operations management case study with solutions

Operations Management

Browse operations management learning materials including case studies, simulations, and online courses. Introduce core concepts and real-world challenges to create memorable learning experiences for your students.

Browse by Topic

• Capacity Planning
• Demand Planning
• Inventory Management
• Process Analysis
• Process Improvement
• Production Planning
• Project Management
• Quality Management

New! Quick Cases in Operations Management

Quickly immerse students in focused and engaging business dilemmas. No student prep time required.

Fundamentals of Case Teaching

Our new, self-paced, online course guides you through the fundamentals for leading successful case discussions at any course level.

New in Operations Management

Explore the latest operations management learning materials

1325 word count

1563 word count

1098 word count

2320 word count

1841 word count

3547 word count

1648 word count

1840 word count

Looking for something specific?

Explore materials that align with your operations management learning objectives

Operations Management Simulations

Give your students hands-on experience making decisions.

Operations Management Cases with Female Protagonists

Explore a collection of operations management cases featuring female protagonists curated by the HBS Gender Initiative.

Operations Management Cases with Protagonists of Color

Discover operations management cases featuring protagonists of color that have been recommended by Harvard Business School faculty.

Foundational Operations Management Readings

Discover readings that cover the fundamental concepts and frameworks that business students must learn about operations management.

Bestsellers in Operations Management

Explore what other educators are using in their operations management courses

Start building your courses today

Register for a free Educator Account and get exclusive access to our entire catalog of learning materials, teaching resources, and online course planning tools.

We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience, including personalizing content. Learn More . By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies and revised Privacy Policy .

Smart. Open. Grounded. Inventive. Read our Ideas Made to Matter.

Which program is right for you?

Through intellectual rigor and experiential learning, this full-time, two-year MBA program develops leaders who make a difference in the world.

A rigorous, hands-on program that prepares adaptive problem solvers for premier finance careers.

A 12-month program focused on applying the tools of modern data science, optimization and machine learning to solve real-world business problems.

Earn your MBA and SM in engineering with this transformative two-year program.

Combine an international MBA with a deep dive into management science. A special opportunity for partner and affiliate schools only.

A doctoral program that produces outstanding scholars who are leading in their fields of research.

Bring a business perspective to your technical and quantitative expertise with a bachelor’s degree in management, business analytics, or finance.

A joint program for mid-career professionals that integrates engineering and systems thinking. Earn your master’s degree in engineering and management.

An interdisciplinary program that combines engineering, management, and design, leading to a master’s degree in engineering and management.

Executive Programs

A full-time MBA program for mid-career leaders eager to dedicate one year of discovery for a lifetime of impact.

This 20-month MBA program equips experienced executives to enhance their impact on their organizations and the world.

Non-degree programs for senior executives and high-potential managers.

A non-degree, customizable program for mid-career professionals.

Teaching Resources Library

Operations Management Case Studies

Case Studies in Operations Research

Applications of Optimal Decision Making

• © 2015
• Katta G. Murty 0

Department Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA

You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

• Presents a broad range of case studies suitable for modeling courses for OR students
• Additional materials posted on the book's Springer.com webpage to allow students to solve problems using the case studies
• Contributing authors among the most prominent in the field
• Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Part of the book series: International Series in Operations Research & Management Science (ISOR, volume 212)

81k Accesses

23 Citations

2 Altmetric

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

• Available as EPUB and PDF
• Read on any device
• Instant download
• Own it forever
• Compact, lightweight edition
• Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
• Free shipping worldwide - see info
• Durable hardcover edition

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (22 chapters)

Front matter, intelligent modeling essential to get good results: container storage inside a container terminal.

Katta G. Murty

Diesel Locomotive Fueling Problem (LFP) in Railroad Operations

• Bodhibrata Nag, Katta G. Murty

Organizing National Elections in India to Elect the 543 Members of the Lok Sabha

Procurement, production and marketing at supply-driven milk and milk products cooperative.

• Omkar D. Palsule-Desai, Katta G. Murty

DSS (Decision Support System) for Allocating Appointment Times to Calling Patients at a Medical Facility

• Adel Alaeddini, Katta G. Murty

Transportation–Location Problem for a Solar Stove Distributing Nonprofit Organization

• Gemma Berenguer, Amber Richter, Zuo-Jun (Max) Shen

Designing Earth Dams Optimally

• G. S. R. Murthy, Katta G. Murty, G. Raghupathy

Optimal Scheduling of a Multiunit Hydro Power Station in a Short-Term Planning Horizon

• Alberto Borghetti, Claudia D’Ambrosio, Andrea Lodi, Silvano Martello

Optimizing the Design of Water Distribution Networks Using Mathematical Optimization

• Cristiana Bragalli, Claudia D’Ambrosio, Jon Lee, Andrea Lodi, Paolo Toth

Wood Inventory Management in Paper Industry

• G. S. R. Murthy, A. L. N. Murthy, Katta G. Murty

Optimizing the Design of Heat Exchanger Networks in Crude Oil Refineries

• Majid M. Al-Gwaiz, Katta G. Murty

Optimizing the Allocation of Cuboidal Boxes to Cuboidal Compartments for Storage in a Warehouse

Optimal intake and routing of floating oil rigs in the north sea.

• Dag Haugland, Bjørn Peter Tjøstheim

Addressing the Peak Power Problem Through Thermal Energy Storage

• Wesley Cole, JongSuk Kim, Kriti Kapoor, Thomas Edgar

Optimal Flight Planning for a Jet Aircraft

• Harris McClamroch, Taeyoung Lee

Freight Transport by Rail

• Katta G. Murty, Bodhibrata Nag, Omkar D. Palsule-Desai

Cutting Stock Problems in the Paper and Sheet Metal Industries

• G. S. R. Murthy, Katta G. Murty

Inventory Management in Blood Banks

• Harshal Lowalekar, N. Ravichandran

Assembling Cells in Wet Cell Traction Batteries that Power Forklifts

• Case Studies
• Decision Making
• Mathematical Modeling
• Mathematical Programming
• Operations Research
• Optimization Models

About this book

This textbook is comprised of detailed case studies covering challenging real world applications of OR techniques. Among the overall goals of the book is to provide readers with descriptions of the history and other background information on a variety of industries, service or other organizations in which decision making is an important component of their daily operations. The book considers all methods of optimum decision making in order to improve performances. It also compares possible solutions obtained by different approaches, concluding with a recommendation of the best among them for implementation. By exposing students to a variety of applications in a variety of areas and explaining how they can be modeled and solved, the book helps students develop the skills needed for modeling and solving problems that they may face in the workplace. 

Each chapter of " Case Studies in Operations Research: Applications of Optimal Decision Making" also includes additionaldata provided on the book’s website on Springer.com. These files contain a brief description of the area of application, the problem and the required outputs. Also provided are links to access all the data in the problem. Finally there are project exercises for students to practice what they have learnt in the chapter, which can also be used by instructors as project assignments in their courses. 

Editors and Affiliations

About the editor, bibliographic information.

Book Title : Case Studies in Operations Research

Book Subtitle : Applications of Optimal Decision Making

Editors : Katta G. Murty

Series Title : International Series in Operations Research & Management Science

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1007-6

Publisher : Springer New York, NY

eBook Packages : Business and Economics , Business and Management (R0)

Copyright Information : Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Hardcover ISBN : 978-1-4939-1006-9 Published: 09 December 2014

Softcover ISBN : 978-1-4939-4355-5 Published: 30 April 2017

eBook ISBN : 978-1-4939-1007-6 Published: 08 December 2014

Series ISSN : 0884-8289

Series E-ISSN : 2214-7934

Edition Number : 1

Number of Pages : XXIV, 543

Number of Illustrations : 70 b/w illustrations, 93 illustrations in colour

Topics : Operations Research/Decision Theory , Operations Research, Management Science

• Publish with us

Policies and ethics

• Find a journal
• Track your research

• Technical Support
• Find My Rep

You are here

Cases in Operations Management Building Customer Value Through World-Class Operations

• Robert D. Klassen - University of Western Ontario, Canada
• Larry J. Menor - University of Western Ontario, Canada
• Description

See what’s new to this edition by selecting the Features tab on this page. Should you need additional information or have questions regarding the HEOA information provided for this title, including what is new to this edition, please email [email protected] . Please include your name, contact information, and the name of the title for which you would like more information. For information on the HEOA, please go to http://ed.gov/policy/highered/leg/hea08/index.html .

For assistance with your order: Please email us at [email protected] or connect with your SAGE representative.

SAGE 2455 Teller Road Thousand Oaks, CA 91320 www.sagepub.com

I will uses the case studies for the course and have given the details to our library to order. The cases are very good. Thanks, Qeis Kamran

First of all I'd like to say this book is an excellent book in the field, as cases books for academic education are very rare. But the only reason why I did not adopt is because that this book needs updating. The latest version was published in 2006 and a lot has happended in the field since then.

Very good book giving detailled information about all aspects of OM. Bit too heavy for my student groups but no fault of the author.

Good range of case studies presented although the two column page layout seems very old fashioned in its style.

• strong decision orientation of real-world cases
• clear development of the linkages between business processes and customer value
• diversity of international case settings 
• mixture of cases, simulations and in-class exercises

Sample Materials & Chapters

Chapter 1. Developing World-Class Operations

Chapter 3. Planning and Control

Chapter 5. Quality

For instructors

Select a purchasing option, related products.

• Browse All Articles
• Newsletter Sign-Up

Operations →

• 01 Apr 2024
• In Practice

Navigating the Mood of Customers Weary of Price Hikes

Price increases might be tempering after historic surges, but companies continue to wrestle with pinched consumers. Alexander MacKay, Chiara Farronato, and Emily Williams make sense of the economic whiplash of inflation and offer insights for business leaders trying to find equilibrium.

