Advanced Solver Technology for SCM

Development of new Linear and Integer Programming Techniques to solve Supply Chain Management Problems

Supply Chain Management (SCM) deals with the combination of procurement, production, storage, transport and delivery of commodities. Problems of this kind occur in all kinds of industry branches. Since the integrated planning of these processes contains a high potential for optimization it is of great importance for the companies' efficiency.

The method of choice to find optimal solutions in SCM is linear and integer programming. Nevertheless, there are big challenges to overcome - concerning both hardware and algorithms - due to very detailed and therefore large models. Additionally there may occur numerical difficulties that standard techniques cannot deal with.

As a consequence, the problem's mathematical formulation has to be done carefully and new methods need to be implemented.

Project Head

• Thorsten Koch (contact)
• Alexander Martin, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg

Members

• Gerald Gamrath
• Matthias Miltenberger
• Dieter Weninger, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg

Associated Members

• Timo Berthold
• Ambros Gleixner
• Stefan Heinz

Cooperation

• SAP Germany AG & Co. KG
• University of Erlangen-Nürnberg

Funding

• SAP Germany AG & Co. KG

Duration

• 04/2010 - 03/2016