China's economic reform promotes operational research applications in the processing industry

This paper illustrates the opportunities for operational research (OR) applications that the authors found in the course of economic reform and show how these applications were brought to success. In the paper, representative models and their associated algorithms are described. The effects of OR in improving productivity and managerial decision-making are also indicated by real examples. These will, in the authors' belief, strengthen the resolve of enterprise managers and of OR researchers to continue research into OR applications.