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Operations Research Helps Reshape Operations Strategy at Standard Register Company

Author

Listed:
  • Sanjay L. Ahire

    (Department of Management Science, Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina 29208)

  • Michael F. Gorman

    (Department of MIS, Operations Management and Decision Sciences, University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio 45469)

  • David Dwiggins

    (The Standard Register Company, Dayton, Ohio 45408)

  • Oleh Mudry

    (The Standard Register Company, Dayton, Ohio 45408)

Abstract

Standard Register (SR) Company is a 93-year-old firm leading in high-volume print production of forms and print stationery for major US firms. SR is facing the strategic challenge of minimizing the total landed costs to offer competitive pricing in the highly competitive traditional print market segment. We applied a trio of operations research (OR) techniques to help SR optimally allocate the production orders across its production-distribution network for minimizing the total landed cost: (1) regressions to estimate the cost and time efficiency attributes of various printing presses on print jobs of different types; (2) optimization modeling to determine the optimal order-routing strategy; and (3) simulation modeling of the production-distribution network to assess the effectiveness of optimal and heuristic allocation strategies under uncertainty of customer orders and equipment performance. With an estimated potential annual savings of over $10 million across SR's major product segments in the high-volume rotary production business, the study has resulted in a strategic shift in SR's capacity-allocation policies. SR's executive-leadership team has launched system-wide production-distribution improvement initiatives and expedited efforts to build real-time supply chain decision-support capabilities to support this philosophy.

Suggested Citation

  • Sanjay L. Ahire & Michael F. Gorman & David Dwiggins & Oleh Mudry, 2007. "Operations Research Helps Reshape Operations Strategy at Standard Register Company," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 37(6), pages 553-565, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:orinte:v:37:y:2007:i:6:p:553-565
    DOI: 10.1287/inte.1070.0314
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Charles J. Corbett & Luk N. Van Wassenhove, 1993. "The Natural Drift: What Happened to Operations Research?," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 41(4), pages 625-640, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Robert B. Handfield & Steven A. Edwards & Jeffrey S. Stonebraker, 2011. "NC State's Supply Chain Resource Cooperative Educates in the Real World," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 41(6), pages 548-563, December.
    2. Michael F. Gorman, 2023. "Case Article—Louisiana Branch Lines," INFORMS Transactions on Education, INFORMS, vol. 23(3), pages 139-143, May.
    3. Michael F. Gorman, 2021. "Contextual Complications in Analytical Modeling: When the Problem is Not the Problem," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 51(4), pages 245-261, July.
    4. Michael F. Gorman, 2010. "The University of Dayton Operations Management Capstone Course: Undergraduate Student Field Consulting Applies Theory to Practice," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 40(6), pages 432-443, December.
    5. Michael Francis Gorman, 2023. "Case Article—Blending Statistics, Optimization, and Simulation in a Multiphase Case," INFORMS Transactions on Education, INFORMS, vol. 23(3), pages 173-176, May.

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