" My research focuses on the development and analysis of robust analytical models for modern manufacturing systems. The size and complexity of these systems often make production planning and inventory management problems extremely difficult to solve, even with current state-of-the-art operations research techniques. I believe in the need for specialized methods catered to specific problems. My research emphasizes the development and analysis of solutions methods for finding both "good" and practical solutions to these problems. "

Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Northwestern University

Research Interests

Design and Analysis of Manufacturing Systems, Production Planning and Scheduling, Inventory Management, Discrete Optimization

Recent Publications

V. Tardif and M.L. Spearman, "Detecting Scheduling Infeasibilities in Finite Capacity Production Environments," Proceedings of the International Conference on Improving Manufacturing Performance in a Distributed Environment:Advanced Systems and Tools, July 13-14, 1995, Edinburgh, Scotland. 

V. Tardif and M.L. Spearman, "Lookahead Disaggregation in MRP-C," Proceedings of the ORSA Technical Section on Manufacturing Management (TECMAN) Conference, June 27-28, 1994, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh.

V. Tardif and M.L. Spearman, "MRP-CD: An Order Release and Dispatch Method for Semiconductor Manufacturing: Preliminary Results," Technical Report, Graduate Program in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, June 1995.