Jeppesen Named 2010 Informs Prize Winner In Analytics, Operations Research

INFORMS awarded the 2010 INFORMS Prize for outstanding, organization-wide use of operations research throughout the company.

ENGLEWOOD, CO | 26 Apr 2010 | By Jeppesen

The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS®) today announced the award of the INFORMS Prize to Jeppesen, a Boeing Company.

INFORMS, a professional society for specialists in operations research and analytics, recognizes only a single outstanding organization every year. By awarding the 2010 INFORMS Prize to Jeppesen, INFORMS took note of the world-class capabilities and contributions of the Jeppesen operations research department.

“Jeppesen uses OR to address both the strategic and tactical problems we encounter on a continual basis,” says Mark Van Tine, Jeppesen president and CEO. “INFORMS has bestowed a significant honor upon us. It independently confirms the impact OR has at Jeppesen, while highlighting our commitment to leveraging OR for the benefit of our customers and the success of our company. We simply could not do much of the highly sophisticated work we do without this fundamental capability.”

INFORMS awarded the 2010 INFORMS Prize for outstanding, organization-wide use of operations research throughout the company.

Jeppesen helps pilots, mariners and others get safely and efficiently to their destinations by providing them with mission critical information, including flight manuals which contain navigational and other safety-of-flight information. Worldwide, more than 650 airlines and 1,000,000 pilots; 6,500 commercial ships and 1,500,000 boaters; and some of the largest railroad operators in Europe rely on Jeppesen.

INFORMS first took notice of Jeppesen in 2000, when judges for the association’s Franz Edelman Award competition gave the prize to Jeppesen after a turning point in the company’s history. In 1997, Jeppesen saw its service deteriorate when a growing line of over 100,000 aviation charts overwhelmed its production system. The company responded by establishing a small O.R. group to analyze its production problems. In just two short years, Jeppesen was able to eliminate late delivery of product orders, reducing costs by nearly $3 million annually.

Since then, the expanding O.R. department has consistently applied a wide variety of O.R. techniques throughout the enterprise to improve operations and to support decision-making related to resource utilization, inventory optimization, capital investments, market strategy, product development and pricing.

Today, more than 75 professionals with an O.R. background are helping Jeppesen apply analytics to make better decisions, build better products, and offer better services.

The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences annually awards the INFORMS Prize for effective integration of operations research into organizational decision making. The award is given to an organization, like Jeppesen, that has repeatedly applied the principles of O.R. in pioneering, varied, novel, and lasting ways.

Past recipients of the award include Intel, UPS, HP, IBM, Procter & Gamble, and GE Research.

More information about the INFORMS Prize is at www.informs.org/Recognize-Excellence/INFORMS-Prizes-Awards/INFORMS-Prize.

Operations research is the application of advanced analytical methods to help make better decisions. www.scienceofbetter.org/what/index.htm.
The ceremony took place on April 19 at an INFORMS event, “Applying Science to the Art of Business: the 2010 INFORMS Conference on Operations Research Practice” at the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek.