SIG: History of OR in SA launch

Archiving and reflecting on the history of operations research and ORSSA helps preserve the knowledge and methodologies developed over the years, enabling future generations to learn from past achievements and challenges. This special interest group launches with a presentation by ORSSA Fellow, Dave Evans. 

OR in the South African Chemical Industry in the Early 1970s

African Explosives and Chemical Industries (AECI, as it became) acquired a production director from ICI in England – one of its parent companies – around 1970, who was very familiar with the use of OR – particularly linear programming and simulation – in the planning and management of large chemicals complexes. He sent AECI’s OR manager – Jim Buttery – to England late in 1970 on a ‘technical visit’, which was actually a thinly disguised recruiting trip. Over the next year or two, some 5 or 6 OR analysts, one of which was me, moved…