John Milne

Biography

During my 26-year career at IBM, I developed and applied operations research methods to complex decision problems in supply chain management, and held job titles that included Master Inventor and Senior Engineer. Since leaving IBM in 2010, it has been my pleasure to teach courses at Clarkson University in operations research, operations and supply chain management, and a third course that presently involves students developing patentable inventions. My research has focused on extending operations research methods to address problems in supply chain management, planning, and scheduling. I am among the world’s experts on methods for boarding passengers onto airplanes.

I was the inaugural recipient of the David D. Reh School of Business Faculty Teaching Excellence Award in honor of Dr. Robert John McGill and Dr. Nye Smith, and later received the Reh School’s Faculty Research Excellence Award. The world’s leading professional society for operations research and analytics professionals, INFORMS, honored me with the Franz Edelman Finalist Award for Achievement in Advanced Analytics, Operations Research, and Management Science, the Daniel H. Wagner Prize for Excellence in Operations Research Practice, and elected me a Fellow “for exceptional practice of operations research, extensive service to INFORMS, and outstanding research in planning, scheduling, and supply chain management.” The National Academy of Inventors also elected me as a Fellow.

Education Background

Ph.D. - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

M. Eng. - Cornell University

B.S. - Cornell University

Courses Taught

EM/OM331 - Operations and Supply Chain Management
EM333 - Operations Research
EM456 - Engineering & Management Capstone

Research Interests

My research involves extending operations research methodologies to address problems in supply chain management, planning, and scheduling. Much of my recent research focuses on the related problems of the assignment of passengers to seats on an airplane and methods for boarding an airplane.

Awards

Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (2023)
Faculty Research Excellence Award (2022) - awarded annually to a Clarkson University David D. Reh School of Business faculty member
Special issue editor of the annual INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics (formerly Interfaces) issues focusing on the Franz Edelman Finalist Award papers (Jan/Feb 2013 issue-Jan/Feb 2022)
Fellow of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences “for exceptional practice of operations research, extensive service to INFORMS, and outstanding research in planning, scheduling, and supply chain management” (INFORMS, elected 2018)
Chair, INFORMS Section on Practice (2016-2017, elected twice)
Honor societies: Beta Gamma Sigma (for business, 2016), Alpha Pi Mu (for industrial engineering, 1994)
Faculty Teaching Excellence Award (2015—inaugural recipient) awarded annually to a Clarkson University David D. Reh School of Business faculty member. The 2015 award was in honor of Dr. Robert John McGill and Dr. Nye Smith.
INFORMS President’s Pick article for June 2015. (INFORMS published 14 refereed academic journals at the time)
Vice-chair (Chair-elect), CPMS, the practice section of INFORMS, (January-December terms, 2014-2015, elected twice)
Judge on INFORMS panel selecting Franz Edelman Award winner (2012-2016, 2010, 2004-2006)
Secretary, CPMS (January-December terms; 2012-2013, elected twice)
INFORMS Board of Directors, Vice President/Practice Activities (2008-2009, elected)
Chair of the INFORMS Franz Edelman Award Committee (2005 and 2006 competitions)
Daniel H. Wagner Prize for Excellence in Operations Research Practice (INFORMS 2005)
Certified as a Project Management Professional (Project Management Institute, 2004)
Board member of the INFORMS Section on Practice (formerly Council, formerly CPMS) (2003-present)
Franz Edelman Finalist Award for Achievement in Advanced Analytics, Operations Research, and the Management Sciences (INFORMS 2000) Academic Honors
Del and Ruth Karger Prize for Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation in Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s department of Decision Sciences & Engineering Systems (1995)
Certified Fellow in Production and Inventory Management by the American Production and Inventory Control Society (1987)

