Vendors selected as Cool Vendors are innovative, impactful and intriguing according to the information technology analysts at Gartner Inc.

“We are delighted to be recognized as a Cool Vendor by Gartner,” said Gijs Dullaert, CEO of AIMMS. “AIMMS technologies bring unique value to clients by answering the need for optimization tailored to each specific situation, and by, at the same time, covering all areas of the supply chain such as network optimization, rapid response optimization, segmentation, cross-segment optimization and end-to-end deployment optimization.”

One of Gartner’s key findings in the Supply Chain Management Applications report is that “Decision support and optimization continue to be prime areas for SCM application innovation. Visualization and modeling are also becoming essential for companies to maintain visibility and control across complex supply chains.”

AIMMS allows businesses to differentiate and to improve decision-making by using agile, powerful optimization technology to discover true challenges and to deploy solutions to every workstation within an operation.

Gertjan de Lange, VP Product Strategy for AIMMS says, “We are passionate about putting the innovative power of mathematical optimization into the hands of people around the world. We are relentlessly driven to make it easier for organizations to reap the benefits of optimization. That motivates us to continuously invest in our AIMMS technology to ensure that our clients can rapidly develop and iterate their tailored AIMMS optimization apps, and that these apps can easily and instantly be published on the client’s proprietary AIMMS Enterprise App Store.”

About AIMMS

AIMMS is an innovative technology company with offices in The Netherlands, United States, Singapore and Shanghai. AIMMS has been sold as a unique mathematical optimization platform for more than 20 years, and provides a web-based tool for building Enterprise App Stores. AIMMS customers can create optimization engines and solutions that enable optimal decision making on complex strategic, tactical or operational problems. www.aimms.com

Media Contact:

Tanya Van Kirk, Marketing Manager

tanya.van.kirk@aimms.com, +31 (0)23 5511 512

Disclaimer:
Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

¹Gartner “Supply Chain Management Applications” by C. Dwight Klappich, Christian Titze, Tim Payne, Noha Tohamy, Amber Salley April 16, 2013

The post AIMMS Named a 2013 Cool Vendor in Asia/Pacific by Gartner appeared first on AIMMS.

Vendors selected to be Cool Vendors are innovative, impactful and intriguing according to the information technology analysts at Gartner Inc.

“We are delighted to be recognized as a Cool Vendor by Gartner,” said Gijs Dullaert, CEO of AIMMS. “AIMMS technologies bring unique value to clients by answering the need for optimization tailored to each specific situation, and by, at the same time, covering all areas of the supply chain such as network optimization, rapid response optimization, segmentation, cross-segment optimization and end-to-end deployment optimization.”

One of Gartner’s key findings in this report is that “Decision support and optimization continue to be prime areas for SCM application innovation. Visualization and modeling are also becoming essential for companies to maintain visibility and control across complex supply chains.”

AIMMS allows businesses to differentiate and to improve decision-making by using agile, powerful optimization technology to discover true challenges and to deploy solutions to every workstation within an operation.

Gertjan de Lange, VP Product Strategy for AIMMS says, “We are passionate about putting the innovative power of mathematical optimization into the hands of people in supply chain organizations. We are relentlessly driven to make it easier for organizations to reap the benefits of optimization. That motivates us to continuously invest in our AIMMS technology to ensure that our clients can rapidly develop and iterate their tailored AIMMS optimization apps, and that these apps can easily and instantly be published on the client’s proprietary AIMMS Enterprise App Store.”

About AIMMS

AIMMS is an innovative technology company with offices in The Netherlands, United States, Singapore and Shanghai. AIMMS has been sold as a unique mathematical optimization platform for more than 20 years, and provides a web-based tool for building Enterprise App Stores. AIMMS customers can create optimization engines and solutions that enable optimal decision making on complex strategic, tactical or operational problems. www.aimms.com

Media Contact:
Tanya Van Kirk, Marketing Manager
tanya.van.kirk@aimms.com, +31 (0)23 5511 512

Disclaimer:
Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

¹Gartner “Supply Chain Management Applications” by C. Dwight Klappich, Christian Titze, Tim Payne, Noha Tohamy, Amber Salley April 16, 2013

The post AIMMS Named 2013 Cool Vendor by Gartner Inc. appeared first on AIMMS.

In AIMMS, the Quantitative Analysis department of PwC builds custom-made decision support software for clients to improve their executive decision making and to retrieve more value out of their assets.

For PwC’s client base, spread over various industries such as finance, real estate, insurance and mobility, the massive amounts of financial and operational data are organized in AIMMS to provide insight in their complex business. In dashboard-like applications, managers can evaluate different alternatives and base their decisions on (financially underpinned) facts. Stacks of Excel sheets are replaced by one flexible AIMMS based model with a graphical, user-friendly interface.

