Production  / Acquisition decisions usually involve what and how much to either manufacture or to purchase.

Prior to optimization, production/acquisition decisions are often made simply according to rules, such as “When the amount is under X%, then reorder.” Optimization can provide smarter, dynamic decisions that consider many more features than simple rules, achieving better results.

• For the high frequency hedge fund, positions in financial securities are created, increased or decreased to optimize return by maximizing forecasted return while minimizing risk
• For the business publication, different sections are enlarged or shrunk to maximize advertising revenue
• For the airline, the optimization is run 1, 2 and 3 days in advance to help the business determine how much vendor capacity will be needed ahead of time, and acquire/negotiate the best prices
• For the biotech manufacturer, optimizing simulation enables executive to test the scalability of existing processes, identify resource bottlenecks and best use of capital improvements, and assess tradeoffs between different objectives such as cost vs. throughput and turnaround time vs. quality.
• For the e-commerce trailblazer, the custom optimization solution delivers product groupings and box creations deemed “ideal” by the company’s proprietary criteria. Additionally, the solution can accommodate meaningful business changes and scale as the service grows. In 2015, the company had over a million subscribers and more than 800 brand partners.