Patents

Milne, R.J., “Method for avoiding or limiting early build due to yield decreases,” U.S. Patent 8,615,416, December 24, 2013
Degbotse, A., Milne, R.J., Smith, S., and Ward, J., “Systems and methods of adjusting the order of product manufacturing and rescheduling release dates,” U.S. Patent 8,452,637, May 28, 2013
Furland, T., Milne, R.J., Pastel, L.M.P., Stanley, K.W., and Virun, R.C., “Bit failure signature identification,” U.S. Patent 8,451,018, May 28, 2013
Denton, B., and Milne, R.J., “Method for simultaneously considering customer commit dates and customer request dates,” U.S. Patent 8,234,144, July 31, 2012
Degbotse, A., Denton, B. and Milne, R.J., “Approximating cycle times within material flow network,” U.S. Patent 8,185,420, May 22, 2012
Burda, R., Degbotse, A., Denton, B., Fordyce, K., and Milne, R.J., “Method of release and product flow management for a manufacturing facility,” U.S. Patent 8,165,704, April 24, 2012
Chang, C., Denton, B., Hegde, S., Milne, R.J., Smith, S., Wang, C., and Ward, J., “Planning production for complementary demands,” U.S. Patent 8,140,372, March 20, 2012
Ashok, G, Dunki-Jacobs, R., Milne, R.J., Nahar, R., Shah, A., Tandel, S., and Venkatachalam, M., “Systems and methods of securing resources through passwords,” U.S. Patent 7,992,008, August 2, 2011
Denton, B., Forrest, J., and Milne, R.J., “Method for considering hierarchical preemptive demand priorities in a supply chain optimization model,” U.S. Patent 7,966,214, June 21, 2011
Denton, B., Milne, R.J., and Orzell, R.A., “Method for purchase order Rescheduling in a linear program,” U.S. Patent 7,966,208, June 21, 2011
Burda, R., Degbotse, A., Denton, B., Fordyce, K., Hegde, S., Milne, R.J., Shikalgar, S., and Zuo, G. “Method and system for intelligent automated reticle management,” U.S. Patent 7,953,507, May 31, 2011
Denton, B., Milne, R.J., and Wang, C., “Method for fair sharing limited resources between multiple customers,” U.S. Patent 7,937,475, May 3, 2011
Denton, B., Elmer, B., Milne, R.J., and Sullivan, A., “Method, apparatus, and computer program product for organizing hierarchical information,” U.S. Patent 7,885,958, February 8, 2011
Milne, R.J., Orzell, R., and Wang, C. “Large scale supply planning,” U.S. Patent 7,856,287, December 21, 2010
Denton, B.T., and Milne, R.J., “Method for simultaneously considering customer support dates and customer request dates,” U.S. Patent 7,778,860, August 17, 2010
Denton, B., Ervolina, T., Milne, R.J., Orzell, R., Raychaudhuri, S., “System for and method of interpolation for supply chain planning,” U.S. Patent 7,738,984, June 15, 2010
Degbotse, A., Milne, R.J., and Orzell, R., “Supply consumption optimization and multiple component utilization,” U.S. Patent 7,734,365, June 8, 2010
Denton, B., Milne, R.J., Nahar, R., Pleszkoch, M., Sharma, V., “Method, system, and program product for determining objective function coefficients of a mathematical programming model,” U.S. Patent 7,689,592, March 30, 2010
Denton, B., Fordyce, K., and Milne, R.J., “Method for autonomic control of an automated manufacturing system,” U.S. Patent 7,653,451, January 26, 2010
Degbotse, A., Milne, R.J., and Orzell, R., “Supply consumption optimization and multiple component utilization,” U.S. Patent 7,590,463, September 15, 2009
Milne, R.J., Orzell, R., and Wang, C. “Large scale supply planning,” U.S. Patent 7,590,461, September 15, 2009
Denton, B., and Milne, R.J., “Method for simultaneously considering customer commit dates and customer request dates,” U.S. Patent 7,584,113, September 1, 2009
Burda, R., Degbotse, A., Denton, B., Fordyce, K., Milne, R.J., “Method of release and product flow management for a manufacturing facility,” U.S. Patent 7,477,958, January 13, 2009
Denton, B., Milne, R.J., and Wang, C., “Method for fair sharing limited resources between multiple customers,” U.S. Patent 7,383,337, June 3, 2008
Ashok, G, Dunki-Jacobs, R., Milne, R.J., Nahar, R., Shah, A., Tandel, S., and Venkatachalam, M., “Systems and methods of securing resources through passwords,” U.S. Patent 7,373,516, May 13, 2008