According to Jacques Swart, Director Quantitative Analysis at PwC and part-time Professor at Nyenrode Business University: “For controllers simple data analysis is not enough in today’s complex business environment. A ‘strong controller’ is managing the whole spectrum ranging from advisor to the management with sharp fact-based recommendations, to accountant applying advanced data-analysis. With our AIMMS based models we provide the technology for this. Our clients get the business advantage of insight how to get most out of their assets and base their strategy on fact-based analysis.”

Christophe Frere, VP EMEA of Paragon Decision Technology adds: “Also in the financial business, we see more and more companies moving beyond management by spreadsheet by applying advanced data-analysis to get business insight.”

Examples of AIMMS applications built by PwC include: strategic employee planning models for various professional organizations, hedge accounting software for several Dutch banks and business decision models for the health care industry.

About PwC Netherlands

At PwC in the Netherlands over 4,600 people work together from 12 offices. PwC Netherlands helps organizations and individuals create the value they’re looking for. We’re a member of the PwC network of firms in 158 countries with more than 180,000 people. We’re committed to delivering quality in assurance, tax and advisory services. Tell us what matters to you and find out more by visiting us at www.pwc.nl.

PwC refers to the PwC network and/or one or more of its member firms, each of which is a separate legal entity. Please see www.pwc.com/structure for further details.

About AIMMS and Paragon Decision Technology

Paragon Decision Technology is an innovative technology company with offices in The Netherlands, Seattle (US), Singapore and Shanghai. For over 20 years, Paragon has been developing and selling AIMMS, a unique mathematical optimization platform. AIMMS customers can create optimization engines and solutions that enable optimal decision making on complex strategic, tactical or operational problems. www.aimms.com

Media Contact:
Tanya Van Kirk, Marketing Manager, Paragon Decision Technology
tanya.van.kirk@aimms.com, +31 023 5511 512

The post PwC and AIMMS Sign Partnership Agreement appeared first on AIMMS.

The intent of JBS is to not only support and enrich its own organization with technology-based optimization solutions, but also to roll out optimization into subsidiaries like Vigor (dairy), Frangosul (chicken) and Swift (US based food processing).

João Batista Rocha de Souza, Integrated Planning Manager at JBS explains: “Thanks to the flexibility of AIMMS, the evolution of OCC and the development of new optimization modules (like OCI and PDC) can be done with the agility compatible to the dynamism of our company and its market. With the adoption of AIMMS PRO, JBS will make the best use of a corporate solution that brings optimization to business users through a central enterprise App store.”

Eduardo Milanez, partner at UniSoma, says: “With the adoption of a corporative solution like AIMMS PRO, JBS reaffirms its commitment to using optimization as a strategic way to improve its operational performance to excellence.”

Gertjan de Lange, VP at Paragon “Since releasing AIMMS PRO, we are happy to see that JBS, and many companies like JBS who were waiting for a solution that allows them to quickly embrace optimization and reap its benefits, have found it in AIMMS PRO and the AIMMS Partner network.“

About JBS

JBS is the largest animal protein processing company in the world, working in the areas of food, leather, products for pets, biodiesel, collagen, cans and cleaning products. The company is present in all continents with production platforms and offices in Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Australia, the USA, Uruguay, Paraguay, Mexico, China, Russia and other countries. JBS has 140 production units worldwide and more than 120,000 employees dedicated to the success of the company, supported by a pioneering and enterprising spirit. www.jbs.com.br

About UniSoma Matemática para Produtividade

UniSoma, established in 1984, is a Brazilian consultancy company specializing in the development and implementation of integrated production and logistics planning solutions. UniSoma develops supply chain management (SCM) solutions, also known as Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS), using multidimensional representations of physical, economic, and management attributes and constraints. www.unisoma.com.br

About AIMMS and Paragon Decision Technology

Paragon Decision Technology is an innovative technology company with offices in The Netherlands, Seattle (US), Singapore and Shanghai. For over 20 years, Paragon has been developing and selling AIMMS, a unique mathematical optimization platform. AIMMS customers can create optimization engines and solutions that enable optimal decision making on complex strategic, tactical or operational problems. www.aimms.com

Media Contact:
Tanya Van Kirk, Marketing Manager, Paragon Decision Technology
tanya.van.kirk@aimms.com, +31 023 5511 512


The post Brazil’s leading food processing company JBS chooses AIMMS appeared first on AIMMS.