• 22 Mar 2024
• Research & Ideas

Open Source Software: The $9 Trillion Resource Companies Take for Granted

Many companies build their businesses on open source software, code that would cost firms $8.8 trillion to create from scratch if it weren't freely available. Research by Frank Nagle and colleagues puts a value on an economic necessity that will require investment to meet demand.

• 27 Feb 2024
• Cold Call Podcast

How Could Harvard Decarbonize Its Supply Chain?

Harvard University aims to be fossil-fuel neutral by 2026 and totally free of fossil fuels by 2050. As part of this goal, the university is trying to decarbonize its supply chain and considers replacing cement with a low-carbon substitute called Pozzotive®, made with post-consumer recycled glass. A successful pilot project could jump start Harvard’s initiative to reduce embodied carbon emissions, but it first needs credible information about the magnitude and validity of potential carbon reductions. Harvard Business School professor emeritus Robert Kaplan and assistant professor Shirley Lu discuss the flow of emissions along the supply chain of Harvard University’s construction projects, the different methods of measuring carbon emissions, including the E-liability approach, and the opportunity to leverage blockchain technology to facilitate the flow of comparable and reliable emissions information in the case, “Harvard University and Urban Mining Industries: Decarbonizing the Supply Chain.”

• 02 Jan 2024

10 Trends to Watch in 2024

Employees may seek new approaches to balance, even as leaders consider whether to bring more teams back to offices or make hybrid work even more flexible. These are just a few trends that Harvard Business School faculty members will be following during a year when staffing, climate, and inclusion will likely remain top of mind.

• 12 Dec 2023

COVID Tested Global Supply Chains. Here’s How They’ve Adapted

A global supply chain reshuffling is underway as companies seek to diversify their distribution networks in response to pandemic-related shocks, says research by Laura Alfaro. What do these shifts mean for American businesses and buyers?

• 25 Apr 2023

How SHEIN and Temu Conquered Fast Fashion—and Forged a New Business Model

The platforms SHEIN and Temu match consumer demand and factory output, bringing Chinese production to the rest of the world. The companies have remade fast fashion, but their pioneering approach has the potential to go far beyond retail, says John Deighton.

• 21 Apr 2023

The $15 Billion Question: Have Loot Boxes Turned Video Gaming into Gambling?

Critics say loot boxes—major revenue streams for video game companies—entice young players to overspend. Can regulators protect consumers without dampening the thrill of the game? Research by Tomomichi Amano and colleague.

• 11 Apr 2023

A Rose by Any Other Name: Supply Chains and Carbon Emissions in the Flower Industry

Headquartered in Kitengela, Kenya, Sian Flowers exports roses to Europe. Because cut flowers have a limited shelf life and consumers want them to retain their appearance for as long as possible, Sian and its distributors used international air cargo to transport them to Amsterdam, where they were sold at auction and trucked to markets across Europe. But when the Covid-19 pandemic caused huge increases in shipping costs, Sian launched experiments to ship roses by ocean using refrigerated containers. The company reduced its costs and cut its carbon emissions, but is a flower that travels halfway around the world truly a “low-carbon rose”? Harvard Business School professors Willy Shih and Mike Toffel debate these questions and more in their case, “Sian Flowers: Fresher by Sea?”

• 28 Mar 2023

The FDA’s Speedy Drug Approvals Are Safe: A Win-Win for Patients and Pharma Innovation

Expediting so-called breakthrough therapies has saved millions of dollars in research time without compromising drug safety or efficacy, says research by Ariel Stern, Amitabh Chandra, and colleagues. Could policymakers harness the approach to bring life-saving treatments to the market faster?

• 31 Jan 2023

Addressing Racial Discrimination on Airbnb

For years, Airbnb gave hosts extensive discretion to accept or reject a guest after seeing little more than a name and a picture, believing that eliminating anonymity was the best way for the company to build trust. However, the apartment rental platform failed to track or account for the possibility that this could facilitate discrimination. After research published by Professor Michael Luca and others provided evidence that Black hosts received less in rent than hosts of other races and showed signs of discrimination against guests with African American sounding names, the company had to decide what to do. In the case, “Racial Discrimination on Airbnb,” Luca discusses his research and explores the implication for Airbnb and other platform companies. Should they change the design of the platform to reduce discrimination? And what’s the best way to measure the success of any changes?

• 29 Nov 2022

How Much More Would Holiday Shoppers Pay to Wear Something Rare?

Economic worries will make pricing strategy even more critical this holiday season. Research by Chiara Farronato reveals the value that hip consumers see in hard-to-find products. Are companies simply making too many goods?

• 18 Oct 2022

Chewy.com’s Make-or-Break Logistics Dilemma

In late 2013, Ryan Cohen, cofounder and then-CEO of online pet products retailer Chewy.com, was facing a decision that could determine his company’s future. Should he stay with a third-party logistics provider (3PL) for all of Chewy.com’s e-commerce fulfillment or take that function in house? Cohen was convinced that achieving scale would be essential to making the business work and he worried that the company’s current 3PL may not be able to scale with Chewy.com’s projected growth or maintain the company’s performance standards for service quality and fulfillment. But neither he nor his cofounders had any experience managing logistics, and the company’s board members were pressuring him to leave order fulfillment to the 3PL. They worried that any changes could destabilize the existing 3PL relationship and endanger the viability of the fast-growing business. What should Cohen do? Senior Lecturer Jeffrey Rayport discusses the options in his case, “Chewy.com (A).”

• 12 Oct 2022

When Design Enables Discrimination: Learning from Anti-Asian Bias on Airbnb

Airbnb bookings dropped 12 percent more for hosts with Asian names than other hosts during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, says research by Michael Luca. Could better design deter bias, particularly during times of crisis?

• 22 Aug 2022

Can Amazon Remake Health Care?

Amazon has disrupted everything from grocery shopping to cloud computing, but can it transform health care with its One Medical acquisition? Amitabh Chandra discusses company's track record in health care and the challenges it might face.

• 12 Jul 2022

Can the Foodservice Distribution Industry Recover from the Pandemic?

At the height of the pandemic in 2020, US Foods struggled, as restaurant and school closures reduced demand for foodservice distribution. The situation improved after the return of indoor dining and in-person learning, but an industry-wide shortage of truck drivers and warehouse staff hampered the foodservice distributor’s post-pandemic recovery. That left CEO Pietro Satriano to determine the best strategy to attract and retain essential workers, even as he was tasked with expanding the wholesale grocery store chain (CHEF’STORE) that US Foods launched during the pandemic lockdown. Harvard Business School Professor David E. Bell explores how post-pandemic supply chain challenges continue to affect the foodservice distribution industry in his case, “US Foods: Driving Post-Pandemic Success?”

• 05 Jul 2022
• What Do You Think?

Have We Seen the Peak of Just-in-Time Inventory Management?

Toyota and other companies have harnessed just-in-time inventory management to cut logistics costs and boost service. That is, until COVID-19 roiled global supply chains. Will we ever get back to the days of tighter inventory control? asks James Heskett. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 05 May 2022

Why Companies Raise Their Prices: Because They Can

Markups on household items started climbing years before the COVID-19 pandemic. Companies have realized just how much consumers will pay for the brands they love, says research by Alexander MacKay. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

• 31 Mar 2022

Navigating the ‘Bermuda Triangle’ in Professional Services

Not all companies need to scale. Ashish Nanda explores a crucial choice that leaders of professional services firms face as their organizations grow. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 28 Feb 2022

How Racial Bias Taints Customer Service: Evidence from 6,000 Hotels

Hotel concierges provide better service to white customers than Black and Asian customers, says research by Alexandra Feldberg and colleague. They offer three strategies to help companies detect bias on the front line. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 10 Feb 2022

Why Are Prices So High Right Now—and Will They Ever Return to Normal?

And when will sold-out products return to store shelves? The answers aren't so straightforward. Research by Alberto Cavallo probes the complex interplay of product shortages, prices, and inflation. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• SUGGESTED TOPICS
• The Magazine
• Newsletters
• Managing Yourself
• Managing Teams
• Work-life Balance
• The Big Idea
• Data & Visuals
• Reading Lists
• Case Selections
• HBR Learning
• Topic Feeds
• Account Settings
• Email Preferences

HBS Case Selections

OpenAI: Idealism Meets Capitalism

• Shikhar Ghosh
• Shweta Bagai

Generative AI and the Future of Work

• Christopher Stanton
• Matt Higgins

Copilot(s): Generative AI at Microsoft and GitHub

• Frank Nagle
• Shane Greenstein
• Maria P. Roche
• Nataliya Langburd Wright
• Sarah Mehta

Innovation at Moog Inc.

• Brian J. Hall
• Ashley V. Whillans
• Davis Heniford
• Dominika Randle
• Caroline Witten

Innovation at Google Ads: The Sales Acceleration and Innovation Labs (SAIL) (A)

• Linda A. Hill
• Emily Tedards

Juan Valdez: Innovation in Caffeination

• Michael I. Norton
• Jeremy Dann

UGG Steps into the Metaverse

• Shunyuan Zhang
• Sharon Joseph
• Sunil Gupta
• Julia Kelley

Metaverse Wars

• David B. Yoffie

Roblox: Virtual Commerce in the Metaverse

• Ayelet Israeli
• Nicole Tempest Keller

Timnit Gebru: "SILENCED No More" on AI Bias and The Harms of Large Language Models

• Tsedal Neeley
• Stefani Ruper

Hugging Face: Serving AI on a Platform

• Kerry Herman
• Sarah Gulick

SmartOne: Building an AI Data Business

• Karim R. Lakhani
• Pippa Tubman Armerding
• Gamze Yucaoglu
• Fares Khrais

Honeywell and the Great Recession (A)

• Sandra J. Sucher
• Susan Winterberg

Target: Responding to the Recession

• Ranjay Gulati
• Catherine Ross
• Richard S. Ruback
• Royce Yudkoff

Hometown Foods: Changing Price Amid Inflation

• Julian De Freitas
• Jeremy Yang
• Das Narayandas

Elon Musk's Big Bets

• Eric Baldwin

Elon Musk: Balancing Purpose and Risk

Tesla's ceo compensation plan.

