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Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1985. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 59-60).

In this thesis, we study three emerging applications of OR/MS, namely, (i) disease spread modeling, intervention strategies, and food supply chain management during an influenza pandemic, (ii) the practical applications of production planning and scheduling in the commercial lithographic printing industry, and (iii) packing/placement problems in chip design in the semiconductor industry. In the first part of the thesis, we study an emergency response planning problem motivated by discussions with the American Red Cross, which has taken on a responsibility to feed people in case of an influenza pandemic. During an emergency such as an influenza pandemic or a bioterror attack, regular distribution channels of critical products and services including food and water may be disrupted, or some of the infected individuals may not be able to go to grocery stores. We analyze the geographical spread of the disease and develop solution approaches for designing the food distribution supply chain network in case of an influenza pandemic. In addition, we investigate the effect of voluntary quarantine on the disease spread and food distribution supply chain network. Finally, we analyze the effect of influenza pandemic on the workforce level. In the second part, we study a real life scheduling/packing problem motivated by the practices in the commercial lithographic printing industry which make up the largest segment of the printing industry. We analyze the problem structure and develop efficient algorithms to form cost effective production schedules. In addition, we propose a new integer programming formulation, strengthen it by adding cuts and propose several preprocessing steps to solve the problem optimally. In the last part of the thesis, motivated by the chip design problem in the semiconductor industry, we study a rectangle packing/placement problem. We discuss the hardness of the problem, explore the structural properties, and discuss a special case which is polynomially solvable. Then, we develop an integer programming formulation and propose efficient algorithms to find a ``good' placement.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The majority of small and medium - and to a much lesser extent the large - commercial lithographic printing firms situated in the Western Cape do not employ a fulltime financial director or an accountant. The result is that many managers - very often without much financial training - have to steer their firm through very turbulent economic times. Apart from being in this state of siege, managers of these commercial printing firms have their problem compounded by the fact that they do not have any industry-specific financial benchmarks against which to evaluate their firms' financial performance. Against this background, the writer has set out to determine certain industry financial benchmarks - presented in the form of ratios - for the commercial lithographic printing firms situated in the Western Cape to enable participating firms to measure their performance relative to their sector peers. As such, this study is aimed at the non-financial manager, firstly, and thereafter the financial manager. To this end an attempt has been made to keep the vocabulary as user-friendly as possible without sacrificing brevity and clarity. Lastly, this study is presented as a working document rather than a theoretical exercise. The essence of this study - to create a tool for financial evaluation - could be embodied as follows: Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity, cash flow is reality. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die meerderheid klein en medium - en tot 'n mindere mate groot - kommersiële litografiese drukkery firmas wat in die Wes Kaap geleë is, het nie 'n voltydse finansiële direkteur of rekenmeester in diens nie. Dit gee daartoe aanleiding dat verskeie bestuurders - dikwels sonder noemenswaardige finansiële opleiding - hul firma deur 'n baie onstuimige ekonomiese omgewing moet stuur. Buiten hierdie uitdaging is daar ook die verdere probleem dat daar tans geen industrie-spesifieke finansiële maatstawwe bestaan waarteen hul firmas se finansiële prestasie gemeet kan word nie. Teen hierdie agtergrond het hierdie studie dus ten doel gehad om sekere industrie spesifieke finansiële maatstawwe - aangebied as verhoudings - vir die kommersiële litografiese drukkery firmas wat in die Wes Kaap geleë is, te genereer sodat deelnemende firmas hul finansiële prestasie kan meet relatief tot hul sektor eweknieë. Met hierdie doel voor oë is hierdie studie dus eerstens gerig op die nie-finansiële bestuurder en daarna die finansiële bestuurder. Dienooreenkomstig is die woordeskat dus so gebruikervriendelik moontlik gehou sonder om akkuraatheid en trefkrag in te boet. Laastens is hierdie studie gemik om 'n werksdokument eerder as 'n teoretiese skrywe te wees. Die kern van hierdie studie - om naamlik 'n instrument te wees vir finansiële evaluasie - kan as volg saamgevat word: Omset is ydelheid, wins is redelikheid, kontantvloei is werklikheid.