Jan Willem will manage all of the R&D and product development processes for AIMMS and AIMMS PRO, and will be responsible for staff development and recruitment. He will also be responsible for release management and product delivery, and for internal IT activities.

Jan Willem previously served as founding member and COO for the software firm Adnovate, and has important experience and passion for product development, team development and strategic delivery.

CEO Gijs Dullaert says “I am very happy that Jan Willem joined the Paragon & AIMMS forces. I strongly believe Jan Willem is the right man coming in at the right moment. His capabilities to lead, structure and organize will be indispensable while we face the challenges of fast growth and constant technological advances“.

Jan Willem received his Mechanical Engineering degree from Delft University before starting his career in technology, and is now also a certified MMS Coach. For more information about Jan Willem, or to connect with him directly, visit his LinkedIn Profile.

About AIMMS and Paragon Decision Technology

Paragon Decision Technology is an innovative technology company with offices in The Netherlands, Seattle (US), Singapore and Shanghai. For over 20 years, Paragon has been developing and selling AIMMS, a unique mathematical optimization platform. AIMMS customers can create optimization engines and solutions that enable optimal decision making on complex strategic, tactical or operational problems. www.aimms.com

Media Contact:
Tanya Van Kirk, Marketing Manager, Paragon Decision Technology
tanya.van.kirk@aimms.com, +31 023 5511 512


The post AIMMS Welcomes New COO Jan Willem van Crevel appeared first on AIMMS.

Air Liquide is the world leader in gases for industry (such as refining, chemicals and metals), health, and the environment and produces air gases (e.g. oxygen, nitrogen, argon) and many other gases, including hydrogen. The German operation manages an extensive production network of air separation units as well as hydrogen and other process gas production units throughout the country that are inter-connected by a pipeline system of several hundred kilometers. This strong position allows Air Liquide to offer the highest reliability of product supply to their over 350,000 customers in Germany.

Air Liquide’s business of industrial gas production is becoming increasingly complex as energy sourcing is tied to a variety of energy commodity markets that undergo significant structural changes associated with strong market price variation. Operations management must take into account supply and demand data as well as contractual requirements and market information when planning the day-to-day operations, as well as for long-term strategic planning.

AIMMS has been selected as Air Liquide’s optimization platform of choice for its ease of use and powerful optimization capabilities, and its ability to inter-connect various data sources.

Optimization tools have been developed in AIMMS based on complex models of Air Liquide’s industrial activity, reaching from medium-term regional production planning down to real-time operation of individual plant equipment. With the integration of real-time operations data as well as multiple market data, teams were able to quickly develop interactive tools that support daily business decisions such as short-term energy procurement as well as optimized dispatching of production volumes to the network’s plants.

Operators at Air Liquide in Germany can rely on AIMMS-based tools in real-time production control as well as medium-term planning in order to make optimal decisions based on the quantitative assessment of a large number of alternatives.

According to Frank Lüders, Efficiency Manager of Air Liquide in Germany, “We believe our work with the AIMMS software and teams has brought further positive impact on our efficiency in the daily operative decision making. This will surely play a key role in delivering strategic value and a competitive advantage to our customers in the future.”

‘I am pleased that Air Liquide is using AIMMS for mission critical processes in order to make an impact on their bottom line. Optimization is indeed about getting the most value out of your assets to improve your Free Cash Flow.’ says Christophe Frère, VP EMEA of Paragon Decision Technology, the developers of AIMMS.

About Air Liquide
Air Liquide is the world leader in gases for industry, health and the environment, and is present in 80 countries with 46,200 employees. Oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and rare gases have been at the core of Air Liquide’s activities since its creation in 1902.

In 2011, the Group’s revenues amounted to €14.5 billion, of which more than 80% were generated outside France.
Air Liquide is listed on the Paris Euronext stock exchange (compartment A) and is a member of the CAC 40 and Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50 indexes.

About Paragon Decision Technology
Paragon Decision Technology is an innovative technology company with offices in The Netherlands, Seattle (US), Singapore and Shanghai. For over 20 years, Paragon has been developing and selling AIMMS, a unique mathematical optimization platform. AIMMS customers can create optimization engines and solutions that enable optimal decision making on complex strategic, tactical or operational problems.
Media contact: Tanya van Kirk
E-mail: tanya.van.kirk@aimms.com
Tel: +31 (0)23 5 511 512

The post AIR LIQUIDE Deutschland GmbH Chooses AIMMS appeared first on AIMMS.

Based on the market requirements and contract specifications, hundreds of different aluminum products are produced in one of Sapa’s 20 European factories. The aluminum billets required for this production are either produced by Sapa internally or sourced externally.

