Birchbox – the trailblazing subscription box service that launched in 2010 – had created a mixed-integer programming formulation to determine the products that would be sent to its subscribers in individual boxes on a monthly basis. The goal is to produce a set of different box configurations that are then assigned to customers – so that Birchbox can meet the diverse needs of its varied customer base.
As the business grew, the mixed-integer program was taking days to solve, and it was impossible to experiment with different business requirements to determine the best set of configurations. The RIP (Reciprocating Integer Programming) technique was created to reduce solution times to typically under 20 minutes using Gurobi, which has dramatically changed the way that Birchbox can run its subscription business.
濃縮21封貝佐斯致股東信精華，構建四階段成長循環，總結14條事業成長法則，揭開貝佐斯透過哪些教訓、心態和步驟，塑造出亞馬遜今日的偉大成就。
不論組織型態、規模大小、行業別等，任何企業主、領導人、執行長、經理人和員工個人，都可以應用這些法則，快速地讓自己的事業變得更有效率、更有生產力、更成功。
那麼到底如何讓數據的價值最大化呢？從團隊運作方式、商業影響力設定和社會責任等角度，許亞給出了 LinkedIn 的答案：「嵌入式工作，中心化管理」，數據科學團隊更加「專業化」、「工程化」。
和多數網路服務公司一樣，LinkedIn 的數據科學團隊規模也在近幾年飛速增長。許亞表示，僅是近兩年來，LinkedIn 的數據團隊擴張了近一倍，從 150 人增加到目前的 300 多人。
許亞提到的數據團隊是指 LinkedIn 中心化的數據科學部門。 如果用一句話來概括 LinkedIn 的中心數據科學團隊的運作方式，那就是「嵌入式工作，中心化管理」。
和國內不少互聯網公司將數據分析師歸屬於業務 BU、向業務主管匯報不同，LinkedIn 的數據科學團隊成員由許亞的中心部門統籌。雖然在項目工作上，數據科學家們依然會在工位分佈和職能上與業務部門緊密聯繫，但是從職級從屬上，都直接向許亞匯報，不同領域的數據科學家在工作中會有交集，還會一起開會。...
MioTech builds A.I.-based solutions to help buy sides get insight from data analytics, and to help sell-side research departments and private banks’ relationship managers tell data-driven stories. It bases its service on building a library of cross-references (a “knowledge graph”) around a multitude of data points on Asian companies. The idea is to use big-data correlations to spot patterns....
To recycle in a cost-effective, comprehensive and safe way, goods must be broken down into their constituent commodities to be sold on, in a process that has been likened to “unscrambling an egg”....
Automation often stokes anxiety about mass unemployment, but the recycling sector has been struggling to find enough workers. The US waste and recycling industry has suffered labour shortages in recent years. By limiting the influx of foreign workers to do jobs locals are not keen on, the UK’s departure from the EU is expected to hit the UK’s waste management sector hard.
“This technology is creating a sustainable workforce for jobs that aren’t being filled,” says Mr Wirth. “These are the dull, dirty, dangerous kind of jobs which robotics and AI is perfect for.”
