The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences has bestowed the 2006 Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Operations Research upon the Warner Robins Air Logistics Center at Robins AFB, Ga. The ALC won the award, which is considered the “Super Bowl of O.R.,” for its work on streamlining C-5 flow days at the depot. The ALC’s entry discussed how it had used operations research to arrive at a radically different approach to managing the repair and overhaul of C-5 transports, using a technique called critical chain to reduce the time it takes to repair and overhaul an aircraft by 33 percent. “This is what happens when the most capable people use the most innovative and advanced tools for this highly complex operation,” said Bill Best, deputy director of the 402nd Aircraft Maintenance Support Group.
The congressionally chartered National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence has completed its work, but the team that created its 756-page report will continue, backed this time by its former chair, Eric Schmidt, who is committing his own money to the new effort, dubbed the "Special Competitive Studies Project." Schmidt continues…