Denton, B., Fordyce, K., and Milne, R.J., “Method for autonomic control of an automated manufacturing system,” U.S. Patent 7,349,751, March 25, 2008. Note: On November 5, 2008, the patent office issued a certificate of correction which recorded Milne as a co-inventor of this patent; however, this correction appears to have been updated in only some records in the patent office’s data bases.
Burda, R., Degbotse, A., Denton, B., Fordyce, K., and Milne, R.J., “Method, system, and computer program product for controlling the flow of material in a manufacturing facility using an extended zone of control,” U.S. Patent 7,305,276, December 4, 2007
Denton, B., Forrest, J., and Milne, R.J., “Method for sizing production lot starts within a linear system programming environment,” U.S. Patent 7,292,904, November 6, 2007
Burda, R., Degbotse, A., Denton, B., Fordyce, K., Milne, R.J., and Williamson, E., “Method, system, and computer program product for improved flow of development lots in a manufacturing facility,” U.S. Patent 7,239,930, July 3, 2007
Burda, R., Degbotse, A., Denton, B., Fordyce, K., Milne, R.J., Shikalgar, S., and Zuo, G. “Method and system for intelligent automated reticle management,” U.S. Patent 7,206,652, April 17, 2007
Coppola, K., Denton, B., Mackay, G., and Milne, R.J., “Method, system and storage medium for integrating rework operations into an advanced planning process,” U.S. Patent 7,200,454, April 3, 2007
Hegde, S., Milne, R.J., Orzell, R.A., Pati, M.C., and Patil, S.P., “Method for allocating limited component supply and capacity to optimize production scheduling, U.S. Patent 7,197,469, March 27, 2007
Denton, B., Fordyce, K., and Milne, R.J., “Method for autonomic control of an automated manufacturing system,” U.S. Patent 7,151,972, December 19, 2006
Denton, B., Milne, R.J., Orzell, R.A., Vajjala, S., and Ward, J., “Method for optimizing foundry capacity,” U.S. Patent 7,103,436, September 5, 2006
Denton, B., Fordyce, K., and Milne, R.J., “System and method for batch scheduling of lots based on flow time and number of batches,” U.S. Patent 7,043,322, May 9, 2006
Denton, B. and Milne, R.J., “Method for optimizing material substitutions within a supply chain,” U.S. Patent 6,983,190, January 3, 2006
Hegde, S., Milne, R.J., Orzell, R.A., Pati, M., Patil, S., “Decomposition system and method for solving a large-scale semiconductor production planning problem,” U.S. Patent 6,701,201, March 2, 2004
Milne, R.J., O’Neil, J.P., Orzell, R.A., Tang, X., and Wong, Y., “Projected supply planning matching assets with demand in microelectronics manufacturing,” U.S. Patent 6,049,742, April 11, 2000
Dangat, G.S., Milne, R.J., and Orzell, R.A., “Method to provide common support for multiple types of solvers for matching assets with demand in microelectronics manufacturing,” U.S. Patent 6,041,267, March 21, 2000
Dangat, G.S., Gokhale, A.R., Li, S., Milne, R.J., Orzell, R.A., Reid, R.L., Tang, X, and Yen, C., “Best can do matching of assets with demand in microelectronics manufacturing,” U.S. Patent 5,971,585, October 26, 1999
Milne, R.J., Orzell, R.A., and Yen, C. “Advanced material requirements planning in microelectronics manufacturing,” U.S. Patent 5,943,484, August 24, 1999 Foreign Patents
Burda, R., Degbotse, A., Denton, B., Fordyce, K., Hegde, S., Milne, R.J., Shikalgar, S., and Zuo, G. “Method and system for intelligent automated reticle Management,” Taiwan Patent I363258, May 1, 2012
Burda, R., Degbotse, A., Denton, B., Fordyce, K., and Milne, R.J., “Method, system, and computer program product for controlling the flow of material in a manufacturing facility using an extended zone of control”, China Patent ZL20060136608.2, April 15, 2009
Coppola, K., Denton, B., Mackay, G., and Milne, R.J., “Method, system and storage medium for integrating rework operations into an advanced planning process,” China patent ZL200480024691.3, February 11, 2009
Coppola, K., Denton, B., Mackay, G., and Milne, R.J., “Method, system and storage medium for integrating rework operations into an advanced planning process,” Taiwan patent I302660, November, 1, 2008
Burda, R., Degbotse, A., Denton, B., Fordyce, K., Milne, R.J., Shikalgar, S., and Zuo, G. “Method and system for intelligent automated reticle management,” China patent ZL200510092652.3, September 3, 2008

