An invitation to you and your company

Professor Phil Howlett
Director,
MISG 2003

Centre for Industrial and Applicable Mathematics (CIAM)
University of South Australia
Mawson Lakes Campus, 5095

Phone: (08) 8302 3195 Fax: (08) 8302 5785

Since 1984 the Mathematics-in-Industry Study Group (MISG) workshop has been taking difficult technical projects from Business and Industry and finding solutions. During this period MISG has developed innovative solutions to a wide range of industrial problems. The Past Projects page contains a long list of projects that demonstrate, on the one hand, the diverse nature of the problems and the companies that presented those problems, but on the other hand show the development of an impressive database of solutions in key sectors of our complex technological society. With 18 years of practical experience we like to think we have now come of age. Not every realistic problem in Business and Industry is amenable to Mathematical description. Nevertheless when you look through the list of past MISG problems you will begin to see that many problems can be solved.

Three years ago, to prepare for MISG 2000, I called one of our most experienced industrial mathematicians, Professor Bill Whiten, and asked him to moderate a problem involving the spin cycle of a washing machine. To my dismay he appeared a little hesitant. Bill said he was more interested in one of the other problems. I don't give up easily so I thought I would wait a few weeks and ask him again. When I eventually called back he said, "Yes, I will do the washing machine problem. As a matter of fact I've just built one out of ice-cream sticks and rubber bands with a little electric motor I had in my office. It seems to be working quite well!" Several months later at the MISG Workshop it was really something to go into that research room and see, in one corner, a real washing machine surrounded by MISG researchers conducting experiments and writing down test results and, in the other corner, to see Bill's small toy washing machine spinning away in miniature simulation.

MISG solutions can take many forms. The solution may be a computer program that calculates a warehouse inventory policy or determines some key parameters in an industrial control process, or it might be derived from a set of equations that contain the important variables and describe the critical relationships. The solution might be a systematic program of experiments. In any case a critical ingredient is that company representatives work with MISG researchers to develop solutions that the company can use. At MISG we understand that the only real solutions are solutions that work in practice.

We would like you and your organisation to participate in the MISG 2003 workshop. Details of how to participate, the cost, and the deliverables can be found on this website. The MISG workshop is a unique opportunity to combine the precision of mathematics with some inspired lateral thinking to solve a problem of your choice. I urge you to take that opportunity by participating in MISG 2003. Howlettsignature.jpg (11668 bytes)