Pilatus improved parts-on-time while cutting spare inventory 21%
Pilatus's aircraft-on-ground critical parts needed faster delivery; a (Q,R) stocking model lifted on-time service and cut the value of parts held by 21%.
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3,236 PUBLISHED CASES · REGULARLY UPDATEDWyeth's stretch-blow PET bottle held soda pressure without bursting.
Nathaniel Wyeth stretched and blew polyethylene terephthalate to make a light bottle that held carbonation and passed FDA purity.
Read the caseSkyCool cools below ambient by radiating heat through the sky window to deep space
A seven-layer film reflects 97% of sunlight and radiates heat to the cold sky, cooling below ambient with no electricity.
Read the caseOCP modeled its whole phosphate chain, from mine to port, as one problem
OCP built a multi-period mixed-integer model spanning mines, plants, inventory and ports, adding about $400 million a year in profit.
Read the caseNorfolk Southern sized its locomotive fleet with an optimizing simulator.
Norfolk Southern used approximate dynamic programming to plan locomotive fleet size and mix, a balance of simulation and optimization.
Read the caseMPEG folded Apple's QuickTime into one ISO container and MP4 became the video file
MP4's ISO base media file format stores timed audio and video in self-describing boxes, so one small file plays on practically any device.
Read the caseMcKesson used an OR scenario model, freeing over $1B of committed capital.
IBM Research built SCSM for McKesson to model its whole pharmaceutical supply chain and link it to P&L, helping cut committed capital by more than $1B.
Read the caseMaersk watches every reefer so a bad cargo is caught early
Remote Container Management streams temperature, humidity and O2/CO2 from each reefer so a shipment can be saved before it spoils.
Read the caseMail Rail moved London's post on driverless trains under the streets
Royal Mail built a 6.5-mile driverless underground railway so letters crossed congested London in minutes.
Read the caseA standard flower box raised Kenya-to-Amsterdam air pallet loads 15%
The Holland Flower Alliance fixed the wasted space between flower boxes to make precious air cargo carry more and arrive fresher.
Read the caseJeppesen's 100k+ charts swamped production; OR cut cost ~10% and profit +24%.
Jeppesen used optimization for production planning and technology investment, turning a chart backlog into a new OR group.
Read the caseIFCO rented the crate, not the box, so fresh produce stopped using cardboard
IFCO owns a pool of reusable plastic crates it washes, repairs and recirculates, letting growers and retailers stop buying single-use cardboard.
Read the caseIBM's analytics raised its big-services bid win rate, worth about $350M.
IBM Research built tools that read RFPs, cost and price bids, and track the pipeline, raising IBM's win rate on multimillion-dollar service deals.
Read the caseHewlett-Packard cut product complexity with OR, adding $500 million.
HP used ROI screening and a maximum-flow revenue-coverage tool to trim an over-broad product portfolio, adding over $500 million in profit.
Read the caseFedEx built its network on operations research from its first flights.
Federal Express used OR to build origin-destination, simulation and route models that guided its network and fleet decisions from 1973.
Read the caseDunlop put air inside a tyre so it cushioned itself
John Boyd Dunlop wrapped his son's tricycle wheels in an air-filled rubber tube so compressed air, not rubber, absorbed the bumps.
Read the caseCochrane's dishwasher held dishes in racks and sprayed them, not scrubbed them.
Josephine Cochrane built a machine that rained hot soapy water on dishes in wire compartments, so nothing broke and no hands were needed.
Read the caseDHL's optimizer decides what to ship itself vs outsource, saving $98.6m a year.
DHL Supply Chain's Transportation Network Optimizer combines routing with outsourcing, fleet sizing and bidding logic, cutting cost and half a megaton of CO2.
Read the caseDeere's C&CE cut $890M of inventory and lifted on-time shipments to 92%.
Deere & Company set weekly inventory targets with multiechelon optimisation to pull orders, cutting inventory by $890M and lifting on-time shipments to 92%.
Read the caseThe Czech central bank made the koruna its policy tool to beat deflation.
With rates at zero, the CNB weakened the crown toward a 27-per-euro floor in 2013, importing inflation and hitting its target.
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