Note: various patent applications have been filed outside of the U.S. (e.g. China, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Thailand). Milne does not have visibility to most foreign patents.

Publications

Refereed Journal Publications

Milne, R.J., Cotfas, L.-A., Delcea, C., Crăciun, L., and Molănescu, A. G., (2024) “Airplane Seating Assignment Greedy Algorithms that Separate Passengers Likely to be Susceptible to Infectious Disease from those Likely to be Infectious,” IEEE Access 12:47402-47420 (DOI: 10.1109/ACCESS.2024.3383149)
Milne, R.J., Cotfas, L.-A., Delcea, C., Crăciun, L., and Molănescu, A.G., (2022) “Health Risks of Airplane Boarding Methods with Apron Buses When Some Passengers Disregard Safe Social Distancing,” PlosOne 17(8): e0271544 (DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0271544)
Salari, M., Milne, R.J., Delcea, C., and Cotfas, L.-A., (2022) “Social Distancing in Airplane Seat Assignments for Passenger Groups,” Transportmetrica B: Transport Dynamics 10(1):1070-1098 (DOI: 10.1080/21680566.2021.2007816)
Milne, R.J., Cotfas, L.A., Delcea, C., (2022) “Minimizing Health Risks as a Function of the Number of Airplane Boarding Groups,” Transportmetrica B: Transport Dynamics 10(1):901-922, (DOI: 10.1080/21680566.2021.1968322)
Delcea, C., Milne, R.J., and Cotfas, L.-A., (2022) “Evaluating Classical Airplane Boarding Methods for Passenger Health Risks during Normal Times,” Applied Sciences 12(7), 3235 (DOI: 10.3390/app12073235)
Alharbi, E.A., Abdel-Malek, L.L., Milne, R.J., and Wali, A.M., (2022) “Analytical Model for Enhancing the Adoptability of Continuous Descent Approach at Airports,” Applied Sciences 12(3), 1506 (DOI: 10.3390/app12031506)
Delcea, C., Cotfas, L.-A., Milne, R.J., Xie, N., and Mierzwiak, R., (2022) “Grey Clustering of the Variations in the Back-to-front Airplane Boarding Method Considering COVID-19 Flying Restrictions,” Grey Systems: Theory and Application 12(1):25-59 (DOI: 10.1108/GS-11-2020-0142)
Cotfas, L.-A., Milne, R.J., Delcea, C., and Ioanăș, C. (2021), “An Investigation of Social Distancing and Quantity of Luggage Impacts on the Three Groups Reverse Pyramid Boarding Method,” Symmetry 13, 544 (DOI: 10.3390/sym13040544)
Milne, R.J., Delcea, C., and Cotfas, L.-A., (2021) “Airplane Boarding Methods that Reduce Risk from COVID-19,” Safety Science 134, 105061 (DOI: 10.1016/j.ssci.2020.105061)
Delcea, C., Milne, R.J., and Cotfas, L.-A., (2020), “Determining the Number of Passengers for Each of Three Reverse Pyramid Boarding Groups with COVID-19 Flying Restrictions,” Symmetry 12(12), 2038 (DOI: 10.3390/sym12122038)
Milne, R.J., Cotfas, L.-A., Delcea, C., Crăciun, L., and Molănescu, A.G., (2020), “Adapting the Reverse Pyramid Airplane Boarding Method for Social Distancing in Times of COVID-19,” PlosOne 15(11): e0242131 (DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0242131)
Salari, M., Milne, R.J., Delcea, C., Kattan, L., and Cotfas, L.-A., (2020) “Social Distancing in Airplane Seat Assignments,” Journal of Air Transport Management 89 (DOI: 10.1016/j.jairtraman.2020.101915)
Milne, R.J., Delcea, C., Cotfas, L.-A., and Ioanăș, C. (2020), “Evaluation of Boarding Methods Adapted for Social Distancing when using Apron Buses,” IEEE Access 8:151650-151667 (DOI: 10.1109/ACCESS.2020.3015736)
Cotfas, L.-A., Delcea, C., Milne, R.J., Salari, M., (2020) “Evaluating Classical Airplane Boarding Methods Considering COVID-19 Flying Restrictions,” Symmetry 12(7), 1087 (DOI: 10.3390/sym12071087) (identified by the journal as a Feature paper)
Milne, R.J., Cotfas, L.-A., Delcea, C., Salari, M., Crăciun, L., and Molănescu, A.G., (2020), “Airplane Boarding Method for Passenger Groups when using Apron Buses,”IEEE Access 8:18019-18035 (DOI: 10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2968410)
Delcea, C., Milne, R.J., Cotfas, L.-A., Crăciun, L, and Molănescu, A.G., (2019) “Methods for Accelerating the Airplane Boarding Process in the Presence of Apron Buses,” IEEE Access 7(1):134372-134387 (DOI: 10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2941532)
Milne, R.J., Cotfas, L.-A., Delcea, C., Salari, M., Crăciun, L, and Molănescu, A.G., (2019), “Greedy Method for Boarding a Partially Occupied Airplane Using Apron Buses,” Symmetry 11(10), 1221; (DOI: 10.3390/sym11101221)
