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Elise del Rosario, president of the International Federation of Operational Research Societies, with the CSIR's Hans Ittmann, chair of the local organising committee, at the federation's 50th celebration event |
The promise of Africa and the role operations research plays in achieving that promise were highlighted by Elise del Rosario, president of the International Federation of Operational Research Societies (IFORS) at the federation's triennial conference held in South Africa in July. Dr Mosibudi Mangena, Minister of Science and Technology, welcomed the operations research participants from some 50 countries to the event.
The overall theme of the conference was how to manage connections among developing communities. The CSIR's Hans Ittmann, chairperson of the local organising committee, says, "It was the first time this conference, held every three years, was hosted on the African continent. This was a strong vote of confidence in the local operations research community and especially in the Operations Research Society of South Africa (ORSSA), and we are glad to report that participants were not disappointed. The 50th celebration of IFORS during the conference ensured that proceedings were even more memorable."
Close to 600 papers were presented over four days in many parallel sessions, with some 700 delegates attending. Many South African operations researchers as well as those from African countries had the opportunity to attend and network with top operations researchers from across the world.
The opening session plenary speaker was Clem Sunter, previously from Anglo American and a well-know scenario planning expert. As a futurist, he examined possibilities for the 'global game' until 2020 and South Africa's options within that framework. He referred to problems, such as HIV/Aids and a declining infrastructure, while also stating the strengths, including resources and tourism.
Well-known for his success in academia and business, Professor Don Ratliff of the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA was the plenary speaker on the second day. He presented on the role of operations research in lean supply chains, starting with the relation between lean production and lean supply chains. The plenary speaker on the Thursday was Professor Luk van Wassenhove of INSEAD and his talk was on supply chain management in the context of humanitarian disasters. Logistics is at the core of humanitarian disasters and Van Wassenhove presented how to adapt business logistics in this environment. The final plenary speaker was Dr Vijay Chandru of India whose paper dealt with a retrospective analysis of the Simputer Meme.
Operations research, or the scientific approach to problem solving, is currently not applied as widely as one would have liked, especially in the South African government. Dr Mangena challenged the operations research community to make an effort to change this situation around. Ittmann asserted that the local operations research community would take up this challenge.
Enquiries: CSIR Communication
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