• Krishna G. Palepu
• John R. Wells
• Gabriel Ellsworth

China Rapid Finance: The Collapse of China's P2P Lending Industry

• William C. Kirby
• Bonnie Yining Cao
• John P. McHugh

Forbidden City: Launching a Craft Beer in China

• Christopher A. Bartlett
• Carole Carlson

Booking.com

• Stefan Thomke
• Daniela Beyersdorfer

Innovation at Uber: The Launch of Express POOL

• Chiara Farronato
• Alan MacCormack

Racial Discrimination on Airbnb (A)

• Michael Luca
• Scott Stern
• Hyunjin Kim

Unilever's Response to the Future of Work

• William R. Kerr
• Emilie Billaud
• Mette Fuglsang Hjortshoej

AT&T, Retraining, and the Workforce of Tomorrow

• Joseph B. Fuller
• Carl Kreitzberg

Leading Change in Talent at L'Oreal

• Lakshmi Ramarajan
• Vincent Dessain
• Emer Moloney
• William W. George
• Andrew N. McLean

Eve Hall: The African American Investment Fund in Milwaukee

• Steven S. Rogers
• Alterrell Mills

United Housing - Otis Gates

• Mercer Cook

The Home Depot: Leadership in Crisis Management

• Herman B. Leonard
• Marc J. Epstein
• Melissa Tritter

The Great East Japan Earthquake (B): Fast Retailing Group's Response

• Hirotaka Takeuchi
• Kenichi Nonomura
• Dena Neuenschwander
• Meghan Ricci
• Kate Schoch
• Sergey Vartanov

Insurer of Last Resort?: The Federal Financial Response to September 11

• David A. Moss
• Sarah Brennan

Under Armour

• Rory McDonald
• Clayton M. Christensen
• Daniel West
• Jonathan E. Palmer
• Tonia Junker

Hunley, Inc.: Casting for Growth

• John A. Quelch
• James T. Kindley

Bitfury: Blockchain for Government

• Mitchell B. Weiss
• Elena Corsi

Deutsche Bank: Pursuing Blockchain Opportunities (A)

• Lynda M. Applegate
• Christoph Muller-Bloch

Maersk: Betting on Blockchain

• Scott Johnson

Yum! Brands

• Jordan Siegel
• Christopher Poliquin

Bharti Airtel in Africa

• Tanya Bijlani

Li & Fung 2012

• F. Warren McFarlan
• Michael Shih-ta Chen
• Keith Chi-ho Wong

Sony and the JK Wedding Dance

• John Deighton
• Leora Kornfeld

United Breaks Guitars

David dao on united airlines.

• Benjamin Edelman
• Jenny Sanford

Marketing Reading: Digital Marketing

• Joseph Davin

Social Strategy at Nike

• Mikolaj Jan Piskorski
• Ryan Johnson

The Tate's Digital Transformation

Social strategy at american express, mellon financial and the bank of new york.

• Carliss Y. Baldwin
• Ryan D. Taliaferro

The Walt Disney Company and Pixar, Inc.: To Acquire or Not to Acquire?

• Juan Alcacer
• David J. Collis

Dow's Bid for Rohm and Haas

• Benjamin C. Esty

Finance Reading: The Mergers and Acquisitions Process

• John Coates

Apple: Privacy vs. Safety? (A)

• Henry W. McGee
• Nien-he Hsieh
• Sarah McAra

Sidewalk Labs: Privacy in a City Built from the Internet Up

• Leslie K. John

Data Breach at Equifax

• Suraj Srinivasan
• Quinn Pitcher
• Jonah S. Goldberg

Apple's Core

• Noam Wasserman

Design Thinking and Innovation at Apple

• Barbara Feinberg

Apple Inc. in 2012

• Penelope Rossano

Iz-Lynn Chan at Far East Organization (Abridged)

• Anthony J. Mayo
• Dana M. Teppert

Barbara Norris: Leading Change in the General Surgery Unit

• Boris Groysberg
• Nitin Nohria
• Deborah Bell

Adobe Systems: Working Towards a "Suite" Release (A)

• David A. Thomas
• Lauren Barley

Home Nursing of North Carolina

Castronics, llc, gemini investors, angie's list: ratings pioneer turns 20.

• Robert J. Dolan

Basecamp: Pricing

• Frank V. Cespedes
• Robb Fitzsimmons

J.C. Penney's "Fair and Square" Pricing Strategy

J.c. penney's 'fair and square' strategy (c): back to the future.

• Jose B. Alvarez

Osaro: Picking the best path

• James Palano
• Bastiane Huang

HubSpot and Motion AI: Chatbot-Enabled CRM

• Thomas Steenburgh

GROW: Using Artificial Intelligence to Screen Human Intelligence

• Ethan S. Bernstein
• Paul D. McKinnon
• Paul Yarabe

Arup: Building the Water Cube

• Robert G. Eccles
• Amy C. Edmondson
• Dilyana Karadzhova

(Re)Building a Global Team: Tariq Khan at Tek

Managing a global team: greg james at sun microsystems, inc. (a).

• Thomas J. DeLong

Organizational Behavior Reading: Leading Global Teams

Ron ventura at mitchell memorial hospital.

• Heide Abelli

Anthony Starks at InSiL Therapeutics (A)

• Gary P. Pisano
• Vicki L. Sato

Wolfgang Keller at Konigsbrau-TAK (A)

• John J. Gabarro

Midland Energy Resources, Inc.: Cost of Capital

• Timothy A. Luehrman
• Joel L. Heilprin

Globalizing the Cost of Capital and Capital Budgeting at AES

• Mihir A. Desai
• Doug Schillinger

Cost of Capital at Ameritrade

• Mark Mitchell
• Erik Stafford

Finance Reading: Cost of Capital

David Neeleman: Flight Path of a Servant Leader (A)

• Matthew D. Breitfelder

Coach Hurley at St. Anthony High School

• Scott A. Snook
• Bradley C. Lawrence

Shapiro Global

• Michael Brookshire
• Monica Haugen
• Michelle Kravetz
• Sarah Sommer

Kathryn McNeil (A)

• Joseph L. Badaracco Jr.
• Jerry Useem

Carol Fishman Cohen: Professional Career Reentry (A)

• Myra M. Hart
• Robin J. Ely
• Susan Wojewoda

Alex Montana at ESH Manufacturing Co.

• Michael Kernish

Michelle Levene (A)

• Tiziana Casciaro
• Victoria W. Winston

John and Andrea Rice: Entrepreneurship and Life

• Howard H. Stevenson
• Janet Kraus
• Shirley M. Spence

Partner Center

SCM Case Studies With Examples

What is an scm case study.

• Procurement

• Product lifecycle management (PLM)
• Inventory management
• Demand planning
• Order management
• Warehousing
• Transportation
• Customer service

What’s Included in SCM Case Studies?

• Client profile —company type, industry, and a brief history and description of the company
• The situation —the circumstances that initially caused the company to become interested in a new SCM solution
• The challenges —the problems and issues the company was facing that an SCM solution could solve
• The process —the heart of the case study, as it shows how the SCM vendor, reseller, or service provider—or TEC—performed its services in a way that met or exceeded the client’s goals and expectations
• The results —the benefits to the client at the end of the day
• Vendor/service provider profile —brief description of the vendor, reseller, or service provider—or TEC—including contact information

The Benefits of an SCM Case Study in the Selection Process

Because modern SCM software is generally quite complex, it can be difficult for companies to determine which SCM solution is the right one for their needs. Fortunately, there is a lot of documentation and research that companies can reference to assist them. As a category, SCM case studies can be of particular value because they describe how other companies overcame challenges inherent in the SCM software selection process. In the best case, organizations, such as manufacturing and distribution companies, can find SCM case studies that feature companies like theirs with similar needs and circumstances.

How TEC's SCM Case Studies Can Help You Find the Best-Fit SCM Software

TEC is a software service provider; we are not a vendor or reseller. As an industry-leading software advisory firm, we focus on three areas that are of critical importance to our clients:

• evaluation and selection
• implementation oversight
• vendor/reseller contract negotiations

TEC case studies show how our advisory services helped companies of varying types, sizes, and industries succeed in all three areas.

TEC’s SCM Software Selection Process

Selecting enterprise software presents some significant issues. The complexity of today’s enterprise software can be a challenge for companies that lack the appropriate in-house expertise. Most companies are unused to cataloging their processes and goals and then matching them to software features and functions. And while vendors sell software every day, companies seldom make a software purchase, giving vendors a built-in advantage when it comes to contract negotiations. Finally, software implementation is a specialty of its own, requiring specific expertise and oversight in this process. As you can see right below, TEC’s software selection process provides assistance in all these areas with a proven methodology developed over hundreds of successful selection projects and implementations.  

• Assess : Assess the client’s business processes and goals, gaps in key processes, and discover their functional requirements
• Review : Review SCM solutions and vendor capabilities to meet the client’s business needs
• Identify : Identify the shortlist of SCM vendors and their partner(s)
• Demonstration : Assess SCM solution demonstrations scripted to the client’s business processes
• Proposal : Create and distribute SCM request for proposal (RFP) to vendors to clarify deliverables and project total cost of ownership (TCO)
• Reference : Evaluate SCM vendor and their partner(s) through reference checks from real-world clients on previous projects
• Contract : Perform contract review and price negotiations on behalf of the client for cost savings
• Implementation : Perform oversight and monitor the implementation of the SCM application(s) to enable successful transformation and business growth

TEC’s proven methodology is backed by our decision support software TECAdvisor , ensuring that every software selection decision is driven by data and is an impartial evaluation of the current enterprise software market.

