Quantitative Analysis of Operations and Inventory Systems
NEW COURSE · IE-GY 7893
Launching Fall 2026
Learn more during these upcoming Webinars:
Overview
Operations is the discipline of running systems well under uncertainty — the capability behind every supply chain, hospital, factory, and service system. This graduate course develops that capability through two pillars. Matching supply and demand covers how to make stocking, pricing, and coordination decisions when the future is unknown, from newsvendor logic through risk pooling. Engineering flow and capacity uncovers the laws governing how operational systems actually behave — why queues form, why variability cripples throughput, and what levers actually fix it. Through case studies and simulations, students learn to diagnose underperforming operations and design interventions that work.
Course Details
- 15 Sessions · 9 Case Studies
- Open to all graduate students
- Offered every Fall
Curriculum
Two Core Pillars
Matching Supply and Demand
Every operational decision is a bet against an uncertain future. How much to stock when demand is volatile? How to price when capacity is fixed? This pillar develops the analytical foundations — newsvendor logic, (Q,r) policies, risk pooling, and revenue management — that enable companies to manage demand uncertainty.
Engineering Low and Capacity
Operational systems obey laws as predictable as physical ones. Push past capacity and queues explode. Add variability and cycle times balloon. This pillar uncovers the dynamics — Little's Law, the variability-utilization tradeoff, push vs. pull, and lean principles — that govern factories, hospitals, and service operations alike.
Hands-on Project
Across all 4 modules, student teams build an incremental AI integration solution — layer by layer — culminating in a final competition judged by industry partners. Teams deliver: an MVP Agentic System with testing, governance, and an implementation roadmap.
Who is this Course For?
Industrial Engineering
Build rigorous analytical foundations for operational decision-making and systems analysis.
Management of Technology
Particularly those concentrating in operations, analytics, or digital-strategy who want quantitative grounding for technology-driven operational decisions.
Financial, Mechanical and Civil Engineering
Those who will work in operations-intensive industries and need to model demand, capacity, and supply chain dynamics.
Business School (NYU Stern)
The course pairs well with Stern's core operations and supply chain offerings and goes deeper on the analytical foundations.
Faculty
