Optimization News: Latest Advancements in Solver Technology
Linde is one of the world’s largest industrial gas and engineering companies. They have supplied gas and chemical products to manufacturers for more than a century. Product distribution spans the globe, serving everything from semiconductor manufacturing to clean-fuel vehicles.
Trevor Hardy of the Canadian Football League -- Canada's counterpart to the NFL -- faced the task of scheduling 18 games for nine clubs throughout the 20-week season, balancing competing priorities for revenue, TV ratings, or player time -- while meeting a wide range of constraints, from times of day for fans in four time zones to traditional Labor Day rivalry match-ups. Here's how he used optimization in Microsoft Excel to create significantly better schedules than the league had been able to create by hand.
Choosing vendors to serve a business or government organization is essential. Several vendors compete for contracts during the bidding process, and it is up to the administrator to make a wise and impartial decision. With many variables to weigh in the decision, optimization software can solve the relationships between the variables and find the optimal solution. This method is both optimal and impartial, and it is faster than human analysis.
