A Professional's Guide to Decision Science and Problem Solving: An Integrated Approach for Assessing Issues, Finding Solutions, and Reaching Corporate Objectives (FT Press Operations Management)

A Professional's Guide to Decision Science and Problem Solving provides an integrated, start-to-finish framework for more effective problem solving and decision making in corporations. Drawing on vast experience in the field, the authors show how to apply state-of-the-art decision science, statistical modeling, benchmarking, and processing modeling techniques together to create a robust analytical framework for better decision making in any field, especially those that rely on advanced operations management. They integrate both newly-developed and time-tested techniques into a logical, structured approach for assessing corporate issues, developing solutions, and making decisions that drive the successful achievement of corporate objectives. Coverage includes: defining objectives, exploring the environment; scoping problems and evaluating their importance; bringing data mining and statistical analysis to bear; solving problems and measuring the results; evaluating the results and performing sensitivity analysis, and more. The book concludes with three case study chapters that walk through the effective use of its methods, step-by-step. Representing a wide variety of corporate environments, these case studies underscore and demonstrate the method's exceptional adaptability. This book will be valuable in a wide range of industries, notably finance, pharmaceutical, healthcare, economics, and manufacturing.

Frank A. Tillman has had a varied and full career teaching and doing research in academia for more than 30 years, starting and managing two consulting firms, IBES, Inc. (government agencies) and HTX International, Inc. (private firms), and developing com- mercial and residential real estate. He served as department head at Kansas State University for more than 20 years where he published 50+ professional articles, published two books, and advised a number of M.S. and Ph.D. theses candidates. This book is a compilation of his consulting experiences noting which approach works best to solve real problems that result in solutions that can be implemented.
Deandra T. Cassone currently teaches as an adjunct professor at Missouri University of Science and Technology in its graduate sys- tems engineering program and is in management at a Fortune 100 company. She has spent more than 25 year in the industry, serving in consulting, technical, and management roles. Her interests lie in building structured decision-making models that encompass the application of the concepts in this book. She has also submitted and been awarded a number of business process patents.