25 January 2021 (2,360 words)

The "facility location problem" is a common, and often difficult, decision that organizations need to make.

Facilities may include assets such as factories, warehouses, shops, mobile telephone sites, etc. Such assets are typically long-lived, so the decision about where to build them has a long-term impact on the organization.

A wrong, or sub-optimal, decision is likely to be very expensive. To help make the decision, we can model the facility location problem using an optimization model in Excel.

11 January 2021 (122 words)

This is a blog about optimization modelling.

Our primary, but not exclusive, emphasis is on models built in Excel and solved using the Solver or OpenSolver add-ins.

Topics include:

• Optimization model examples, with detailed explanations and Excel spreadsheets available for download.
• Projects we've worked on recently (anonymized, of course).
• Links to posts by other optimization bloggers.
• Interesting developments in the optimization field.
• Updates to relevant software.
• Anything else relating to optimization modelling that grabs our attention.

If you want help with your own models, or if you would like to know more about anything mentioned in this blog, then please contact us. To support the creation of new content, please buy us a coffee.