Learn More with Our Free Library of SCM Case Studies

Refine results.

• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) 536
• Discrete Manufacturing ERP 127
• Process Manufacturing ERP 122
• Mixed-Mode ERP 112
• ERP for Small Manufacturing Business 100
• Distribution ERP 83
• ERP for Service Industry 35
• ERP for Small Business 33
• Engineer-to-Order (ETO) 121
• Supply Chain & Logistics 299
• Supply Chain Management (SCM) 158
• Inventory Management 87
• Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) 57
• Merchandising Software 18
• Supply Relationship Management (SRM) 29
• Transportation Management Systems (TMS) 25
• Demand Management Software 27
• RFID Software 5
• Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) 97
• Business Intelligence & Data Analytics 247
• Spreadsheet 1
• Business Process Management (BPM) 100
• Enterprise Performance Management 60
• Business Intelligence (BI) and Data Management 181
• Customer Relationship Management & Support 219
• Call Center 6
• Event Management 1
• Proposal Management 10
• Contract Management 2
• Sales Force Automation Software 21
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) 185
• Field Service Management (FSM) 80
• Configure Price Quote (CPQ) 33
• Benefits Administration 12
• Compensation Management 6
• Human Resources 24
• Performance Management 14
• Time & Attendance 11
• Workforce Management 15
• Learning Management Systems (LMS) 75
• Talent Acquisition Software 14
• Talent Management Systems 43
• Human Capital Management (HCM) 83
• Financial 130
• Billing & Invoicing 17
• Point of Sale (POS) 2
• Accounting and Financial Software 85
• Asset Management 122
• Facility Management 6
• Computerized Maintenance Management System 109
• Asset Management (EAM) 97
• Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) 115
• Process PLM 15
• Discrete PLM 16
• Regulatory and Compliance PLM 26
• Fashion PLM 22
• Retail PLM 48
• Information & Document Management 69
• Document Management Systems (DMS) 58
• Enterprise Content Management (ECM) 52
• Content Management System (CMS) 17
• IT & IT Security 57
• Help Desk 6
• Virtual Private Network (VPN) 1
• Remote Access 3
• Network Security 16
• E-commerce 31
• Web Content Management (WCM) 6
• Communication & Collaboration 31
• Collaboration 2
• Project Management 8
• Project and Process Management (PPM) 23
• Marketing 23
• Marketing Automation 23
• Design/Creative 9
• Computer-Aided Design (CAD) 9
• Industry-Specific 3
• Property Management 3
• Manufacturing 41
• Wholesale and Retail Trade 21
• Food and Beverage Products 8
• Chemical Products 5
• Pharmaceutical and Botanical Products 4
• Transportation 4
• Construction 3
• Motor Vehicles and Other Transport Equipment 3
• Agriculture and Forestry 2
• Health Care and Social Work 2
• Hotels and Restaurants 2
• Life and Natural Sciences 2
• Mining & Quarrying 2
• Public Administration and Defense 2
• Publishing and Media 2
• Telecommunications 2
• Warehousing 2
• Electronics and High-tech Components 1
• Industry Independent 1
• Insurance 1
• Recreational, Cultural, and Sporting Activities 1

Publication Types

• Blog Posts 1,215
• White Papers 772
• Case Studies 158
• Industry Reports 65
• Brochures 41
• Software Reviews 40
• Buyer's Guides 14
• Datasheets 14
• Accreditation Reports 6
• Plex Systems 9
• Pronto Software 7
• Synergy Resources 6
• Technology Evaluation Centers 6
• Demand Management Inc. 5
• Microsoft 5
• Blue Yonder 4
• AFS Technologies, Inc. 3
• Bamboo Rose 3
• MSM Solutions 3
• AppFinity Software Corp. 2
• Cadre Technologies, Inc 2
• Cameleon Software 2
• Chiron Technologies, Inc. 2
• Dassault Systèmes 2
• Habanero Consulting Group 2
• LOGO Business Solutions 2
• NGC (New Generation Computing) 2
• Nucleus Research 2
• Waer Systems Limited 2
• Arena Solutions (a PTC Business) 1
• Know the option you’re looking for? Type in the search field.

Top Publications

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• We're Hiring!
• Help Center

Case Study In Operations Management

2011, Journal of Business Case Studies (JBCS)

This case study is conducted within the context of the Theory of Constraints. The field research reported in this document contains information specific to the telecommunications industry. An examination of the history, organization design, problems and solutions for one telecommunications company are undertaken from the perspective of academic work in the Theory of Constraints. The information included in this document was developed through interviews with four senior managers including the President, the Chief Technology Officer, a Vice President and a department manager. Their responses were the basis of identifying problems and undesirable effects. The undesirable effects were diagramed in six UDE clouds dealing with the following issues: 1- unclear vision from management to employees; 2- supplier; 3- market; 4- the price and regulation environment; 5- production; and 6- bureaucracy. These undesirable effects were logically examined until a single cloud depicting the core confli...

Related Papers

CHIRANJIB BHOWMIK

The aim of this paper is to implement TOC in forging area in which the constraints prevents the throughput of the system to enhance the quality and reduce errors. Many quality improvement (QI) approaches have a limited evaluation of the factors in the selection of QI projects. Theory of constraints (TOC) has been proposed as a remedy for the better selection of QI projects. The strategic Thinking Processes (TP) of Theory of constraints is designed to struggle an enormous problem faced by organizations. The paper proposes an improvement of TOC–based TP in one of the leading forging industry in India to identify and overcome the system constraints in the business. The result shows that the TOC-TP identifies the production constraints and suggests measures to improve the system. The research is applicable to any production house in which product quality reduces the throughput of the organization. This is the first time that the theory of constraints philosophy has been used to maximize...

Jesus Ramon Melendez

The investigations began with the drum-buffer-rope architecture, as the basis of the Theory of Constraints (TOC). Currently, TOC has been applied in various business sectors. With the support of mathematical models and simulation, it has been possible to optimize the productive processes. The objective of this study was to determine the investigative tendencies of the TOC in the different productive sectors and its application in business management environments. The results establish that its application increases the efficiency of the process.

Nigerian Chapter of Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review

Hamed Alizadeh

In today’s economic climate, many organizations struggle with declining sales and increasing costs. Some choose to hunker down and weather the storm, hoping for better results in the future. However, layoffs and workforce reductions jeopardize future competitiveness. However, organizations that have implemented the Theory of Constraints (TOC) continue to thrive and grow in difficult times, continuing to achieve real bottom line growth, whether by improving productivity or increased revenues. In this paper, the organization dealing with the furniture manufacturing has been studied and the main constraints for the maximum throughput are identified by applying a thinking process tool called as “Theory of Constraints” (TOC). The Drum Buffer Rope (DBR) has been applied for capacity planning and the time for each identified processes is calculated and workload for each work center is calculated. Then the capacity constraint machine is identified. The proper solution has been provided to o...

Niek Du Preez

Erkam Guresen

Theory of constraints (TOC) is a technique that produces solutions for every kind of bottleneck in a short time. The philosophy of the theory is to determine the weaker part of the process chain and to eliminate this constraint point by taking action. After improvement, the next weaker part of the process chain is determined, and so on, for continuous improvement. The main goal is to apply improvement actions continuously to reach an excellent system structure. This paper describes how the five main steps of the theory of constraints were applied to eliminate waste at a supplier firm in Turkey..

Aitor Lizarralde

Purpose: The theory of constraints (TOC) drum-buffer-rope methodology is appropriate when managing a production plant in complex environments, such as make-to-order (MTO) scenarios. However, some difficulties have been detected in implementing this methodology in such changing environments. This case study analyses a MTO company to identify the key factors that influence the execution of the third step of TOC. It also aims to evaluate in more depth the research started by Lizarralde et al. (2020) and compare the results with the existing literature. Design/methodology/approach: The case study approach is selected as a research methodology because of the need to investigate a current phenomenon in a real environment. Findings: In the case study analysed, the protective capacity of non-bottleneck resources is found to the key factor when subordinating the MTO system to a bottleneck (BN). Furthermore, it coincides with one of the two key factors defined by the literature, namely protec...

Information Systems and e-Business Management

Niv Ahituv , Nitza Geri

Decision Line

Vicky Mabin

Alexei Sharpanskykh

RELATED PAPERS

Mathematical Modelling and Analysis

Gediminas Vadeikis

Mr. Said Ashraf

Journal of the World Aquaculture Society

Matthew Booker

MS - 12ZZ 923787 Louise Arbour SS

Leukemia Research

Thomas Loughran

Animal Feed Science and Technology

ahmad zahiri mohamed hassan

Research in Microbiology

Jean-marie Pagès

Electronic Communications in Probability

Yang-Kyu Choi

Botanical Sciences

Ana Guadalupe Rocha Loredo

Journal of Clinical Investigation

B. Ghebrehiwet

arXiv (Cornell University)

Andrea Mastropietro

Emergency Radiology

Σταύρος Σπηλιόπουλος

husni mubarok

Scientific Reports

Amy Gancarz

Ciprian Mircescu

International Journal of Computational Engineering Research (IJCER)

Rômulo F Navarro

Kateřina Jančaříková

Mini-invasive Surgery

Kazuhiro Imai

Marcela Uhart

THEODORE DIMITAKOPOULOS

Theodore Dimitrakopoulos

RELATED TOPICS

•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024

• All Headlines

Top 40 Most Popular Case Studies of 2021

Two cases about Hertz claimed top spots in 2021's Top 40 Most Popular Case Studies

Two cases on the uses of debt and equity at Hertz claimed top spots in the CRDT’s (Case Research and Development Team) 2021 top 40 review of cases.

