Control Panel
This page provides an overview of key input data. Here you can make changes to the data and save a new Scenario for later comparison.
DC and Production Control
In DC Control and Production Control widgets there are listed all available DCs and production facilities (resources) in the current model:
Resources marked in the column Remain Open will stay open, and incur fixed costs, regardless of whether they are used by the model solution.
Resources marked in the column Remain Close won't be included in the model solution.
After you click Optimize (AIMMS icon), a checked box in the column Open indicates if a resource is open based on the model solution.
The menu in the top right corner allows you to easily set Remain Open or Remain Closed:
Set Remain Open for all: selects all resources to Remain Open
Set Remain Open for none: deselects all resources to Remain Open
Set Remain Closed for all: selects all resources to Remain Closed
Set Remain Closed for none: deselects all resources to Remain Closed
If you select Remain Open, Remain Closed will be turned off and vice versa.
Model Control
Here you can control settings for the model that needs to be solved by setting some criteria for constraints. You can adjust the Minimum number of DCs/Productions and Maximum number of DCs/Productions to influence the solution.
If you want to run a Base Case scenario and use Base Case Lanes and Base Case Volumes check the Base Case Constraints checkbox in Model control panel. By default it is unchecked.
If you want to solve the model so that it keeps all resources open, you can set the Minimum number of DCs/Productions and the Maximum number of DCs/Productions to the actual number of DCs/Production facilities. The solution will keep all resources open.
If you want the optimal solution, without any preference for how many or few resources will be used, set Minimum number of DCs/Productions to 0 and the Maximum number of DCs/Productions to a value larger than the number of resources. This gives the model full freedom to decide which resources to close and which to keep open.
Other controls let you turn off or relax certain constraints, thereby providing more flexibility in the solution.
Relax minimum DC Capacity: This removes the DC minimum capacity constraints.
Relax maximum DC Capacity: This removes the DC minimum capacity constraints, and allows you to see the solution if all DCs had unlimited capacity. The DCs that are above their original capacity in this solution, often provide guidance on where there is most room for improvement.
Relax minimum Production Capacity: This removes the production minimum capacity constraints.
Relax maximum Production Capacity: This removes the production minimum capacity constraints and allows you to see the solution if all production facilities had unlimited capacity. The production facilities that are above their original capacity in this solution, often provide guidance on where there is most room for improvement.
Relax Lead Time: This removes the lead time constraints from the model. It allows you to see how this constraint impacts your solution, if at all.
Relax Minimum Supply Capacity: This removes the supply capacity minimum constraints. It will not change the products that a supplier can supply. It allows you to see the impact of your suppliers on your network.
Relax Maximum Supply Capacity: This removes the supply capacity maximum constraints. It will not change the products that a supplier can supply, but it will allow the model to provide an unlimited amount of that product. It allows you to see the impact of your suppliers on your network.
Relax Minimum Transport Capacity: This removes transportation capacity minimum constraints. It will not change the lanes that are available, but it will not enforce any capacity on those lanes.
Relax Maximum Transport Capacity: This removes transportation capacity maximum constraints. It will not change the lanes that are available, but it will not enforce any capacity on those lanes.
Disable Resource Expansion: This disallows resources (both DCs and production facilities) to use expanded capacity. It allows you to see whether the model can be solved given the available capacity (without expanding).
Relax Single Source: This removes the single source constraints. It will allow the model more flexibility in serving the customers.
Of course, the mathematical optimal isn't always practical, so you will have to make some choices based on your knowledge of your business. However, giving the model a full range can help by giving you insights that you might not otherwise get.
DC and Production Product Control
In DC Product Control and Production Product Control the user is able to change capacities and costs on the product level.
DC or Production marked Remain Open for a specific product will stay open, and incur fixed costs, regardless of whether they are used by the model solution. If there are any minimum or maximum capacity constraints for these products at these Resources, those constraints will be enforced.
DC or Production marked Remain Close for a specific product won't be included in the model solution, and minimum or maximum constraints won't be enforced for these products at these Resources.
The menu in the top right corner allows you to easily set Remain Open or Remain Closed:
Set Remain Open for all: selects all resources to Remain Open
Set Remain Open for none: deselects all resources to Remain Open
Set Remain Closed for all: selects all resources to Remain Closed
Set Remain Closed for none: deselects all resources to Remain Closed
If you select Remain Open, Remain Closed will be turned off and vice versa.
Average Speed
This widget shows the average speed by Transportation Type. This speed is used in the calculation of the Lead Time as well as the Driving Time distribution. See Customer Report.
Consider products
In this multi select widget you can set which products should be considered in the optimization.
Supplier Input Control
In Supplier Control and Supplier Product Control you are able to change capacities on both supplier and supplier product level, and provide costs for each. Here you can define the availability of a product at a certain resource too.
Runtime Setting Side Panel
Here you can control the solver option, and see the resulting values:
There are three input values:
Time limit: The time limit of the optimization run in hours. If not specified, the model uses 1 hour. If specified, the data comes from attribute "Time Limit".
Optimality Gap: The optimization engine stops if a solution is found that is within this percentage of the best possible solution. The default is 0.01(%) when using Single Source and 0.001(%) otherwise. If specified, this data comes from attribute "Optimality Gap".
Relax for Speed: If this option is checked (default), the model relaxes DC Throughput Capacity when there are single source customers. The model is setup such that this relaxing will not impact the final solution, but it can have a big impact on the solution times. Normally, there is no need to change this option, unless you experienced performance issues.
Network Design will return the best solution found within the time limit. The Actual Time and Actual Gap show the actual values, which can be compared to the limits above.
The tool tip provides more detailed information on the values in this table.
Job List Side Panel
The table of this side panel summarizes the latest runs executed. Clicking on the Open Job List button will open the Job List dialog page.
On the Job List dialog page, the Job Overview table shows all the jobs that were sent to the server in the last 30 days (or whatever retention time is specified in the PRO configuration: https://<your company name>.cloud.aimms.com/configuration/retention). For each job, you can see
the Job Name,
the Environment in which it was created,
the User who started the job,
the Application to which the job corresponds (Center of Gravity in this case),
the Create Time and
a Description that indicates the status of the job.
By clicking on a job in the Job Overview the user can select a certain job, which can be loaded using the Load Selected Results button. Please note that this overwrites your current data. To refresh the Job Overview page with all recently created jobs or modified settings, simply press the Refresh button.
Optimize Page Action
When a dataset is loaded, you are ready to run the model. Before you begin, the time limit may need to be adjusted so the program has time to find a good solution for your data.
Click the AIMMS logo button in the bottom right corner to Optimize.
Network Design will determine the optimal design of your network and display it on the map. (This may take a while - have a cup of tea!)
Save Scenario Page Action
Using the Save Scenario page action the current solution can be saved via the Save Scenario dialog page. (This dialog can be retrieved via the status bar too.)
In this dialog, you can save the current Active Scenario (containing the results from the most recent model solution) for later comparisons. Enter a name and description and click Save Scenario to add the Scenario to the database. This page also contains a table with all the existing scenarios for reference. This can help you to select a unique name (which is required), but also to help you in following a naming convention.
If you want to share this Scenario with other users in your organization, turn on the switch Scenario Visible to Everyone option before saving.
