From robinlh at us.ibm.com  Fri Mar 17 09:38:35 2006
From: robinlh at us.ibm.com (Robin Lougee-Heimer)
Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2006 09:38:35 -0500
Subject: [Coin-rpx] Re: time to finsih the plan for the "real problem
	exchange" ...
In-Reply-To: <3B326087ABEA7940953BF629CAA40E170193215B@azsmsx402>
Message-ID: <OF3CE59C32.444DED06-ON85257134.004F87FC-85257134.0050705D@us.ibm.com>

Karl:

>What is "done" ...

- We have a mailing list dedicated to the RPX.  It would be great if you, 
Dave & Harlan would join. 
http://list.coin-or.org/mailman/listinfo/coin-rpx. 
- We have a webpage:   http://www.coin-or.org/RPX/  to use as we wish 
(e.g., post samples before, after, during the conference).

>I am free Mon 20th or Tues 21st or Wed 22nd from 9-10 MST (that is 8-9 
PST, 10-11 CST, 11-12 EST). 

I'm free Mon 3/20 and Tues 3/21 at 11-12 EST.

hoping to talk to you all next week,
Robin

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robin Lougee-Heimer
IBM TJ Watson Research Center
1101 Kitchawan Road, Yorktown Heights, NY 10598
ph: 914-945-3032   fax: 914-945-3434 
robinlh at us.ibm.com
http://www.coin-or.org





"Kempf, Karl G" <karl.g.kempf at intel.com> 
03/16/2006 09:46 PM

To
<david.heltne at lakesideassociates.com>, <hpc at acm.org>, Robin 
Lougee-Heimer/Watson/IBM at IBMUS
cc
"Kempf, Karl G" <karl.g.kempf at intel.com>
Subject
time to finsih the plan for the "real problem exchange" ...






Team - below is what we committed to in OR/MS Today ......
 
lunch Monday - facilitated breakout
late Monday - birds of a feather 
lunch Tuesday - facilitated breakout
 
topic 1: form and characteristics of problems
facilitators from practitioner community
example problem statements, models, data sets
distribute questions before session / post on the web
result 1: guidelines
 
topic 2: policies, procedures, systems
facilitators
(straw schemes ????)
distribute questions before session / post on web
result 2: guidelines
 
What is "done" ...
 
Terry Cryan has the two birds of a feather sessions scheduled and has 
rooms etc.
 
I am getting ready to co-facilitate the birds of a feather on form and 
characteristics of problems - intend to use one problem set from Willems 
(see attached - this is a fixed set of 20 problems of varying sizes 
including data for each) and a problem structure that I use in my 
university collaborations (see below for a partial description - this I 
consider to be a problem generator - it comes with some standard parameter 
sets but can be re-parameterized and expanded along many axes).
 
All the rest we have to nail down. I am free Mon 20th or Tues 21st or Wed 
22nd from 9-10 MST (that is 8-9 PST, 10-11 CST, 11-12 EST). Please tell me 
if any of these work and I will set up a phone bridge. THANKS - Karl    PS 
- you might remind me if we had anyone else interested in this that I have 
forgotten (in fact you can forward this message to them !!!)
 
 
 
 
 
 
This is a discrete time model with a state description at each time, and a 
set of stochastic transitions that move the model forward in time.
 
Assume there is one factory that produces 2 products named A and B. The 
linear manufacturing process is 5 steps long. There is some complexity 
associated with the steps - a raw equipment and operator capacity (there 
is some number of each with an associated production rate), the minute to 
minute availability of the equipment and operators (equipment needs 
periodic maintenance, operators need periodic breaks), batching and setup 
criteria, quality checks requiring engineering staff, and so on.  But 
there are only three things that can happen to an individual product A or 
B at each step in each time period - it can be successfully processed 
through the step and at the end of the period be passed on to the next 
step, it can not finish processing at the step and remain at the step 
through the next time period, it can be processed through the step but 
fail its quality test and be scrapped at the end of the time period 
precluding it from ever moving to the next step. Assuming that the factory 
will always be heavily loaded (and to avoid the necessity of 
"simulation"), each step has associated a probability for each of these 
possibilities, and those probabilities are applied to each product during 
each time period to decide the state of the factory at the start of the 
next time period. There is an overall maximum load that the factory can 
support (simply an upper bound on the number of products in the factory). 
At the beginning of each time period a decision must be made concerning 
how many raw As and Bs to release into the line.
 