Hertz (A) took the top spot. The case details the financial structure of the rental car company through the end of 2019. Hertz (B), which ranked third in CRDT’s list, describes the company’s struggles during the early part of the COVID pandemic and its eventual need to enter Chapter 11 bankruptcy. 

The success of the Hertz cases was unprecedented for the top 40 list. Usually, cases take a number of years to gain popularity, but the Hertz cases claimed top spots in their first year of release. Hertz (A) also became the first ‘cooked’ case to top the annual review, as all of the other winners had been web-based ‘raw’ cases.

Besides introducing students to the complicated financing required to maintain an enormous fleet of cars, the Hertz cases also expanded the diversity of case protagonists. Kathyrn Marinello was the CEO of Hertz during this period and the CFO, Jamere Jackson is black.

Sandwiched between the two Hertz cases, Coffee 2016, a perennial best seller, finished second. “Glory, Glory, Man United!” a case about an English football team’s IPO made a surprise move to number four.  Cases on search fund boards, the future of malls,  Norway’s Sovereign Wealth fund, Prodigy Finance, the Mayo Clinic, and Cadbury rounded out the top ten.

Other year-end data for 2021 showed:

• Online “raw” case usage remained steady as compared to 2020 with over 35K users from 170 countries and all 50 U.S. states interacting with 196 cases.
• Fifty four percent of raw case users came from outside the U.S..
• The Yale School of Management (SOM) case study directory pages received over 160K page views from 177 countries with approximately a third originating in India followed by the U.S. and the Philippines.
• Twenty-six of the cases in the list are raw cases.
• A third of the cases feature a woman protagonist.
• Orders for Yale SOM case studies increased by almost 50% compared to 2020.
• The top 40 cases were supervised by 19 different Yale SOM faculty members, several supervising multiple cases.

CRDT compiled the Top 40 list by combining data from its case store, Google Analytics, and other measures of interest and adoption.

All of this year’s Top 40 cases are available for purchase from the Yale Management Media store .

And the Top 40 cases studies of 2021 are:

1.   Hertz Global Holdings (A): Uses of Debt and Equity

2.   Coffee 2016

3.   Hertz Global Holdings (B): Uses of Debt and Equity 2020

4.   Glory, Glory Man United!

5.   Search Fund Company Boards: How CEOs Can Build Boards to Help Them Thrive

6.   The Future of Malls: Was Decline Inevitable?

7.   Strategy for Norway's Pension Fund Global

8.   Prodigy Finance

9.   Design at Mayo

10. Cadbury

11. City Hospital Emergency Room

13. Volkswagen

14. Marina Bay Sands

15. Shake Shack IPO

16. Mastercard

17. Netflix

18. Ant Financial

19. AXA: Creating the New CR Metrics

20. IBM Corporate Service Corps

21. Business Leadership in South Africa's 1994 Reforms

22. Alternative Meat Industry

23. Children's Premier

24. Khalil Tawil and Umi (A)

25. Palm Oil 2016

26. Teach For All: Designing a Global Network

27. What's Next? Search Fund Entrepreneurs Reflect on Life After Exit

28. Searching for a Search Fund Structure: A Student Takes a Tour of Various Options

30. Project Sammaan

31. Commonfund ESG

32. Polaroid

33. Connecticut Green Bank 2018: After the Raid

34. FieldFresh Foods

35. The Alibaba Group

36. 360 State Street: Real Options

37. Herman Miller

38. AgBiome

39. Nathan Cummings Foundation

40. Toyota 2010

Loading Results

No Match Found

Operations strategy case studies

Customer operations.

A leading US non-profit health insurer focused on service as a key differentiator. It wanted to gain insight into current operational performance, and develop customer-centric capabilities like self-service and digital competency. PwC's Strategy& was engaged to evaluate and address gaps in customer and member engagement.

Leveraging our health insurance expertise, proprietary market research databases, and best practices to help the client develop its differentiated customer-centric capabilities, we identified quick wins included outsourcing of manual activities, automation of macros/scripting, and standardization of call center work-from-home policies. We delivered a plan to enhance workforce management, consolidate provider data claim, and move to pre-pay policy. Additional recommendations addressed network rationalization, timely issuance of ID cards, and reducing SG&A expenses.

The project identified $25M investment in provider engagement, flexible network design, personalized member service, and real-time enrollment to achieve the desired differentiating capabilities.

Innovation and product development

A global chemicals specialty company with multiple business units and several existing embedded R&D teams was challenged by stagnating growth in difficult market conditions and the client was seeking to reinvigorate the portfolio. The client sought to consolidate R&D capabilities and establish a corporate innovation function to coordinate and drive its long-term R&D agenda and drive growth.

Strategy& was asked to design the innovation operating model, define the collaboration with business units, and develop a concept for R&D partnerships and venturing to drive growth.

We established a target operating model, refocused product innovation into clusters and developed a venturing approach. The client experienced a significant upswing in R&D productivity, new record numbers of patents filed, and breakthroughs innovations in a number of focus areas. Overall, improved R&D coherence led to 13% direct top line growth and 15% EBITDA improvement.

Strategic supply management

A global lighting company with over $5B sales revenue across more than 130 countries was faced with tremendous market disruptions resulting from the transition from traditional lighting to LED. To successfully play in this significantly different market, the company sold off its traditional business and refocused on the technically driven, fast-cycled LED business. To enable this, the client had to adopt new business models. Within this context, the procurement function had to undergo a major transition towards strategic supply management to effectively support the businesses going forward.

Strategy& supported the client in identifying the new requirements resulting from the changed business models, developing the procurement transformation program based on prioritized 4-6 focus areas (e.g. SRM, Supplier and Innovation Scouting), including appropriate KPIs, and designing a comprehensive change management concept and roadmap to ensure engagement and buy-in from the client team.

The transformation delivered significantly improved service levels for the BUs based on nine key strategic supply management capabilities and an adapted operating model with an improved split of roles and responsibilities between corporate headquarters and business units.

Competitive manufacturing

A global product company with $10B sales revenue across more than 130 countries was suffering from a highly complex manufacturing footprint which was not aligned with the client’s main markets. The client was losing sales and profitability due to high order fulfillment cycle times, high manufacturing costs, and low productivity performance in its key operations.

Strategy& designed the global manufacturing footprint strategy based on clearly defined customer and market requirements. As a consequence, the team agreed to realign the operations footprint from 23 to 15 operations by implementing a more balanced global footprint closer to key customers and/or distribution centers.

The transformation delivered shorter order fulfillment cycle times while simultaneously reducing manufacturing costs by up to 10% and improving overall productivity and flexibility. These results led to a gross margin improvement by 5%.

Capital assets

A leading oil field services and equipment company’s financial performance was lagging its peers, and the company had committed to a 3% improvement in North American net margin. Management believed there was an opportunity to improve the effectiveness of their >$1B equipment maintenance spend, but was unclear on where and how to achieve savings.

Strategy& helped the client pinpoint inefficiencies in their maintenance operating model, shifting from a highly reactive and siloed operation to an integrated team using advanced techniques to deliver maintenance when and where needed based on data. The changes were substantial as the client reorganized to break down functional barriers and create a maintenance process focused on customer performance.

Results were impressive — the maintenance transformation program was implemented at the top 80% of locations by revenue, resulting in a ~2% boost to net margins. It also drove a 20% reduction in maintenance cost, 50% reduction in maintenance related downtime, and improved customer service.

General and administrative (G&A) operations

The securities servicing division of a global banking group sought to address business challenges like reduced productivity, sub-optimal operating model for its Center of Excellence (CoE), lack of process standardization, cost escalation, process fragmentation, and duplication. Strategy& was asked to help in accelerating execution and benefits delivery through process optimization, offshoring and redesign of operating model.

Strategy& developed initial hypothesis through a detailed current state analysis, using both quantitative and qualitative tools, and conducted workshops to identify quick win opportunities. We proposed a redesigned operating model for the CoEs, and suggested in-depth implementation plan to drive the changes.

The project identified potential cost saving of $10M per annum and recommended lean FTE allocation across locations. The project also identified opportunities to achieve process efficiency and provided detailed target state structure of the CoE, including team size, shift patterns, and processes performed.

Enterprise-wide operational excellence

A leading tier-1 automotive supplier for the production and processing of rubber, plastics and metal with $680MM. sales revenue faced significant growth rates, but structures, process efficiency and financial performance did not follow accordingly and significant refinancing/cash flow complications evolved.

Strategy& was tasked with reshaping the company starting from product-market-strategy, developing the organizational structure and optimizing the entire process and operations landscape. An overall restructuring concept based on two pillars was developed: 1) Urgent short-term actions focusing on firefighting to ensure customer satisfaction and 2) sustainable long-term measures facilitating the optimization of the company’s footprint, product creation process, sales initiatives as well as lean production initiatives and the definition of an overall production system.

Continued success of these measures was ensured through the implementation of a common reporting structure and escalation process to track progress and define counter measures in case of deviations. The highly successful project identified cost saving initiatives worth more than $135MM. and had the client achieving EBIT margins of 6-8% during the project.

Strategy&'s global footprint

View the complete list of Strategy& worldwide offices

Partner, Strategy& Germany

Harald Dutzler

Partner, Strategy& Austria

Principal, Strategy& US

Haroon Sheikh

Senior Executive Advisor, Strategy& Middle East

© 2019 - 2024 PwC. All rights reserved. PwC refers to the PwC network and/or one or more of its member firms, each of which is a separate legal entity. Please see www.pwc.com/structure for further details.

