| What
is the Franz Edelman?
The Franz Edelman
Award recognizes outstanding examples of innovative
operations research that improves organizations -
and often changes people's lives. Learning how organizations
like yours boost performance through use of operations
research - The Science of Better - can help you find
new ways to achieve goals in the public and private
sector.
The annual Edelman
Award competition brings together top examples of
innovation from profit and non-profit, corporate and
governmental, American and international organizations.
The common theme characterizing all the final competing
teams is use of operations research to make a major
impact on an organization and the people that it serves.
Who were
the finalists?
The other finalists were Animal Health Institute and
Cox Associates; The US Commercial Aviation Partnership,
comprising Airports Council International - North
America, Air Transport Association, Department of
Homeland Security, Department of Transportation, The
Boeing Company, and the Transportation Security Administration;
Omya Hustadmarmor and More Research/ Molde University
College, and Travelocity and Sabre Holdings.
And the
winner is...
The 2006 Franz Edelman Award was presented for "Streamlining
Aircraft Repair and Overhaul at Warner Robins Air
Logistics Center (WR-ALC)," to WR-ALC, the University
of Tennessee, College of Business Administration and
Realization Technologies, Inc. The winning entry discussed
how WR-ALC used Critical Chain Project Execution Management
in 2005 to arrive at a radically different approach
to manage the repair and overhaul activity on its
C-5 transport aircraft. WR-ALC reduced the number
of C-5 aircraft undergoing repair and overhaul in
the depot from twelve to seven in just eight months.
The time required to repair and overhaul the C-5 aircraft
was reduced by 33 percent. The five additional aircraft
now in operation have generated immediate additional
revenue of at least $49.8 million per year. The replacement
value for these aircraft is estimated at $2.37 billion.
The additional workload the center is accommodating
will bring in additional revenue of $119 million through
2008, with this number projected to increase to $248
million by 2009.
In accepting the
award, Ken Percell, the executive director and senior
civilian at WR-ALC stated: "Warner Robins is
extremely pleased to receive the Franz Edelman Award
for our work on reducing flow days for the C-5 aircraft
line. The results underscore the gains that a proper
application of these tools can offer to the Air Force.
This accomplishment should reinvigorate the use of
Operations Research in the Air Force and across all
branches of the military in general."
"To be recognized
by the business and academic communities for improvements
we've made at this center, especially with aircraft
maintenance operations, is quite an honor," said
Bill Best, deputy director of the 402nd Aircraft Maintenance
Support Group. "This is what happens when the
most capable people use the most innovative and advanced
tools for this highly complex operation."
"Critical
Chain is a means of using resources and completing
tasks in the most expeditious way possible. Its adoption
has allowed major reductions in flow days. We implemented
Critical Chain using Concerto software, which gives
a visual depiction of the aircraft, tasks, and status.
The lists of tasks are color coded as to urgency,
alerting us to the most important things to do."
"On behalf
of the entire C-5 enterprise, we are thrilled to win
the 2006 Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Operations
Research and the Management Sciences," said Colonel
David Holcomb, C-5 system program manager. "The
use of critical chain project management to reduce
the time required for depot maintenance is a key element
of our plan to increase aircraft availability. The
402nd Maintenance Wing at Warner Robins has executed
brilliantly, resulting in additional C-5 aircraft
available to accomplish our Rapid Global Mobility
mission. This initiative has provided our Mobility
Air Forces with five additional aircraft to provide
intertheater airlift support to our troops around
the world. The team's outstanding contribution to
our nation's security warrants this prestigious award."
"All of us
at Realization are honored to receive this award,
and are grateful to the US Air Force for giving us
an opportunity to serve our nation's needs",
said Sanjeev Gupta, CEO of Realization.
About INFORMS
The Institute for Operations Research and the Management
Sciences is an international scientific society with
10,000 members, including Nobel Prize laureates, dedicated
to applying scientific methods to help improve decision-making,
management, and operations. Members of INFORMS work
in business, government, and academia. They are represented
in fields as diverse as airlines, health care, law
enforcement, the military, financial engineering,
and telecommunications.
For more on this
story, visit http://www.informs.org.
Click
here to watch the streaming video.
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ROBINS
AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. (AFMCNS) -
Jack
Trout, the world's leading marketing strategist, talks
with Sanjeev Gupta, CEO of Realization about why and
how they co-developed a strategy around Execution
Management. Trout and Gupta focus on the process by
which effective strategies evolve and some key challenges
involved.
