Optimization Engines

The quantitative models we use will depend on the nature of the problem they have to solve.  For strategic and tactical planning topics we lean heavily on mathematical programming solutions.  When dealing with more detailed and unstructured day to day problems we rely more on proven heuristic  methodologies.

Large Scale Strategic and Tactical Planning Models

By the time we finish modeling medium to large size supply chains, the resulting scenarios have to handle millions of decision variables, restrictions and numerical coefficients.  To solve these large scale optimization problems in a reasonable amount of time you have to rely on a very solid optimization engine.  And we do.

Since ‘Day One’,  almost 20 years ago, Opti-Net™ has been powered by Xpress Optimization, the ‘best in class’ mathematical programming solver from FICO™. FICO Xpress 7.1 offers true 64-bit support for optimization and modeling, which allows us to solve ultra-large-scale real-world models faster than ever.  With Xpress as our optimization engine we are able to solve massive S&OP scenarios in a matter of minutes.

Smaller Strategic Network Problems

We all love working with spreadsheets, and for valid reasons.  It is much easier to develop a model, test it and work with it. When the problem to be modeled is not too large, we have relied on the What’s Best! award winning spreadsheet add-in software from LINDO Systems Inc. (www.lindo.com) .  By integrating the What’s Best! Model within Opti-Net™ we have the advantage of the spreadsheet flexibility and the complete set of analytical tools offered by Opti-Net tm.