OVERVIEW

Operations Research is a discipline included in the class of decision science and management science; therefore, in addition to the basic notions of this subject, the lessons provide professional skills related to Problem Solving and Decision Making in the area of  transport of goods and people.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The aim of the course is to give students the basics of operations research, which are most relevant to the strategic and operational planning of enterprises. Emphasis will be given to the field of logistics and transport. The course is aimed at developing optimization models for decision making problems. Skilled in problem solving with spreadsheet optimization are provided

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The main objective of the teaching is to provide students with the basics of Operations Research that are most relevant to the strategic and operational planning of companies, with particular reference to the logistics and transport sector. The lessons are aimed at providing the skills to develop, solve and analyse optimisation models for solving relevant decision-making problems in the freight and passenger transport sector.

The expected learning outcomes at the end  are teh following:

•  ability to analyse a problem, identify the decision variables, the objective and the constraints, typically operational, for achieving it;
•  ability to formulate, by means of a mathematical model, the optimisation problem associated with the previously analysed problem;
•  ability to identify the most appropriate solution method and sw environment to determine the solution of the optimisation problem formulated;
•  be able to tackle the main problems of production planning, service activities, transport planning and network optimisation.

PREREQUISITES

The basics of mathematics and economics are taken for granted.

TEACHING METHODS

 Traditional lectures with the possibility of using the PC in the classroom.

"Students who have valid certification of physical or learning disabilities  and who wish to discuss possible accommodations or other circumstances regarding lectures, coursework and exams, should speak both with the instructor and with Professor Serena Scotto (scotto@economia.unige.it), the Department’s disability liaison."

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The aim of the teaching is to give students the basics of operations research, which are most relevant to the strategic and operational planning of enterprises. Particular emphasis will be given to the field of logistics and transport. The lessons are aimed at developing optimization models for decision making problems.
Main topics:

• Overview of the operation research modeling approach
• Linear programming problems: production and transportation planning.
• The Simplex method and its economic interpretation. Duality theory and sensitivity analysis
• Network optimization problems. Definition of graphs. Shortest Path Problems. Connectivity problems.
• Discrete and Boolean optimization problems. Knapsack and  Assignment problems.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Hillier & Lieberman “Introduction to Operations Research”, McGRAW-Hill. Suggested edition: 2016 (available on-line).
• Handouts and notes provided by the teacher

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Sem: I

Class schedule

OPERATIONS RESEARCH

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Written examination consisting of exercises and questions, possibly followed by an interview.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

During the course, exercises and case studies will be proposed, possibly to be analysed in groups, in order to verify the effectiveness of learning. Successful exercises will contribute to a (supplementary) assessment in addition to the examination.

FURTHER INFORMATION