At Sapa, the future metal planning application will support the planner with optimization of the internal and external billet allocation taking into account the forecasted market requirements, various cost factors of transportation and billet pricing, restrictions on contracts and spreading of risks.

Specialists of CQM and Sapa will be working closely together to develop a tailor-made metal planning model and user interface in AIMMS. This will enable experts of Sapa to fully understand the dynamics of the model and planning results. Further, they will be trained to make changes to the input and the AIMMS user interface.

Peter den Dikken, Sapa’s Global Director Strategic Sourcing explains, “An integrated holistic approach of our global sourcing process will lead to significant cost savings. With CQM and AIMMS I am convinced we will be making better decisions in the near future giving us an additional competitive edge.”

“I am pleased to see that Sapa is paying more attention to optimization with the goal to get the most value out of their assets. An integrated and optimized approach to their production and logistics allocation process will improve the quality of their decisions to allocated which plants needs to produce or buy which products required for other plants.” says Christophe Frère, VP EMEA of Paragon Decision Technology, the developers of AIMMS.

Arjen Vestjens, Partner at CQM, says: “Only with tailored optimization solutions you can get the most value out of your operations. The metal planning application will be a uniquely modeled for the Sapa billet allocation process. We have selected AIMMS for its powerful optimization capabilities and the AIMMS flexible graphical user interface. Our solutions help decision makers to make best decisions and understand the business dynamics behind every decision.”

About SAPA

Sapa is the largest aluminium profiles producer in the world. The Sapa Group develops, manufactures and markets value-added profiles, profile-based building systems and heat exchanger solutions in the light-weight material aluminium. Sapa is divided in the business areas Sapa Profiles, Sapa Building System and Sapa Heat Transfer and is represented in Europe, North America and Asia. The business concept is built on close cooperation with customers. Sapa is the leading company in its field of operation and have customers in the building, transport, engineering, telecom and home and office industry. The Sapa Group has combined net sales of 35,700 MSEK and aprox 14,500 employees. Sapa is part of Norwegian Orkla ASA.

Media contact: Erika Ahlqvist

Email: erika.ahlqvist@sapagroup.com

Tel: +46 8 459 5900

Website: www.sapagroup.com

About CQM

CQM (Consultants in Quantitative Methods) is a consultancy agency specialized in optimizing planning and logistics and improving product and process innovation. For more than 30 years CQM helps organizations make complex processes transparent. Using quantitative methods (statistical and mathematical optimization), CQM creates a framework to analyze processes and make decisions based on facts. CQM employs over 30 consultants, working for a variety of reputable businesses, such as Heineken, DHL, Philips, ProRail, Post NL, Shell, Sara Lee, Dorel, ASML and Den Hartogh.

Media contact: Karlijn Creemers

Email: creemers@cqm.nl

Tel: +31 (0)40 750 16 93
Website: 
www.cqm.nl

About Paragon Decision Technology

Paragon Decision Technology is an innovative technology company with offices in The Netherlands, Seattle (US), Singapore and Shanghai. For more than 20 years, Paragon has been developing and selling AIMMS, a unique mathematical optimization platform. AIMMS customers can create optimization engines and solutions that enable optimal decision making on complex strategic, tactical or operational problems.

Media contact: Tanya van Kirk

Email: tanya.van.kirk@aimms.com

Tel: +31 (0)23 5 511 512
Website: www.aimms.com

The post Sapa Chooses CQM and AIMMS appeared first on AIMMS.

Team Yie-Galindo used a rolling horizon approach to handle this year’s scheduling problem that dealt with uncertainty. Their AIMMS model took into account the randomness of the duration of the activities and was accented by a very nice and user-friendly interface.

From left to right. Prof. Terlaky (Lehigh University), Gina M. Galindo-Pacheco, Ruben D. Yie-Pinedo (University at Buffalo (SUNY)), and Peter Nieuwesteeg (Paragon)

Teams from across the globe have been working since January on the problem, “Scheduling in SmartGrids”. In addition to Team Yie-Galindo, finalists also included Team Smart (of University of Twente, The Netherlands) and Team Smart Power Engineers (of TU Berlin, Germany). Each of the finalists was on hand to present their team results at a dinner reception for MOPTA conference attendees.

The post Congratulations to Team Yie-Galindo, winners of the 2012 AIMMS-MOPTA Modeling Competition appeared first on AIMMS.

With great pride, Paragon Decision Technology is launching the AIMMS PRO Platform, our Publishing and Remote Optimization (PRO) platform. AIMMS PRO is a revolutionary product in the field of optimization technology and will change the way we enable the use of optimization everywhere.

Why do you need AIMMS PRO?

