Effective Operations Research R&D in Industry

Changed views in industry have led to more business-driven industrial R&D, also affecting industrial Operations Research activities. In a large oil company it resulted in emphasis on operational applications. Two examples of such OR activities, oil product blending and product distribution, demonstrate that continuing OR advances can contribute significantly to the changing business needs, even in these traditional application areas. OR professionals working in those projects have to demonstrate the business value of their work and are therefore also involved in the initiation, field testing and implementation phases of a project. This involves close cooperation with operational staff and software engineers and requires additional skills. The shift in industrial R&D towards applications requires a wider span of activities of academic research in order to bridge the widening gap between science and practice.