• Privacy statement
• Terms of use
• Cookies info
• About site provider

JavaScript seems to be disabled in your browser. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser.

We use cookies to make your experience better. To comply with the new e-Privacy directive, we need to ask for your consent to set the cookies. Learn more .

• Compare Products
• Case Collection
• Operations Management

Items 1 - 10 of 14

• You're currently reading page 1

The case is centered around the timeline of the Telangana graduates’ MLC elections 2021, which were held against the backdrop of a known unknown: the COVID-19 pandemic. The electoral officials had to be mindful of the numerous security protocols and complexities involved in implementing the election process in such uncertain times. They had to incorporate additional steps and plan for contingencies to mitigate risks while executing the election process. Halfway through the election planning process, it became clear that the number of voters and candidates was unprecedentedly large. This unexpected development necessitated a revision of the prior plan for conducting the elections. Shashank Goel, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), and M. Satyavani, Deputy CEO, were architecting the plan for conducting the elections with an unexpectedly large number of voters and candidates under pandemic-induced disruptions. Goel was also reflecting on how to develop contingency plans for these elections, given the uncertainty produced by unforeseen external factors and the associated risks. Although he had the mandate to conduct free and fair elections within the stipulated timelines and was assured that the required resources would be provided, several factors had to be considered. According to the constitutional guidelines for the graduates' MLC elections, qualified and registered graduate voters could cast their vote by ranking candidates preferentially. Paper ballots had to be used because electronic voting machines (EVMs) could not handle preferential voting. The scale and magnitude of the elections necessitated jumbo ballot boxes. To manage the process, the number of polling stations had to be increased, and manpower had to be trained. Further, the presence of healthcare workers to ensure the safety of voters and the deployed staff was imperative. The Telangana CEO’s office had to meet the increased logistical and technical requirements and ensure high voting turnouts while executing the election process.

Postponing the election was not an option for the ECI from the standpoint of the legal code of conduct. The Telangana CEO's office prepared a revised election plan. The project plan was amended to incorporate the need for additional resources and logistical support to execute the election process. As the efforts of the staff were maximized effectively, the elections could be conducted smoothly and transparently although a large number of candidates were in the fray.

Teaching and Learning Objectives:

The key case objectives are to enable students to:

• Appreciate the importance of effective project management, planning, and execution in public administration against the backdrop of uncertainties and complexities.
• Understand the importance of risk identification, risk planning, and prioritization.
• Learn strategies to manage various project risks in a real-life situation.
• Identify the characteristics of effective leadership in times of crisis and the key takeaways from such scenarios

The case is designed to be used in courses on Nonprofit Operations Management, Data Analytics, Six Sigma, and Business Process Excellence/Improvement in MBA or Executive MBA programs. It is suitable for teaching students about the common problem of lower rates of volunteerism in nonprofit organizations. Further, the case study helps present the importance and application of inferential statistics (data analytics) to identify the impact of various factors on the problem (effect). The case is set in early 2021 when Shefali Sharma, the Strategy and Learning Manager with Teach For India (TFI), faced a few challenging questions from a professor at the Indian School of Business (ISB) during her presentation at an industry gathering in Hyderabad, India. Sharma was concerned about the low matriculation rate of TFI fellows, despite the rigorous recruitment, selection, and matriculation (RSM) process. A mere 50-60% matriculation rate was not a commensurate return for an investment of INR 6.5 million and the massive effort put into the RSM process. In 2017, Sharma organized focused informative and experiential events to motivate candidates to join the fellowship, but it was not very clear if these events impacted the TFI matriculation rate. After the industry gathering at ISB, Sharma followed up with the professor to seek his guidance in performing data analytics on the matriculation data. Sharma wondered if inferential data analysis could help her understand which demographic factors and events impact the matriculation rate.

Learning Objective

• Illustrate the importance of inferential statistics as a decision support system in resolving business problems
• Formulating and solving a hypothesis testing problem for attribute (discrete) data
• Visually depicting the flow of work across different stages of a process

In response to the uncontrollable second wave of COVID-19 in the south Indian state of Telangana in April 2021, a few like-minded social activists in the capital city of Hyderabad came together to establish a 100-bed medical care center to treat COVID-19 patients. The project was named Ashray. Dr. Chinnababu Sunkavalli (popularly known as Chinna) was the project manager of Project Ashray. In addition to the inherent inadequacy of hospital beds to accommodate the growing number of COVID- 19 patients till March 2021, the city faced a sudden spike of infections in April that worsened the situation. Consequently, the occupancy in government and private hospitals in Hyderabad increased by 485% and 311%, respectively, from March to April. According to a prediction model, Chinna knew that hospital beds would be exhausted in several parts of the city in the next few days. The Project Ashray team was concerned about the situation. The team met on April 26, 2021, to schedule the project to establish the medical care center within the next 10 days. The case is suitable for teaching students how to approach the scheduling problem of a time- constrained project systematically. It helps as a pedagogical aid in teaching management concepts such as project visualization, estimating project duration, float, and project laddering or activity splitting, and tools such as network diagrams, critical path method, and crashing. The case exposes students to a real-time problem-solving approach under uncertainty and crises and the critical role of NGOs in supporting the governments. Alongside the Project Management and Operations Management courses, other courses like Managerial decision-making in nonprofit organizations, Health care delivery, and healthcare operations could also find support from this case.

Learning Objectives:

To learn: Time-constrained projects and associated scheduling problems Project visualization using network diagrams Activity sequencing and converting sequential activities to parallel activities Critical path method (early start, early finish, late start, late finish, forward pass, backward pass, and float) to estimate a project's overall duration Project laddering to reduce the project duration wherever possible Project crashing using linear programming

The case goes on to describe the enormous challenges involved in building the 4.94 km long Bogibeel Bridge in the North Eastern Region (NER) of India. When it was finally commissioned in 2018, it was hailed as a marvel of engineering. With two rail lines and a two-lane road over it, the bridge spanned the mighty Brahmaputra river. The Bogibeel Bridge was India's longest and Asia's second-longest road and rail bridge with fully-welded bridge technology that met European codes and welding standards. The interstate connectivity provided by the bridge enabled important socio-economic developments in the NER that included improved logistics and transportation, the growth of medical and educational facilities, higher employment, and the rise of international trade and tourism. While the outcomes of the project were significant, the efforts that went into constructing the Bogibeel Bridge were equally so. This case study is designed to teach the importance of effective risk planning in project management. Further, the case introduces students to earned value analysis and project oversight in managing large projects. The case centers on Indian Railways' need to quickly discover why the Bogibeel project was not going according to plan. The case also serves as a resource to teach public operations management where the focus is on projects and operations that result in socio-economic outcomes.

• Appreciate the importance of risk planning and risk prioritization and learn strategies to manage various project risks
• Understand earned value management (EVM) and the associated metrics and calculations for project evaluation on time and cost schedules.
• Identify social impact outcomes in public/infrastructure projects.

Access to clean water is so critical for development and survival that the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal number 6 (SDG-6) was to ensure availability and sustained management of water and sanitation. The World Health Organization (WHO) in 2006 estimated that 97 million Indians lacked clean and safe water. Fluoride and total dissolvable solids (TDS) in drinking water were dangerously high at many parts of rural India, with adverse impacts. On the other hand, buying clean drinking water from commercial vendors at market rates was not a realistic alternative, a costly recurring expense that much of India's rural population could not afford. The case tracks the efforts of Huggahalli, head of the technology group of Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisations (SSSO), to devise a sustainable solution to the drinking water problem in rural India that is low on cost, high on impact. They eventually develop a model that satisfies all these criteria and becomes the basis for a project called Premamrutha Dhaara. Funded by Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust, the project aims to install water purification plants in more than 100 villages spanning six states in India, with the ultimate goal of turning over plant operations to the beneficiary villages and setting up a welfare fund in each village from the revenue generated. Social service projects, particularly in developing countries, have their unique challenges. The case highlights the importance of performing feasibility analysis as part of the project planning in social projects. The case also describes how the financial and operational dimensions of sustainability could lead to a self-sustainable system. The social innovation framework used to deploy the water purification project to achieve broader rural welfare has wider implications for project management, social innovation and change, sustainable operations management, strategic non-profit management, and public policy.

The case offers four possibilities for central objectives:

• To perform feasibility analysis in a Project Management course
• To design a social innovation framework in a Social Innovation and Change course
• To understand the dimensions of self-sustainability in a Sustainable Operations Management course
• To measure social impact in Strategic Non-profit Management and Public Policy courses

During the Indian general election of 2019, the Nizamabad constituency in Telangana state found itself in an unprecedented situation with a record 185 candidates competing for one seat. Most of these candidates were local farmers who saw the election as a platform for raising awareness about local issues, particularly the perceived lack of government support for guaranteeing minimum support prices for their crops. More than 185 candidates had in fact contested elections from a single constituency in a handful of elections in the past. The Election Commission of India (ECI) had declared them to be "special elections" where it made exceptions to the original election schedule to accommodate the large number of candidates. However, in the 2019 general election, the ECI made no such exceptions, announcing instead that polling in Nizamabad would be conducted as per the original schedule and results would be declared at the same time as the rest of the country. This presented a unique and unexpected challenge for Rajat Kumar, the Telangana Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) and his team. How were they to conduct free and fair and elections within the mandated timeframe with the largest number of electronic voting machines (EVMs) ever deployed to address the will of 185 candidates in a constituency with 1.55 million voters from rural and semi-urban areas? Case A describes the electoral process followed by the world's largest democracy to guarantee free and fair elections. It concludes by posing several situational questions, the answers to which will determine whether the polls in Nizamabad are conducted successfully or not. Case B, which should be revealed after students have had a chance to deliberate on the challenges posed in Case A, describes the decisions and actions taken by Kumar and his team in preparation for the Nizamabad polls and the events that took place on election day and afterward.