- there is a supply process that is 5 manufacturing stages long 
representing one factory that manufactures  products A and B
- at each manufacturing stage, for each product, the following things can 
happen to the entities in that stage during one time period
            - there is a probability that the product will advance one 
stage
            - there is a probability that the product will wait at the 
stage
            - there is a probability that the product will be misprocessed 
and scraped
- prior to the distinguished first manufacturing stage, there is a 
decision node where a decision has to be made each time period for each 
product on how much raw material to release (from an infinite supply) into 
the first manufacturing stage
- there is an upper bound on the total Work-in-Progress of products A and 
B that can be accommodated in the factory at any time
 
Assume there is a demand for products A and B. There is an aggregate 
forecast of order quantities for each product 10 time periods prior to 
their desired delivery data. For the first 8 time periods, in each time 
period the forecasts can be updated. Due to the variability in the 
customers' markets, individual orders can be requested to be delivered one 
or two time periods earlier or later. They can also request that 
individual orders be increased or decreased in quantity by 5% or 10%. 
 
-there is a demand process that is 10 ordering stages long that consumes 
products A and B
 
- at each stage, for each product, the following things can happen to the 
orders in that stage during one time period
            - there is a probability that the order will advance one or 
two stages
            - there is a probability that the order will wait at the stage 
or digress one stage
            - there is a probability that the order will be decreased 
(perhaps to zero) or increased in quantity
- prior to the distinguished first demand stage, there is a decision node 
where a decision has to be made each time period for each product on how 
many new orders to release into the first ordering stage
- there is no upper bound on the total Orders-in-Progress of products A 
and B that can be accommodated in the ordering system at any time
 
- there is an inventory position into which flows products A and B that 
successfully advance out of the last manufacturing stage
- the materials in this position perish after 10 time periods
- there is an inventory position into which flows orders for products A 
and B that successfully advance out of the last ordering stage
- the orders in this position perish after 5 time periods
- there is a decision node between these two positions where a decision is 
taken at the end of each time period as to which orders to fill with which 
products
 
- each time a product enters the supply process, a charge is applied - $W 
for A, $X for B
- each time a product in inventory is matched with an order in inventory, 
and both are withdrawn, a credit is applied - $Y for A, $Z for B
- the goal is to maximize profit over some horizon as the difference 
between total credits and total charges
 
 
 
 
 
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From robinlh at us.ibm.com  Mon Mar 20 09:28:14 2006
From: robinlh at us.ibm.com (Robin Lougee-Heimer)
Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 09:28:14 -0500
Subject: [Coin-rpx] discussing the plan for the "real problem exchange" at
 the INFORMS Practice Meeting
Message-ID: <OFC1133EF7.22BDB9C8-ON85257137.004EB802-85257137.004F7D4D@us.ibm.com>

Dear RPX-members:

Tomorrow 2/21 at 11 EST, there is going to be a conference call to plan 
activities to develop the "Real Problem Exchange" at the INFORMS Practice 
Meeting.  See below.  I'll post the call-in information to the list. (To 
subscribe to the list, visit  http://www.coin-or.org/RPX)

Robin

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robin Lougee-Heimer
IBM TJ Watson Research Center
1101 Kitchawan Road, Yorktown Heights, NY 10598
ph: 914-945-3032   fax: 914-945-3434 
robinlh at us.ibm.com
http://www.coin-or.org


----- Forwarded by Robin Lougee-Heimer/Watson/IBM on 03/20/2006 09:19 AM 
-----

"Kempf, Karl G" <karl.g.kempf at intel.com> 
03/20/2006 07:31 AM

To
"Kempf, Karl G" <karl.g.kempf at intel.com>, 
<david.heltne at lakesideassociates.com>, <hpc at acm.org>, Robin 
Lougee-Heimer/Watson/IBM at IBMUS
cc

Subject
RE: time to finsih the plan for the "real problem exchange" ...






Thanks for your replies - Tuesday 8 AM PST it is - I'll have my admin get 
us a bridge as soon as I get to my office this morning ...
 

From: Kempf, Karl G 
Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2006 7:47 PM
To: david.heltne at lakesideassociates.com; hpc at acm.org; robinlh at us.ibm.com
Cc: Kempf, Karl G
Subject: time to finsih the plan for the "real problem exchange" ...
 
