Goodeve Medal

This award was named in memory of Sir Charles Goodeve, pictured right, who was one of the founders and pioneers of civilian operational research after World War 2 and a leader for many years of the OR Club and The OR Society.

The Goodeve Medal is awarded in recognition of the most outstanding contribution to the philosophy, theory or practice of OR published in the Journal of the OR Society (JORS) within the relevant year.

Citation for Goodeve Medal 2022

Giusppe Bruno, Manuel Cavola, Antonio Diglio, Gilbert Laporte and Carmela Piccolo

Reorganizing postal collection operations in urban areas as a result of declining mail volumes – A case study in Bologna.

Many OR projects deal with the location of services when expansion is planned. But of course, there are increasing numbers of contraction of services due to technological change. In particular, the impact of technological developments on consumer habits and behaviour is endangering the classical model of postal services. The resulting fall in postal volumes generated by the substitution of traditional letter posts by electronic forms of communication has rendered the collection of postal items highly inefficient.

This project deals with a real problem concerning the reorganization of the collection system of the Italian postal service provider, based on the reduction of the number of postboxes currently located in an urban area. When considering the crucial role of post-boxes as main access points of some users to the postal network, equity is also taken into account.

The authors have produced a very clearly written paper and tested its practical value. The method can be applied to a wide range of other cases of declining but essential services.

The Journal of the Operational Research Society 72 (7), 1591-1606

www.doi.org/10.1080/01605682.2020.1736446

From left to right: Giuseppe Bruno, Manuel Cavola, Antonio Diglio, Gilbert Laporte, Carmela Piccolo