This thesis contains quantitative models to aid managerial decision making in various aspects of manufacturing operations. The first essay deals with the economic design of multivariate statistical quality control charts, which help users respond quickly to sudden changes in the manufacturing...

Prescriptive decision theory requires decision-makers to express their beliefs and tastes with explicit, precise, and complete information. This information, expressed in subjective probability and utility functions, is often difficult and costly to obtain from a decision-maker. It is obvious...