To demonstrate how a quantitative approach to decision making can be used in the public policy domain to achieve end goals. To learn how resource allocation decisions can be made by understanding the scale of the problem, the various resource constraints, and the end goals. To discover operational innovations in the face of regulatory and technical constraints and complete the required steps. To understand the multiple steps involved in conducting elections in the Indian context.

Set in April 2017, this case centers around the digital technology dilemma facing the protagonist Dr. Vimohan, the chief intensivist of Prashant Hospital. The case describes the critical challenges afflicting the intensive care unit (ICU) of the hospital. It then follows Dr. Vimohan as he visits the Bengaluru headquarters of Cloudphysician Healthcare, a Tele-ICU provider. The visit leaves Dr. Vimohan wondering whether he can leverage the Tele-ICU solution to overcome the challenges at Prashant Hospital. He instinctively knew that he would need to use a combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis to resolve this dilemma.

The case study enables critical thinking and decision-making to address the business situation. Assessing the pros and cons of a potential technology solution, examining the readiness of an organization and devising a framework for effective stakeholder and change management are some of the key concepts. Associated tools include cost-benefit analysis, net present value (NPV) analysis, force-field analysis, and change-readiness assessment, in addition to a brief discussion on SWOT analysis.

Set in 2016 in Hyderabad, India, the case follows Puvvala Yugandhar, Senior Vice President at Dr. Reddy's Laboratories (DRL), as he decides what to do about an underperforming production policy at their plants. Adopted a decade earlier, the policy, called Replenish to Consumption -Pooled (RTC-P), had not delivered the expected results. Specifically, the plants had been seeing an increase in production switchovers and creeping buffer levels for certain products, which had led to higher holding costs and lost sales for certain products. A senior consultant had suggested that DRL switch to a demand estimation-based policy called Replenish to Anticipation (RTA), which attempted to address the above concerns by segregating production capacity and updating buffer levels using demand estimates. However, Yugandhar, well aware of the challenges of changing production policies, wanted to explore a variant of RTC-P called Replenish to Consumption -Dedicated (RTC-D), which followed the same buffer update rules as RTC-P but maintained dedicated capacities for a subset of products.

By studying and solving the decision problem in the case, students should be able to better appreciate the challenges involved in making long-term operational changes. It gives them an opportunity to: (1) understand how each input might impact the final decision, and (2) how to weigh each of these inputs in arriving at the final decision.

We crafted the case study "Software Acquisition for Employee Engagement at Pilot Mountain Research " for use in Business Marketing, Buyer Behavior, or Operations Management courses in undergraduate, MBA, or Executive Education programs. The Pilot Mountain Market Research (PMMR) case study provides students with the opportunity to examine how buying decisions can be made utilizing online digital tools that are increasingly available to business-to-business (B2B) purchasing managers. To do so, we created fictitious research studies and data to realistically portray the kinds of information that are publicly available to B2B purchasing managers on the Internet today. In this case study, we introduce students to fit analysis, coding quality technical assessment, sentiment analysis, and ratings & reviews analyses. Students are challenged to integrate findings from these diverse analytical tools, combining both qualitative and quantitative data into concrete employee engagement software (EES) purchasing recommendations.

1. Evolving criteria for selecting a software package for organization-wide procurement in a B2B purchase decision context 2. Appreciate increasing digitalization of businesses 3. Understand importance of employee engagement in organizations and what an organization could do to enhance employee engagement among its workforce 4. Understand decision making processes in the context of digitalisation of businesses

[email protected] | Contact Us |

• Asset Management Digital Transformations
• Maximo EAM Solutions Overview
• IBM Maximo Application Suite
• TRM Maximo AAM
• OMNI Maximo Assistant
• Asset Care Essentials (ACE)
• RulesManager Studio
• SAP Enterprise Asset Management
• Predictive Maintenance
• Aspen Mtell
• IBM MAS Monitor, Health, & Predict
• Asset Management Consulting
• Reliability & Maintenance Consulting
• Assessments and Benchmarking
• MRO Data Services
• Predictive Maintenance Consulting
• IBM Maximo Services
• MAS 8 Trial Upgrade
• Implementations
• Managed Services
• SAP Services
• SAP Asset and Service Management Consulting
• Maximo Cloud Solutions
• High Security Maximo Cloud
• Hosted MAS Pilot
• Resource Library
• Data Sheets, Books and eBooks
• Event Calendar
• Get in Touch

Case Study: Prescriptive Maintenance Software Helps Saras Improve Business Performance and Drive Operational Excellence

Fill out the form to receive an email with the case study.

Saras is the owner of the most complex refinery in the Mediterranean, with 300,000 barrels per day of refining capacity. As part of their digitization program, they were evaluating ways to drive greater reliability in their capital- and asset-intensive refinery operations. They selected Aspen Mtell based on a competitive pilot project selection process which initially focused on critical refinery equipment, such as large compressors and pumps.

Aspen Mtell mines historical and real-time operational and maintenance data to discover the precise failure signatures that precede asset degradation and breakdowns, predict future failures and prescribe detailed actions to mitigate or solve problems.

Popular Keywords

Hydrogen to Health: Tailored Medical Solutions for Remote Operations

• Case Studies
• Current Page

After the comprehensive Site Health Review , the client's confidence in managing medical cases at their site significantly increased. Consequently, the client felt not only informed but genuinely empowered to make strategic, well-informed decisions regarding healthcare service management at their site. Through our implemented recommendations, 2.5K employees benefitted across all sites from our tailored medical solutions and the client saved $60K annually.

Case Study: Optimizing Silicon Valley’s Talent with Transfer Pricing Staffing Solutions

MGO brings strategic advantages, cost savings, and efficiency to Silicon Valley's software giants. 

Background:

In the fast-paced environment of Silicon Valley, a public software company faced a significant challenge: a shortage of skilled staff for its crucial daily transfer pricing (TP) operations. In response to this critical need, the company sought a reliable firm to provide not only services but a flexible staffing solution.

DOWNLOAD PDF

Opportunity:

The client needed an immediate and effective solution to maintain their transfer pricing operations without the overhead associated with full-time hires. They wanted quality, efficiency, and a team that could seamlessly integrate into their existing operations under the supervision of their director.

MGO crafted a bespoke staffing solution, dedicating a highly skilled professional to work exclusively on this engagement. This strategic move allowed the client to leverage MGO’s experience as if it were an in-house resource — but without the financial and administrative burdens of employment (such as payroll taxes and benefits). The arrangement highlighted MGO's flexibility and commitment to providing value, offering the client a substantial cost benefit through competitive pricing.

Value to Client:

Over the course of a year, this arrangement not only met but exceeded the client's expectations, demonstrating MGO's capability to deliver specialized staffing solutions that align with the unique needs of high-tech companies in Silicon Valley. The engagement underscored the potential for cost savings and operational efficiencies through outsourcing, setting a precedent for how companies can address staffing shortages in specialized areas like transfer pricing. This solution also highlighted MGO's adeptness in managing and executing transfer pricing tasks for large enterprises with offshore operations.

Transfer Pricing and MGO

MGO approaches outsourcing in a strategic way, emphasizing our team’s readiness to provide tailored solutions to meet the evolving needs of businesses in Silicon Valley and beyond. As companies navigate the complexities of transfer pricing and seek operational efficiencies, MGO remains a trusted advisor, offering flexible staffing solutions to help you achieve your goals.

Related Solutions

Related industries, get the latest.

Intelligent insights & conversations with global power industry professionals

Single Face of Work. Mobile Field Service. Enterprise Asset Management. Inventory. Connected Customer. KloudPlatform.

• Contributors

Transforming Utility Field Operations: A Citizens Energy Group Case Study in Award-Winning FSM Innovation

• May 22, 2024

Join us for a thought leadership web event on June 5th at 9:00 AM PST / 12:00 PM EST with Citizens Energy Group, where we will delve into the strategic implementation of their award-winning FSM solution powered by the KloudGin Platform.

Jun 5, 2024

9:00 AM PST

Gain valuable insights into how CEG achieved operational excellence and enhanced their customer service, earning recognition as a CS Week 2024 Innovation Award winner.

• Optimized Field Operations: Explore CEG's approach to streamlining field service processes, leveraging real-time data, efficient meter validation, and streamlined data capture for improved workflow effectiveness.
• Elevated User Experience: Learn how an intuitive customer interface created an Amazon.com-like experience, enabling real-time service visibility and status notifications.
• Enhanced Data Integrity: Understand CEG's successful implementation of digitized workflows and forms, minimizing errors and ensuring consistent, accurate data capture.
• An Empowered Workforce: Discover how a user-friendly platform fostered user adoption and boosted CEG employee’s productivity.
• Data-Driven Decision-Making: Examine the impact of real-time data for informed decision-making across the organization.
• analytics,-data-&-business-intelligence
• customer-experience-&-management
• digital-utility
• operational-technology
• utility-business

• KloudGin Expert Insights: Empowering Your Workforce: AI-Driven Decision Support for Field Technicians
• 2021 Industry Predictions
• Replay | Building A Modern Digital, Integrated, Utility of the Future with Madison Gas Electric, and Ernst & Young

OTHER EVENTS YOU MAY LIKE

Join 5,000+ executive decision-makers to redefine the energy transition and confront the most business-critical challenges that your industry is facing together.

Intended for engineers and scientists involved with high voltage and repetitive pulsed power equipment in government, industry, and university environments.

The objective of this course is to provide participants with an enhanced understanding of the financial modeling and key documentation requirements of all interested parties to today’s RE PF transactions.