Team - below is what we committed to in OR/MS Today ......
 
lunch Monday - facilitated breakout
late Monday - birds of a feather 
lunch Tuesday - facilitated breakout
 
topic 1: form and characteristics of problems
facilitators from practitioner community
example problem statements, models, data sets
distribute questions before session / post on the web
result 1: guidelines
 
topic 2: policies, procedures, systems
facilitators
(straw schemes ????)
distribute questions before session / post on web
result 2: guidelines
 
What is "done" ...
 
Terry Cryan has the two birds of a feather sessions scheduled and has 
rooms etc.
 
I am getting ready to co-facilitate the birds of a feather on form and 
characteristics of problems - intend to use one problem set from Willems 
(see attached - this is a fixed set of 20 problems of varying sizes 
including data for each) and a problem structure that I use in my 
university collaborations (see below for a partial description - this I 
consider to be a problem generator - it comes with some standard parameter 
sets but can be re-parameterized and expanded along many axes).
 
All the rest we have to nail down. I am free Mon 20th or Tues 21st or Wed 
22nd from 9-10 MST (that is 8-9 PST, 10-11 CST, 11-12 EST). Please tell me 
if any of these work and I will set up a phone bridge. THANKS - Karl    PS 
- you might remind me if we had anyone else interested in this that I have 
forgotten (in fact you can forward this message to them !!!)
 
 
 
 
 
 
This is a discrete time model with a state description at each time, and a 
set of stochastic transitions that move the model forward in time.
 
Assume there is one factory that produces 2 products named A and B. The 
linear manufacturing process is 5 steps long. There is some complexity 
associated with the steps - a raw equipment and operator capacity (there 
is some number of each with an associated production rate), the minute to 
minute availability of the equipment and operators (equipment needs 
periodic maintenance, operators need periodic breaks), batching and setup 
criteria, quality checks requiring engineering staff, and so on.  But 
there are only three things that can happen to an individual product A or 
B at each step in each time period - it can be successfully processed 
through the step and at the end of the period be passed on to the next 
step, it can not finish processing at the step and remain at the step 
through the next time period, it can be processed through the step but 
fail its quality test and be scrapped at the end of the time period 
precluding it from ever moving to the next step. Assuming that the factory 
will always be heavily loaded (and to avoid the necessity of 
"simulation"), each step has associated a probability for each of these 
possibilities, and those probabilities are applied to each product during 
each time period to decide the state of the factory at the start of the 
next time period. There is an overall maximum load that the factory can 
support (simply an upper bound on the number of products in the factory). 
At the beginning of each time period a decision must be made concerning 
how many raw As and Bs to release into the line.
 
- there is a supply process that is 5 manufacturing stages long 
representing one factory that manufactures  products A and B
- at each manufacturing stage, for each product, the following things can 
happen to the entities in that stage during one time period
            - there is a probability that the product will advance one 
stage
            - there is a probability that the product will wait at the 
stage
            - there is a probability that the product will be misprocessed 
and scraped
- prior to the distinguished first manufacturing stage, there is a 
decision node where a decision has to be made each time period for each 
product on how much raw material to release (from an infinite supply) into 
the first manufacturing stage
- there is an upper bound on the total Work-in-Progress of products A and 
B that can be accommodated in the factory at any time
 
Assume there is a demand for products A and B. There is an aggregate 
forecast of order quantities for each product 10 time periods prior to 
their desired delivery data. For the first 8 time periods, in each time 
period the forecasts can be updated. Due to the variability in the 
customers' markets, individual orders can be requested to be delivered one 
or two time periods earlier or later. They can also request that 
individual orders be increased or decreased in quantity by 5% or 10%. 
 
