Today enterprises are challenged by high competition in their global markets and the constant requirement to optimize their structures and processes. Using mathematical optimization and decision models in enterprise planning has a long tradition and shows still increasing importance due to growing complexity of the planning tasks.

Fraunhofer ITWM offers in the field of Operations Research the development of customer-specific software solutions and consulting for enterprises in diverse branches on the strategic, tactical and operational level. Currently we are mostly engaged in:

• Supply Chain Management

  

  Supply Chain Management comprises the organization and coordination of all material and information flows along the supply chain. These range from the acquisition of raw materials, their transformation into intermediate and finishing products to the distribution of the finishing goods to the end users.

  The globalization of the economy along with increasing business competition have made supply chains more complex and planning more difficult. As a result, a simple enumeration, evaluation and comparsion of all alternatives is no longer possible in order to make decisions within a reasonable time. We develop decision support tools ranging from the strategic design of supply chain networks to short-term planning of logistics activities.

   

  • L.O.G.I.S Library of optimization algorithms for geographic information systems
  • NetMod: Reduced models for complex electrical networks with distributed power sources
  • Assistenzsysteme für Logistiknetzwerke (only in German)
  • OPT_Flyer_SupplyChainManagement [ PDF 1.0 MB ]

• Planning in public transportation

  

  There is an increasing demand for planning in public transport, a growing complexity of the planning tasks and a need for continual improvements to reduce costs. A purely manual process of traffic planning is not sufficient in this situation, and is more and more replaced by computer-based models. With these models, traffic planners are able to draw appropriate conclusions from extensive data and thus come to better decisions. Support for the entire planning chain in public transport companies leads to increasing efficiency and an effective growth of the attractiveness of public transport.

  • AnSiM
  • SynPlan
  • Galileo - Lokalisierungssysteme für Verkehrs- und Sicherheitsanwendungen
  • Flyer Verkehrsplanung [ PDF 1.8 MB ]

• Health Care Logistics

  

  Hospitals are committed to improving the health condition of their patients. Logistics supports this commitment by ensuring that all resources (e.g. medical supplies, personnel, etc.) necessary for the treatment of the patients are available in the right place at the right time. In view of the growing cost pressure faced by the health care sector over the past years, the efficient planning of all required resources has become increasingly important. We focus on the development of decision support tools for planning and scheduling processes in hospitals.

  • OptiTrans
  • Scheduling medical appointments
  • Flyer Healrh Care Logistics [ PDF 1.3 MB ]

• Planning of material flow and production

  

  Modern companies operate in highly dynamic systems and short lead times are an essential advantage in competition. In such environments planning and scheduling decision must be robust but flexible. In addition, a variety of different products and complex flows of materials and information have to be taken into account.
  
  In this context we offer the development of efficient strategies to create and adapt production plans and schedules. Using mathematical optimization and simulation we provide concepts for just-in-time scheduling, lead time reduction or load balancing.

  • Cutting pattern optimization
  • Software Cluster
  • SchedulerLab
  • Simulation of automated production and material flow systems