ISyE Distinguished Seminar: Russell Allgor

"Automating and Optimizing: Behind Amazon's Workforce Planning Systems"

Presentation by Russell Allgor
VP and Chief Scientist, Worldwide Operations at Amazon.com

3:30 pm - Seminar in Lind Hall 302
4:30 pm - Reception, beverages and appetizers in Lind Hall 302

About the seminar:

Amazon faces operational challenges driven by the seasonal spikes in its fulfillment and transportation networks. Workforce management is a critical enabler to manage the seasonal capacity increase. Thoughtful process design and standard work enable systematic workforce planning, and process models and optimization algorithms enable automated decisions. In addition, these systematic approaches are able to handle more complicated schedules to enable scheduling flexibility, providing more scheduling options for the hourly associates to create work schedules that best accommodate their needs.

Bio:

Russell Allgor is the Chief Scientist for Amazon.com, where he leads a team of mathematical modeling experts. Dr. Allgor has demonstrated outstanding accomplishments in practice, management, and research of OR/MS at Amazon. He is one of the most influential scientists in the field of logistics and fulfillment systems for e-commerce. He and his team focus on using data analysis, modeling, simulation, and optimization methods to improve the efficiency of Amazon’s operations. He has focused on problems including network design and facility location, inventory planning, order assignment, equipment and process design, vehicle routing, and process control within and across facilities. Ideas and algorithms developed by Dr. Allgor and his team have returned billions of dollars to Amazon’s bottom line. Prior to joining Amazon.com, Russell worked in applied R&D for Bayer AG in Leverkusen, Germany. He has a PhD in chemical engineering from MIT and a bachelor of science from Princeton University. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and an INFORMS Fellow.