LNMB was established in 1987 and stands for “the Dutch Network on the Mathematics of Operations Research (Landelijk Netwerk Mathematische Besliskunde)”. It is an interuniversity cooperation which has a central role in bringing the OR community in the Netherlands together and promoting close-ties and collaboration that has regularly led to cutting edge results of societal impact. This year, LNMB celebrated another milestone: the golden jubilee of the annual LNMB conference.
The annual LNMB conference, The Mathematics of Operations Research, is the premier gathering in the Netherlands for senior and junior researchers working in this field. The 50th edition took place on January 13–15, 2025 in the Conference Hotel Kontakt der Kontinenten, Soesterberg. The programme featured presentations on current high-quality research and real-world applications, attracting both academic scholars and practitioners from industry and the public sector.
“This year the conference attracted 217 participants from the whole country, making this year’s edition the largest we have had until now. It is great to see that the Dutch Operations Research is growing!” Maria Vlasiou, Hypatia Professor at University of Twente, Director of LNMB
The conference had an impressive lineup of keynote speakers, each a leader in the field of Operations Research. This year’s keynote addresses were delivered by:
- Prof. Dr. Daniel Kuhn, EPFL.
- Prof. Dr. Marco Scarsini, Luiss University.
- Prof. Dr. Huseyin Topaloglu, Cornell University.
- Prof. Dr. Angelika Wiegele, Universität Klagenfurt.
The slides of the presentations can be found on the website of the organisation.
The Franz-Edelman award: finalists and winners from the Netherlands
The third day of the LNMB conference continued the tradition of connecting research in Operations Research with real-world applications. Co-organised with NGB (Nederlands Genootschap voor Besliskunde, Dutch OR Society), this year’s seminar highlighted the success stories of the Dutch Operations Research community with past winners and finalists of the prestigious INFORMS Franz Edelman Award.
“The Netherlands is one of the leading countries regarding the interplay between theory and practice in Operations Research.” Richard Boucherie (Professor of Stochastic Operations Research at University of Twente, chair of Platform Wiskunde Nederland)
The program included the following speakers
- Transvision: Improving mobility for elderly and disabled Dutch citizens using taxies, Finalist 2024. Johan van Rooij (Utrecht University) and Peter Hulsen, Bart Post (CQM). You can watch this webinar given by Frans de Ruiter if you want to learn more about this project.
- TNT Express: Supply Chain-Wide Optimization at TNT, Winner 2012, Hein Fleuren (Tilburg University), John Poppelaars (Doing the Math), Frank van der Wal (ORTEC).
- UN World Food Programme: Towards Zero Hunger with Analytics, Winner 2021 Hein Fleuren (Tilburg University), Koen Peters (WFP Rome).
- Netherlands Railways: The New Dutch Timetable: The O.R. Revolution, Winner 2008. Dennis Huisman (Erasmus University and NS), Erwin Abbink (NS).
- Merck Animal Health: Operations Research Methods Transform Biomanufacturing Productivity for Life-Saving Medicines, Finalist 2022. Tugce Martagan (TU/e, online), Coen Dirckx (TU/e, Merck), Bram van Ravenstein (Merck).
- Dutch Delta Programme Commissioner: Economically Efficient Flood Standards to Protect the Netherlands Against Flooding, Winner 2013. Dick den Hertog (UvA), Jaap Kwadijk (Deltares).
The Franz Edelman Award is a prestigious international award for outstanding contributions of operations research and analytics in both the profit and non-profit sectors. The award is presented annually by INFORMS (Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences). The Netherlands has been represented often among the winners and finalists of this award, who made the Dutch OR community proud with their achievements.
The first time a Dutch team won the award was in 1984 with the research project “Planning the Netherlands’ Water Resources”, led by The Netherlands Rijkswaterstaat and The Rand Corporation with Bruce F. Goeller as laureate. The next success came in 2004 when the OFMD team was a finalist with their paper “Philips Electronics Synchronizes its Supply Chain to End the Bullwhip Effect”. This paper was written by prof. Ton de Kok (CWI and TU/e), Fred Janssen and Jan van Doremalen (CQM), Erik van Wachem, Mathieu Clerkx and Winfried Peeters (Philips Semiconductors).