Milne, R.J., Delcea, C., Cotfas, L.-A., and Salari, M., (2019), “New methods for two-door airplane boarding using apron buses,” Journal of Air Transport Management, 80 (DOI: 10.1016/j.jairtraman.2019.101705)
Salari, M., Milne, R.J., and Kattan, L., (2019), “Airplane boarding optimization considering reserved seats and passengers’ carry-on bags,” OPSEARCH, 56(3): 806-823 (DOI: 10.1007/s12597-019-00405-z)
Cotfas, L.-A., Delcea, C., Milne, R.J., Salari, M., Crăciun, L., and Molănescu, A.G., (2019), “Testing New Methods for Boarding a Partially Occupied Airplane using Apron Buses,” Symmetry, 11(8), 1044 (DOI: 10.3390/sym11081044)
Delcea, C., Cotfas, L.-A., Salari, M., and Milne, R.J., (2018), “Investigating Random Seat Boarding Method without Seat Assignments with Common Boarding Practices Using an Agent-Based Modeling,” Sustainability, 10(12), 4623 (DOI: 10.3390/su10124623)
Milne, R.J., Salari, M., and Kattan, L., (2018), “Robust Optimization of Airplane Passenger Seating Assignments,” Aerospace, 5(3), 80 (DOI: 10.3390/aerospace5030080)
Milne, R.J. and Salari, M., (2016), “Optimization of assigning passengers to seats on an airplanes based on their carry-on luggage”, Journal of Air Transport Management,54:104-110 (DOI: 10.1016/j.jairtraman.2016.03.022)
Fordyce, K., Milne, R.J., Wang, C-T., and Zisgen, H., (2015), “Modeling and Integration of Planning, Scheduling, and Equipment Configuration in Semiconductor Manufacturing: Part I. Review of Successes and Opportunities,” International Journal of Industrial Engineering: Theory, Applications, and Practice, 22(5):575-600
Fordyce, K., Milne, R.J., Wang, C-T., and Zisgen, H., (2015), “Modeling and Integration of Planning, Scheduling, and Equipment Configuration in Semiconductor Manufacturing: Part II. Fab Capability Assessment,” International Journal of Industrial Engineering: Theory, Applications, and Practice, 22(5):601-617
Milne, R.J., Mahapatra, S., and Wang, C-T., (2015), “Optimizing planned lead times for enhancing performance of MRP systems,” International Journal of Production Economics, 167:220-231 (DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpe.2015.05.013)
Milne, R.J., Denton, B.T., and (Clarkson undergraduate student) White, T., (2015) “ASP, The Art and Science of Practice: How Analytics Practitioners Can Learn from Published Patents and Protect Their Work,” Interfaces, 45(3):271-277 (INFORMS President's Pick, June 2015)
Milne, R.J., Wang, C-T., Denton, B.T., and Fordyce, K., (2015) “Incorporating contractual arrangements in production planning,” Computers & Operations Research, 53:353-363. (DOI: 10.1016/j.cor.2014.03.023)
Li, Q. and Milne, R.J., (2014), “A production scheduling problem with sequence-dependent changeover costs,” International Journal of Production Research, 52(13):4093-4102 (DOI: 10.1080/00207543.2014.889860)
Milne, R.J. and Wang, C-T., (2014), “Enhancing mathematical programming models to account for demand priorities increasing as a function of delivery date,” Journal of Industrial and Production Engineering, 31(1):51-63
Milne, R.J. and (Clarkson undergraduate student) Kelly, A.R., (2014), “A new method for boarding passengers onto an airplane,” Journal of Air Transport Management, 34(1):93-100 (DOI: 10.1016/j.jairtraman.2013.08.006)

Refereed Book Chapters

Fordyce, K., and Milne, R.J., (2012), “The Ongoing Challenge for a Responsive Demand Supply Network: the Final Frontier—Controlling the Factory,” chapter 3 in Decision Policies for Production Networks, edited by Armbruster, H.D. and Kempf, K. Springer. pp.31-69. (ISBN: 978-0857296436)
Fordyce, K., Wang, C-T, Chang, C-H, Degbotse, A, Denton, B., Lyon, P., Milne, R.J., Orzell, R., Rice, R., and Waite, J., (2011), “The Ongoing Challenge: Creating an Enterprise-wide Detailed Supply Chain Plan for Semiconductor and Package Operations,” chapter 14, pp.313-387 in Planning Production and Inventories in the Extended Enterprise: A State of the Art Handbook, Volume 2, edited by Kempf, Keskinocak, and Uzsoy. Springer. International Series in Operations Research & Management Science, Vol. 152. (ISBN: 978-1441981905)