Recent developments in operations research: A personal perspective

Abstract

At the 25th anniversary of ORiON it is appropriate to look at the advances in OR during the last 25 years. This paper focuses on what has happened on the international front - there is not a focus on OR developments in South Africa as such. By doing this two observations immediately follow. Firstly, there have been very few new techniques or tools developed over this period. The classic tools and main techniques of OR are still what they were 25 years ago although vast developments and extensions of these have occurred. Secondly, OR practice has extended into almost all industries as well as all areas of human activity. It is almost impossible to highlight all these advances and give a comprehensive overview - an endeavour has rather been made to give a personal perspective on some of these advances.