The AIMMS PRO Platform is a new way for your organization to deploy optimization technology into your organization. See it as your own App Store of AIMMS-based optimization solutions – a collaboration platform for making better decisions. Every optimization solution (or update of such a solution) can be made available to the users in your organization in a matter of a few clicks. As our solutions help your users make better decisions, it will allow you to increase your bottom line (or reduce your cost) almost instantly. This means that your organization will perform better and will be more agile with the AIMMS PRO Platform.

What is AIMMS PRO?

The AIMMS PRO Platform enables you to deploy AIMMS Applications to end-users quickly and efficiently through the AIMMS PRO Portal. More importantly, the AIMMS PRO Portal assures end-users can access the latest version of these AIMMS Applications at all times through a web browser. While end-users can view and manage data, create scenarios, and initiate optimization runs, the actual processing is dispatched automatically to (high performance) central servers connected by the AIMMS PRO Platform. So, instead of coding your own interfaces, deployment setups etc., AIMMS PRO does it all for you.

How to use AIMMS PRO?

The AIMMS PRO Portal is the control center for users of the AIMMS PRO Platform. It allows for management of users, publishing of applications and AIMMS versions, setting use restrictions for applications, etc. Whether you are a developer, an end-user, or an IT manager, the portal provides you the controls to make optimal use of AIMMS possible. This is also true for sharing prototypes and pre-releases in a controlled way. Thus scaling up a solution, sharing new optimization concepts, or offering a large set of different AIMMS Applications to your organization is now easier than ever before.

AIMMS PRO Testimonial – Astral Foods

One of our launching customers is Astral Foods in South Africa. They are working closely with our partner UniSoma and rolled out various optimization solutions using AIMMS PRO to support their business users. Andries Steyn, Project Coordinator at Astral Foods says “AIMMS PRO allows optimization to become a corporate solution instead of just a technical tool. The transparent licensing, updating of applications, and optimization that is done on the server eliminates the need to micro-manage users. In the end, it simply makes implementation faster and easier.”

To learn more about AIMMS PRO, head to our AIMMS PRO page or contact your regional office for details.

The post AIMMS PRO Released appeared first on AIMMS.

Haarlem, the Netherlands, May 4th 2012

Zalando has selected the optimization software AIMMS to optimize their European logistics operations in order to ensure consistently high service levels at a justifiable cost.

Zalando is Europe’s leading online retailer for shoes and fashion. Following its large success in the German market since its incorporation in 2008, Zalando has expanded to several European countries, starting with Austria in 2009 and the Netherlands and France in 2010. In 2011, expansion to Italy, UK and Switzerland followed, and from this year on Zalando is also shipping to Sweden and Belgium.

’We are facing an increasingly complex delivery network, both in terms of our European customer base and our warehouse setup. In order to ensure a consistently high service level towards our customers at a justifiable cost, we need an advanced optimization tool to help us design our network and transport flows. AIMMS technology allows us to quickly prototype and build unique optimization applications that create a competitive edge for Zalando.’ says Christoph Stark, Zalando’s head of logistics.

Christophe Frère, VP EMEA of Paragon Decision Technology, adds: ’We see a tendency that companies want to differentiate with optimization to create a competitive edge. Also at Zalando, logistics costs are of course a significant cost component of the whole operational costs. Reducing your cost with an additional five to fifteen percent while maintaining or even improving on your customer service can give you indeed a competitive advantage in a low margin business. AIMMS can do it for you.

About Zalando

Zalando is Europe’s leading online retailer for shoes and fashion. The company was founded in 2008 by Robert Gentz and David Schneider and its headquarters are located in Berlin. Following its large success in the German market, Zalando now caters to neighboring European countries, starting with Austria in 2009 and the Netherlands and France in 2010. In 2011, expansion to Italy, Great Britain and Switzerland followed. As of 2012, Zalando is also shipping to Sweden and Belgium.

Media contact: Barbara Franzreb
E-mail: barbara.franzreb@zalando.de
Tel: +49 (0)30 2000 88 636
www.zalando.de

About Paragon Decision Technology

Paragon Decision Technology is an innovative technology company with offices in The Netherlands, Seattle (US), Singapore and Shanghai. For over 20 years, Paragon has been developing and selling AIMMS, a unique mathematical optimization platform. AIMMS customers can create optimization engines and solutions that enable optimal decision making on complex strategic, tactical or operational problems.

Media contact: Tanya van Kirk
E-mail: tanya.van.kirk@aimms.com
Tel: +31 (0)23 5 511 512 Website: www.aimms.com

The post Online retailer Zalando chooses AIMMS to optimize their European logistics operations appeared first on AIMMS.