-there is a demand process that is 10 ordering stages long that consumes 
products A and B
 
- at each stage, for each product, the following things can happen to the 
orders in that stage during one time period
            - there is a probability that the order will advance one or 
two stages
            - there is a probability that the order will wait at the stage 
or digress one stage
            - there is a probability that the order will be decreased 
(perhaps to zero) or increased in quantity
- prior to the distinguished first demand stage, there is a decision node 
where a decision has to be made each time period for each product on how 
many new orders to release into the first ordering stage
- there is no upper bound on the total Orders-in-Progress of products A 
and B that can be accommodated in the ordering system at any time
 
- there is an inventory position into which flows products A and B that 
successfully advance out of the last manufacturing stage
- the materials in this position perish after 10 time periods
- there is an inventory position into which flows orders for products A 
and B that successfully advance out of the last ordering stage
- the orders in this position perish after 5 time periods
- there is a decision node between these two positions where a decision is 
taken at the end of each time period as to which orders to fill with which 
products
 
- each time a product enters the supply process, a charge is applied - $W 
for A, $X for B
- each time a product in inventory is matched with an order in inventory, 
and both are withdrawn, a credit is applied - $Y for A, $Z for B
- the goal is to maximize profit over some horizon as the difference 
between total credits and total charges
 
 
 
 
 
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From robinlh at us.ibm.com  Mon Mar 20 11:59:20 2006
From: robinlh at us.ibm.com (Robin Lougee-Heimer)
Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 11:59:20 -0500
Subject: [Coin-rpx] Fw: TELEPHONE DETAILS ... plan for the "real problem
	exchange" ...
Message-ID: <OFF2AC8902.1AC7D50D-ON85257137.005BDC5B-85257137.005D52DF@us.ibm.com>

----- Forwarded by Robin Lougee-Heimer/Watson/IBM on 03/20/2006 11:43 AM 
-----

"Kempf, Karl G" <karl.g.kempf at intel.com> 
03/20/2006 10:58 AM

To
"Kempf, Karl G" <karl.g.kempf at intel.com>, 
<david.heltne at lakesideassociates.com>, <hpc at acm.org>, Robin 
Lougee-Heimer/Watson/IBM at IBMUS
cc

Subject
TELEPHONE DETAILS ... plan for the "real problem exchange" ...






Team : below the details for our phone con - below that the "notes" we 
will be using during the meeting ...
 
Tuesday, March 21, 2006     9:00 AM MST 
 
Please dial this number:  916-356-2663, 
The voice will ask for your "Bridge Number", enter 8
The voice will then ask for your "Passcode", enter 801 7147 #
 
Talk to you tomorrow. - Karl
 

Team - below is what we committed to in OR/MS Today ......
 
lunch Monday - facilitated breakout
late Monday - birds of a feather 
lunch Tuesday - facilitated breakout
 
topic 1: form and characteristics of problems
facilitators from practitioner community
example problem statements, models, data sets
distribute questions before session / post on the web
result 1: guidelines
 
topic 2: policies, procedures, systems
facilitators
(straw schemes ????)
distribute questions before session / post on web
result 2: guidelines
 
What is "done" ...
 
1) Terry Cryan has the two birds of a feather sessions scheduled and has 
rooms etc.
 
2) I am getting ready to co-facilitate the birds of a feather on form and 
characteristics of problems - intend to use one problem set from Willems 
(this is a fixed set of 20 problems of varying sizes including data for 
each) and a problem structure that I use in my university collaborations 
(I consider this to be a problem generator - it comes with some standard 
parameter sets but can be re-parameterized and expanded along many axes).
 
3) We have a mailing list dedicated to the RPX.

4) We have a webpage:   http://www.coin-or.org/RPX/  to use as we wish 
(e.g., post samples before, after, during the conference).
 
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From robinlh at us.ibm.com  Wed Mar 29 14:57:02 2006
From: robinlh at us.ibm.com (Robin Lougee-Heimer)
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2006 14:57:02 -0500
Subject: [Coin-rpx] need one sentence description of RPX
Message-ID: <OFEE31E04C.F5EFBF77-ON85257140.006BDAAA-85257140.006D9814@us.ibm.com>

To post a link on the INFORMS Practice Conference webpage to the Real 
Problem Exchange website, we need to come up with a "one sentence" 
description. 

Some ideas:
1.  "Tired of seeing research you can't use in practice? Publish your real 
industrial problems here"
2.  "Want researchers to work on problems YOU care about? Find out how."
3. "Looking for research collaborators? Find them here."

Title: Real Problem Exchange
website: http://www.coin-or.org/RPX

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robin Lougee-Heimer
IBM TJ Watson Research Center
1101 Kitchawan Road, Yorktown Heights, NY 10598
ph: 914-945-3032   fax: 914-945-3434 
robinlh at us.ibm.com
http://www.coin-or.org

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