As part of RTR’s mission to continuously serve the community in which it lives and works, President Randy Rippin recently began mentoring a student at John Carroll High School in Bel Air, MD.  The student, senior Bryan Fidler, is completing his senior project in the area of computer science and information technology. 

The Problem
A very simple process can be examined in a straightforward manner.  You can more or less look at it and see what needs to be done.  For example, digging a hole seems like a fairly simple process.  You only have to figure out the shape and size of the hole, the material the hole needs to be dug out of, the tools available to dig, the number of people or tools to do the digging, how the hole needs to be shored up so it doesn’t cave in, how the material is to be removed from the hole and where it’s going to be put, how much all of the tools and processes are going to cost, what the weather will be like, whether any utility lines may be encountered, whether the hole is deep and narrow or shallow and wide, whether ramps into and out of the hole need to be constructed, what other activities are going on around the hole, what the hole is going to be used for, what if anything is going to go into the hole, how long you have to dig it, and whether you have to fill all of it or part of it back in.

Understanding customers’ needs and wants is integral to the success of any business. This is especially important in the healthcare field. While capturing a patient’s experience in the hospital is key, it is important to understand that other factors also affect the patient’s choices. The patient’s physician dictates where to send his/her referrals, and insurance companies determine which hospitals/practices are included in their covered providers group. The patient experience is not something that can be quantified by querying backend data and solely crunching numbers – there is a tangible experience that must be captured.

Much has been made about big data as of late.  It has been cast as one of the next big revolutions in technology with application across a variety of business and government sectors.  At RTR, we have been in the business of data for nearly a decade and understand its potential and limitations as well as anybody in the industry.

The health care market is rapidly changing amid vast regulatory and private sector pressures to reduce costs and provide a more effective and integrated approach to clinical care.  As organizations adapt to this changing landscape in ways that sustain adequate profit margins without sacrificing patient care, health care providers are increasingly looking to experts in the field of operations research for strategic guidance. 

At a time when decision makers must increasingly do more with less, RTR is finding innovative new ways to make its clients more efficient.  As the aerospace and technology industries braced for sequestration recently, it came with great pleasure as RTR Technologies received notice that a major Department of Homeland Security (DHS) initiative supported by the company was named as a finalist for excellence in enterprise efficiency by the American Council for Technology (ACT) – Industry Advisory Council (IAC).

The View from RTR, is a series from technical leaders at RTR Technologies on recent trends, findings, and discoveries in the field of Operations Research.

A common goal across all sectors, both public and private, is to optimize the success of current processes and systems with limited resources available. To efficiently approach this issue, research into current operations is often necessary.

Exploring the many amenities Baltimore’s Inner Harbor has to offer just got a whole lot easier.  With the creation of Baltimore Insite, an interactive 3D mapping service created by Ayers Saint Gross (ASG) subsidiary Virtual Destinations for the Apple iPad, convention and visitor bureaus now have the ability to create high quality 3D visualizations that allow potential customers to ‘virtually’ tour a city. 

We live in extraordinary times. 

Consider the multitude of issues we currently face as a country.  The lasting effects of the financial crisis brought on by a housing bubble.  A resulting credit crunch that constrained consumer purchasing power and put downward pressure on an economy that is nearly 70% dependent on consumer spending.  Record high unemployment that continues to inhibit normal levels of economic growth. 

RTR is excited to announce that its newest decision support tool, MED PROC, is now available to clients in the health care sector.