The Department of Management Science, University of Strathclyde are hosting
a seminar by
Prof Tony Christer
Department of OR & Applied Statistics
University of Salford
Thursday 10th June 2004
5.30pm for 6.00pm
A Comparison of Objective and Subjective Methods in Operations Modelling
Abstract
Qualitative modelling techniques available for operations management
problems might be more applicable if only the data necessary for problem
recognition and parameter estimation were available. This is the near
ideal situation, which often doesn't exist.
For such eventualities, there is a host of subjective techniques to aid
the floundering analyst, varying from the 'have a guess' to the
reasonably sophisticated. The obvious question is 'how good are these
methods and can they lead to the same general 'advice' or conclusion'
resulting from the ideal situation?
This paper looks at one problem, an actual problem in plant maintenance,
and presents three solutions, one based on the objective analysis of
data available, and the other two based upon differing subjective
techniques which assumed limited or no access to existing objective
data.
The results are re-assuring for the case in question, but one gain of
the objective technique is believability and confidence on the part of
the problem owner.
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Department of Management Science
University of Strathclyde
Graham Hills Building
40 George Street
Glasgow
G1 1QE
Tel 0141 548 3141
www.managementscience.org
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