In this paper, we briefly review the development of ranking and selection (R&S) in the past 70 years, especially the theoretical achievements and practical applications in the past 20 years. Different from the frequentist and Bayesian classifications adopted by Kim and Nelson (2006b) and Chick (2006) in their review articles, we categorize existing R&S procedures into fixed-precision and fixed-budget procedures, as in Hunter and Nelson (2017). We show that these two categories of procedures essentially differ in the underlying methodological formulations, i.e., they are built on hypothesis testing and dynamic programming, respectively. In light of this variation, we review in detail some well-known procedures in the literature and show how they fit into these two formulations. In addition, we discuss the use of R&S procedures in solving various practical problems and propose what we think are the important research questions in the field.

Industrial intelligence is a core technology in the upgrading of the production processes and management modes of traditional industries. Motivated by the major development strategies and needs of industrial intellectualization in China, this study presents an innovative fusion structure that encompasses the theoretical foundation and technological innovation of data analytics and optimization, as well as their application to smart industrial engineering. First, this study describes a general methodology for the fusion of data analytics and optimization. Then, it identifies some data analytics and system optimization technologies to handle key issues in smart manufacturing. Finally, it provides a four-level framework for smart industry based on the theoretical and technological research on the fusion of data analytics and optimization. The framework uses data analytics to perceive and analyze industrial production and logistics processes. It also demonstrates the intelligent capability of planning, scheduling, operation optimization, and optimal control. Data analytics and system optimization tech-nologies are employed in the four-level framework to overcome some critical issues commonly faced by manufacturing, resources and materials, energy, and logistics systems, such as high energy consumption, high costs, low energy efficiency, low resource utilization, and serious environmental pollution. The fusion of data analytics and optimization allows enterprises to enhance the prediction and control of unknown areas and discover hidden knowledge to improve decision-making efficiency. Therefore, industrial intelligence has great importance in China’s industrial upgrading and transformation into a true industrial power.

This review aims to gain insight into the current research and application of operational management in the area of intelligent agriculture based on the Internet of Things (IoT), and consequently, identify existing shortcomings and potential issues. First, we use the Java application CiteSpace to analyze co-citation networks in the literature related to the operational management of IoT-based intelligent agriculture. From the literature analysis results, we identify three major fields: (1) the development of agricultural IoT (Agri-IoT) technology, (2) the precision management of agricultural production, and (3) the traceability management of agricultural products. Second, we review research in the three fields separately in detail. Third, on the basis of the research gaps identified in the review and from the perspective of integrating and upgrading the entire agricultural industry chain, additional research directions are recommended from the following aspects: The operational management of agricultural production, product processing, and product sale and after-sale service based on Agri-IoT. The theoretical research and practical application of combining operational management theories and IoT-based intelligent agriculture will provide informed decision support for stakeholders and drive the further development of the entire agriculture industry chain.

The airline industry is a representative industry with high cost and low profitability. Therefore, airlines should carefully plan their schedules to ensure that overall profit is maximized. We review the literature on airline planning and scheduling and focus on mathematical formulations and solution methodologies. Our research framework is anchored on three major problems in the airline scheduling, namely, fleet assignment, aircraft routing, and crew scheduling. General formulation, widely used solution approaches, and important extensions are presented for each problem and integrated problems. We conclude the review by identifying promising areas for further research.

With the accelerated urbanization in China, passenger demand has dramatically increased in large cities, and traffic congestion has become serious in recent years. Developing public urban rail transit systems is an indispensable approach to overcome these problems. However, the high energy consumption of daily operations is an emerging issue due to increased rail transit networks and passenger demands. Thus, reducing the energy consumption and operational cost by using advanced optimization methodologies is an urgent task for operation managers. This work systematically introduces energy-saving approaches for urban rail transit systems in three aspects, namely, train speed profile optimization, utilization of regenerative energy, and integrated optimization of train timetable and speed profile. Future research directions in this field are also proposed to meet increasing passenger demands and network-based urban rail transit systems.