U2030, Oracle, and InvoiceCloud have teamed up to deliver the inaugural 2024 Futures Thinking Masterclass, "The Future of Service." Taking place at the inspiring Oracle Innovation Lab in Deerfield, IL, on June 4-5, 2024.

This seminar is designed for regulated and deregulated energy managers, structuring professionals, and anyone else who wants to gain a better understanding of the concepts

The program, themed “Human by Design”, will bring together key energy players around the world to galvanize technological and business growth

Utilities and Public Sector

Utilities and the Public Sector face historic challenges with aging infrastructure, retiring workforce, rising costs, tightening regulatory requirements, and pressure from ratepayers to reduce rates. These forces are compounded by heightened expectations of customer service and environmental sustainability and the need to find alternative revenue streams to fund transformation. More than ever, optimizing work and asset performance is imperative to providing safe, responsive and cost effective systems of energy and water delivery. 

KloudGin’s adaptable single-engine, one cloud solution brings your asset and work management processes into the Digital Age. With an interface and AI-powered system designed uniquely for field workers, KloudGin connects customers, employees, sub-contractors, smart devices and assets with intuitive real-time access to information online or offline on any device. KloudGin integrates with programs and data collection tools such as leak detection, GIS-enabled forms, backflow device management, drone deployment, AMI metering, valve exercising and outage response for complete optimization of work and assets. 

KloudGin solutions include:

• Real-time monitoring of assets and equipment
• Predictive asset maintenance
• Optimized scheduling and collaboration between teams
• Fleet route optimization
• Inventory and procurement management
• Mobile workforce management
• Time clocking
• Valve Exercising & Tracing w/ ESRI GIS integrations
• Linear and Vertical Assets management
• Dig Alert (811 Call Before you Dig)
• Outage management
• Hydrant Inspection & Flushing
• Water Quality & Discharge monitoring
• Backflow Device management
• Pole and Joint inspections
• Fleet and facilities management
• Add an Online Event

Sponsors & Partners

Salesforce is closed for new business in your area.

Artificial intelligence  is being used in healthcare for everything from answering patient questions to assisting with surgeries and developing new pharmaceuticals.

According to  Statista , the artificial intelligence (AI) healthcare market, which is valued at $11 billion in 2021, is projected to be worth $187 billion in 2030. That massive increase means we will likely continue to see considerable changes in how medical providers, hospitals, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and others in the healthcare industry operate.

Better  machine learning (ML)  algorithms, more access to data, cheaper hardware, and the availability of 5G have contributed to the increasing application of AI in the healthcare industry, accelerating the pace of change. AI and ML technologies can sift through enormous volumes of health data—from health records and clinical studies to genetic information—and analyze it much faster than humans.

Healthcare organizations are using AI to improve the efficiency of all kinds of processes, from back-office tasks to patient care. The following are some examples of how AI might be used to benefit staff and patients:

• Administrative workflow:  Healthcare workers spend a lot of time doing paperwork and other administrative tasks. AI and automation can help perform many of those mundane tasks, freeing up employee time for other activities and giving them more face-to-face time with patients. For example, generative AI can help clinicians with note-taking and content summarization that can help keep medical records as thoroughly as possible. AI might also help with accurate coding and sharing of information between departments and billing.
• Virtual nursing assistants:  One study found that  64% of patients  are comfortable with the use of AI for around-the-clock access to answers that support nurses provide. AI virtual nurse assistants—which are AI-powered chatbots, apps, or other interfaces—can be used to help answer questions about medications, forward reports to doctors or surgeons and help patients schedule a visit with a physician. These sorts of routine tasks can help take work off the hands of clinical staff, who can then spend more time directly on patient care, where human judgment and interaction matter most.
• Dosage error reduction:  AI can be used to help identify errors in how a patient self-administers medication. One example comes from a study in  Nature Medicine , which found that up to 70% of patients don’t take insulin as prescribed. An AI-powered tool that sits in the patient’s background (much like a wifi router) might be used to flag errors in how the patient administers an insulin pen or inhaler.
• Less invasive surgeries:  AI-enabled robots might be used to work around sensitive organs and tissues to help reduce blood loss, infection risk and post-surgery pain.
• Fraud prevention:  Fraud in the healthcare industry is enormous, at $380 billion/year, and raises the cost of consumers’ medical premiums and out-of-pocket expenses. Implementing AI can help recognize unusual or suspicious patterns in insurance claims, such as billing for costly services or procedures that are not performed, unbundling (which is billing for the individual steps of a procedure as though they were separate procedures), and performing unnecessary tests to take advantage of insurance payments.

A recent study found that  83% of patients  report poor communication as the worst part of their experience, demonstrating a strong need for clearer communication between patients and providers. AI technologies like  natural language processing  (NLP), predictive analytics, and  speech recognition  might help healthcare providers have more effective communication with patients. AI might, for instance, deliver more specific information about a patient’s treatment options, allowing the healthcare provider to have more meaningful conversations with the patient for shared decision-making.

According to  Harvard’s School of Public Health , although it’s early days for this use, using AI to make diagnoses may reduce treatment costs by up to 50% and improve health outcomes by 40%.

One use case example is out of the  University of Hawaii , where a research team found that deploying  deep learning  AI technology can improve breast cancer risk prediction. More research is needed, but the lead researcher pointed out that an AI algorithm can be trained on a much larger set of images than a radiologist—as many as a million or more radiology images. Also, that algorithm can be replicated at no cost except for hardware.

An  MIT group  developed an ML algorithm to determine when a human expert is needed. In some instances, such as identifying cardiomegaly in chest X-rays, they found that a hybrid human-AI model produced the best results.

Another  published study  found that AI recognized skin cancer better than experienced doctors.  US, German and French researchers used deep learning on more than 100,000 images to identify skin cancer. Comparing the results of AI to those of 58 international dermatologists, they found AI did better.

As health and fitness monitors become more popular and more people use apps that track and analyze details about their health. They can share these real-time data sets with their doctors to monitor health issues and provide alerts in case of problems.

AI solutions—such as big data applications, machine learning algorithms and deep learning algorithms—might also be used to help humans analyze large data sets to help clinical and other decision-making. AI might also be used to help detect and track infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, tuberculosis, and malaria.

One benefit the use of AI brings to health systems is making gathering and sharing information easier. AI can help providers keep track of patient data more efficiently.

One example is diabetes. According to the  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , 10% of the US population has diabetes. Patients can now use wearable and other monitoring devices that provide feedback about their glucose levels to themselves and their medical team. AI can help providers gather that information, store, and analyze it, and provide data-driven insights from vast numbers of people. Using this information can help healthcare professionals determine how to better treat and manage diseases.

Organizations are also starting to use AI to help improve drug safety. The company SELTA SQUARE, for example, is  innovating the pharmacovigilance (PV) process , a legally mandated discipline for detecting and reporting adverse effects from drugs, then assessing, understanding, and preventing those effects. PV demands significant effort and diligence from pharma producers because it’s performed from the clinical trials phase all the way through the drug’s lifetime availability. Selta Square uses a combination of AI and automation to make the PV process faster and more accurate, which helps make medicines safer for people worldwide.

Sometimes, AI might reduce the need to test potential drug compounds physically, which is an enormous cost-savings.  High-fidelity molecular simulations  can run on computers without incurring the high costs of traditional discovery methods.

AI also has the potential to help humans predict toxicity, bioactivity, and other characteristics of molecules or create previously unknown drug molecules from scratch.

As AI becomes more important in healthcare delivery and more AI medical applications are developed, ethical, and regulatory governance must be established. Issues that raise concern include the possibility of bias, lack of transparency, privacy concerns regarding data used for training AI models, and safety and liability issues.

“AI governance is necessary, especially for clinical applications of the technology,” said Laura Craft, VP Analyst at  Gartner . “However, because new AI techniques are largely new territory for most [health delivery organizations], there is a lack of common rules, processes, and guidelines for eager entrepreneurs to follow as they design their pilots.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) spent 18 months deliberating with leading experts in ethics, digital technology, law, and human rights and various Ministries of Health members to produce a report that is called  Ethics & Governance of Artificial Intelligence for Health . This report identifies ethical challenges to using AI in healthcare, identifies risks, and outlines six  consensus principles  to ensure AI works for the public’s benefit:

• Protecting autonomy
• Promoting human safety and well-being
• Ensuring transparency
• Fostering accountability
• Ensuring equity
• Promoting tools that are responsive and sustainable

The WHO report also provides recommendations that ensure governing AI for healthcare both maximizes the technology’s promise and holds healthcare workers accountable and responsive to the communities and people they work with.

AI provides opportunities to help reduce human error, assist medical professionals and staff, and provide patient services 24/7. As AI tools continue to develop, there is potential to use AI even more in reading medical images, X-rays and scans, diagnosing medical problems and creating treatment plans.

AI applications continue to help streamline various tasks, from answering phones to analyzing population health trends (and likely, applications yet to be considered). For instance, future AI tools may automate or augment more of the work of clinicians and staff members. That will free up humans to spend more time on more effective and compassionate face-to-face professional care.

When patients need help, they don’t want to (or can’t) wait on hold. Healthcare facilities’ resources are finite, so help isn’t always available instantaneously or 24/7—and even slight delays can create frustration and feelings of isolation or cause certain conditions to worsen.

IBM® watsonx Assistant™ AI healthcare chatbots  can help providers do two things: keep their time focused where it needs to be and empower patients who call in to get quick answers to simple questions.

IBM watsonx Assistant  is built on deep learning, machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) models to understand questions, search for the best answers and complete transactions by using conversational AI.

Get email updates about AI advancements, strategies, how-tos, expert perspective and more.

See IBM watsonx Assistant in action and request a demo

Get our newsletters and topic updates that deliver the latest thought leadership and insights on emerging trends.