In the past two decades of working experience in industry, I have observed a big gap in the understanding of the utility of Operations Research (OR) models for practical decisions of the business world. While the OR academics are somewhat cut off from the higher priority problems of the real world, business executives are skeptical or completely unaware of the practical use of OR models. Some of the managerial skepticism about OR models is justified, as there are real barriers to successful implementation of such tools which need to be overcome. However, our own experience of the past six years of developing and applying these models for real world supply chain problems of a variety of industries has convinced us and our customers about their use. This article aims to lift the veil of secrecy about OR models by responding to common apprehensions and providing examples of organizations that have broken the barriers to successful implementation and reaped direct business gains. The examples are drawn from our first-hand experience.
