Optimal
Inventory Management & Procurement
Optimal’s optimization-based, rule-driven bill-of-materials generator solves comprehensive inventory management and procurement problems for minimum cost identifying savings you never knew were there!
Achieving savings through all phases of the inventory management and procurement process
From buying inventory for resale to procurement of raw materials to purchasing supplies, the Optimal Decision Optimization Solutions optimize all phases of the inventory management and procurement process, achieving measurable savings, typically 5-10%, often much more, compared to flawed spreadsheets and other less capable programs.
- Strategic Decision; Long range planning
- Procurement
- Continuous inventory management and scheduling
- Final assembly
Features
Optimal provides optimization decision support guidance to meet your inventory and/or manufacturing requirements considering and complying with critical elements:
- Time periods
- Multiple vendors and costs
- Purchased items specifications
- Inventory levels
- Items (Ingredients)
- Lots (unique occurrences of items and attributes)
- Formulas Specifications (Items and Constraints)
- Input (Formula) Sets (optional)
- Suppliers (optional)
- Locations (optional)
- Much more...
Individual Models Include the Following:
- Product Development – Optimizes a recipe or BOM for one product, either single or multi-level; for designing products (e.g., products containing sub-formulas).
- Single Product – Optimizes a single product recipe or BOM.
- Sequential Single Product – Optimizes a series of single product recipes or BOMs either considering or not considering inventory utilization by formulation; materials are allocated to batches based on assembly order as Sequential Single Product does not look ahead in optimizing the batch sequence.
- Multi Product – Optimizes multiple products for a single time period creating a composite recipe or BOM; the result is a composite recipe for the entire timeframe that will likely require adjustment for any specific point in time.
- Procurement Planning – Optimizes multiple products through a series of discrete time periods (e.g., days, weeks, months) creating recipes or BOMs considering Item and Lot availability and expiration for use, beginning inventory, permissible ending inventory, multiple suppliers, multiple occurrences Item Lots with respective costs and other specifications through the planning period.
- Production Planning - Optimizes multiple products through a series of discrete time periods (e.g., days, weeks, months) creating recipes or BOMs considering Item and Lot availability and expiration for use, beginning inventory, permissible ending inventory, multiple occurrences Item Lots with respective costs and other specifications through the planning period.
- Lot Allocation - Optimizes multiple products through a sequence of discrete batches or steps creating recipes or BOMs considering Item and Lot availability and expiration for use, beginning inventory, permissible ending inventory, multiple occurrences Item Lots with respective costs and other specifications batch sequence.
- Multi-Site – Procurement Planning for multiple sites considering transportation costs between manufacturing sites and storage locations.
Hosting
Optimal Solutions are cloud based thus facilitating rapid deployment and support, eliminating most IT support costs, and enabling regular, non-disruptive updates.
The Optimal interface includes powerful data import/export features to accelerate database construction. The Optimal API provides automated data exchange and optimization for tight connectivity with ERP systems.
We Solve Real Problems
Applications
Optimal Procurement and Bid Selection
Applications enable users to determine the purchase quantities to minimize total cost considering multiple vendors, quantity discount schedules, and delivery factors. Optimal identifies for sales orders the necessary purchases of raw material or inventory to meet sales requirements from a mix of suppliers for products where each supplier has different but overlapping products available and different costs for the products.
Optimal Inventory Management
Enables users to determine inventory levels by period to meet customer demands at the minimum cost while complying with delivery, storage, production, and available to purchase constraints.
An implementation of Optimal is determining the minimum cost inventory levels to meet sales demands given order costs and safety stock requirements.
Optimal Blending, Formulation, and Product Design
Applications enable users to determine how to mix components to composition specifications at the lowest cost.
The simplest implementation of an Optimal Blending application is solving a single formula for minimum cost.
More sophisticated applications model multiple formulas across multiple time frames across multiple plants considering multiple suppliers of ingredients (the Configurations section contains additional information).
Optimal aids decision makers in optimally purchasing and allocating ingredients to manufacturing and to making final adjustments to recipes to meet quality and composition requirements at the lowest cost. In each step, incremental savings are generated while ensuring compliance with quality and regulatory standards.
industries
DESKTOP & TABLET Configuration
CONFIGURATIONS
Model Sites:
Single Site
Single Site
Single Site
Single Site +
Support Sites
Multiple Sites +
Support Sites
Model Time Periods:
Model Time Periods:
Single Period
Single Period
Single Period
Multiple Periods
Multiple Periods
Models & Associated
Tables:
Models &
Associated
Tables:
Single Product
Simple +
Sequential Single Product
Basic +
Multi Product
Standard +
Production Planning
Procurement Planning
Lot Allocation
Standard +
* Production Planning
* Procurement Planning
* Lot Allocation
Corporate +
Multi Site
Procurement
Matrix Size:
20x20
100x100
Large
Large
Large
API Included:
-
-
-
✔
✔
Monthly Max Solves:
100
Unlimited
Unlimited
Unlimited
Unlimited
Hosting
✔
✔
✔
✔
✔
Support:
Simple + Email
Simple + Email
Basic + Chat
Standard + Phone
Corporate + Webinars
MOBILE Configuration
CONFIGURATIONS
1 Seat Per Site Per Year
| Model Sites: | Single Site |
| Model Time Periods: | Single Period |
| Models & Associated Tables: | Single Product |
| Matrix Size: | 20×20 |
| API Included: | – |
| Monthly Max Solves: | 100 |
| Hosting: | Included |
| Support | Simple + Email |
3 Seats Per Site Per Year
| Model Sites: | Single Site |
| Model Time Periods: | Single Period |
| Models & Associated Tables: | Simple + |
| Matrix Size: | 100×100 |
| API Included: | – |
| Monthly Max Solves: | Unlimited |
| Hosting: | Included |
| Support | Simple + Email |
5 Seats Per Site Per Year
| Model Sites: | Single Site |
| Model Time Periods: | Single Period |
| Models & Associated Tables: | Basic + |
| Matrix Size: | Large |
| API Included: | – |
| Monthly Max Solves: | Unlimited |
| Hosting: | Included |
| Support | Basic + Chat |
8 Seats Per Site Per Year
| Model Sites: | Single Site + * Support Sites |
| Model Time Periods: | Multiple Periods |
| Models & Associated Tables: | Standard + |
| Matrix Size: | Large |
| API Included: | ✔ |
| Monthly Max Solves: | Unlimited |
| Hosting: | Included |
| Support | Standard + Phone |
10 Seats Per Site Per Year
| Model Sites: | Multiple Sites + * Support Sites |
| Model Time Periods: | Multiple Periods |
| Models & Associated Tables: | Corporate + |
| Matrix Size: | Large |
| API Included: | ✔ |
| Monthly Max Solves: | Unlimited |
| Hosting: | Included |
| Support | Corporate + Webinars |
Contact Optimal Answers
to
- Request a Trial
- Request a Savings Analysis
- For application information by industry and problem type
