2013-2017 ATHENA : Optimization methods for the integrated study of complex decisional problems

Optimization methods for solving difficult integrated decision problems

Issues and general objectives

The optimization of complex decision-making process is studied in Operations Research and mathematical optimization for many years. Often the problems addressed are the result of an implicit decomposition, which was made in view of the nature of the problems and the obvious complexity of treating them jointly. These issues are tackled very precisely and the difficulty lies in how to make them communicate. For example in the context of supply chain, decisions in terms of production are strongly related to inventory management decisions and to product distribution policy. The problems, however, are usually addressed separately. Recently, thanks to advances in optimization techniques, advanced software available to researchers and material advances, it is now possible to tackle problems of great complexity. For example, addressing some decision problems in an integrated manner rather than separately is now possible and it is established that it provides solutions that are of greatest interest. The objective of the project is to tackle complex optimization problems in an integrated way, at an operational level (e.g. production scheduling and vehicle routing).

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