Optimisation based on your goals? Your plant offers thousands of options. A solver finds the best.

Aimtec

14. 10. 2026

6 minutes reading

Planning in manufacturing and logistics can run aground even in a well-managed company. And the fault might not lie in a lack of know-how or a weak system. Variability and constraints are growing in every factory today, while priorities are changing up to several times a day. In these circumstances, it’s simply beyond human capacity to find a solution that meets all the often conflicting requirements. These may involve increasing the number of orders picked, deciding how best to group them or minimising human movement in the warehouse.

Are you facing similar problems? Then you need a tool that knows how to quickly compare variants and choose the best one that's also feasible. And that’s the role of a solver. Based on what matters most to you, whether it’s time, cost or efficiency, it can evaluate possible variants in seconds and recommend the solution that best meets your provided objectives and constraints.

What can a solver take into consideration?

Goals: saving time and money, greater efficiency, stability, minimising waste, meeting deadlines etc.
Constraints: capacity, people’s qualifications, tool and machine availability, materials, operation sequencing, shift rules etc.

The thought of having to make any change to your system may send a shiver down your spine. You stand there thinking of hours of calculations, the risk that the change will affect an existing process and spark problems in your operations… A solver can leave you fully confident, as it takes every risk into account, as well as the goals and priorities you’ve already established. And you can change and add these as needed.

You need to optimise. But you’re balancing several objectives, including time, cost, stability and efficiency. They might seem to conflict, but we can design a step-by-step solution that uses our solver and industry expertise to optimise performance and maximise added value. And we tailor it to each customer.

Daniel Vopelka
Business Development Manager
Aimtec

Where can a solver deliver results the fastest?

Production sequencing and minimising the number of setups: better order sequencing, fewer changeovers, higher throughput.
Batch size: calculating the ideal batch size for production or purchasing so as to balance savings from batch sizing with warehouse-capacity constraints.
Grouped production: deciding which items to produce together to reduce changeover times and use shared resources more efficiently.
Picking wave optimisation: generating picking waves in a way that minimises warehouse movements and reduces error rates.
Full truck loading: loading based on weight and load distribution to maximise capacity utilisation in coordination with dispatch.

“Where can I save?” A solver has the answer.

Besides decision-making or drawing up entirely new plans, a solver can be used with a view to one goal that’s bugging logisticians more and more: “Where can we gain savings in our operations?” A solver will show you the savings for various solutions, which can be compared against each other. Want to see how different objective priorities affect the result? A solver can do this too.

For example, grouping orders correctly using the solver can increase picked-order count by up to 20% while reducing step count by up to 30%. That means higher warehouse performance without undue pressure on staff or having to add capacity.

Tomáš Krutina
Production Planning and Control Consultant
Aimtec

Here are the ways a few minutes of calculations can help:

Saving time and money: reduced stock levels, implementation costs, transportation and logistics costs; less overtime.
Higher efficiency and lower error rates: decisions are consistent and based on clearly set priorities, and they can also be flexibly adjusted based on various KPIs.
Room for development: a solver lets a company quickly test variants and improve decisions, rather than just putting out fires.

If you’re already using a digitalisation layer such as Aimtec DCIx, a solver will fit into it well. This platform connects ERP with production and logistics and creates an online picture of the real situation. With access to the platform’s data, the solver can help you make the decisions with the greatest potential to save time, space and resources.

FAQ

Are solvers based on artificial intelligence?

A solver is a tool for decision-making assisted by artificial intelligence. It approaches the problem as an expert: it compares options, weighs constraints and priorities and, using mathematical models, it seeks the best road to the goal. It can quickly assess many more variants and decide consistently based on defined rules.

Unlike generative artificial intelligence, which learns from historical data and creates new outputs on their basis, a solver works with clearly defined objectives and constraints. It seeks the most feasible solution for a specific optimisation task.

How does a solver differ from APS?

APS is a foundation for operational planning. It typically tackles availability, work queues, plan calculations and production-management discipline. But a solver can help with decision-making based on specified objectives, constraints and other criteria and find the best path. It is thus not a competitor to APS, but a smart supplement.

APS = quick planning based on existing rules
Solver = smart decision-making based on a specified objective
Together = a flexible, powerful planning tool that works in both daily operations and more complicated situations.

When is APS without a solver enough?

When rules work well, variability is at a reasonable level and the plan works out long-term without major compromises. A solver starts to make sense when you regularly need to choose between multiple options, each affecting time, cost or stability.

What does successful solver deployment require?

Clearly defined objectives and fit-for-purpose input data. The rest depends on choosing the right model and integrating the solver into your processes so that its outputs are used in day-to-day management. A solver is most efficient in the cloud, but it can also be deployed on premises.

Would you like to know the specific places where a solver can bring savings in your company? Book an initial consultation to review your current solution and strategy and identify where a solver could add the most value.

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