious example - the ability to squeeze more output from a factory at lower cost. Supply chain and distribution optimization is another example. For example, I know people working at Netflix who work on distribution optimization. Keep in mind that Netflix doesn't manufacture anything, and hence has no factories. It's basically just an distribution/inventory company. They keep a stock of DVD's in various waypoints throughout the country such that customers are able to get the movies they want as quickly as possible, while at the same time, not forcing Netflix to buy more copies of the movie than necessary. {For example, when the Simpsons movie comes out on DVD, Netflix has to determine how many copies to buy, and how many should be stocked at each waypoint in order to provide the optimal customer service so that customers don't have to wait more days than necessary for the USPS to deliver their movie from some waypoint halfway around the country.}</p>
<p>In addition, OR is very useful for airplane manufacturers... I worked for one in the Six Sigma Dept. and they had many OR people... but the question is, did they accomplish anything? No, not really.</p>
<p>One of my researchers just came back from INCOSE. The question is answered in part on their website: INCOSE</a> - Careers in Systems Engineering</p>
<p>Then there is INFORMS at this website: Operations</a> Research</p>
<p>OR is used for any organized and methodical analysis of a resource. It can be airline scheduling, health care marketing, modeling and simulation of new systems, or supply chain modeling. OR is part of the process of evaluating the effectiveness of any policy or decision. INFORMS calls OR the "science of better".</p>
<p>"did they accomplish anything? No, not really."</p>
<p>so why is it useful?</p>