Have you ever wanted to learn more about the basic concepts and techniques that lie behind optimization systems?

Dag Wedelin, Associate Professor at Chalmers University of Technology and one of the key persons behind Carmen's optimization products, will hold a one-day course on this subject.

Audience
The course is intended for managers, planners, support staff, and those who are considering introducing optimization systems. It has been designed to provide people who do not have a formal background in optimization a greater understanding of the principles behind the methods and how they can be applied. It also enables them to interact better with optimization experts.

The course is also highly recommended to those who will or have already attended Carmen's product-specific courses.

Course description
The course emphasizes the understanding of the fundamental ideas and principles of optimization through simple explanations and examples, and from these attempts to explain the possibilities and limitations of different algorithms and modelling techniques.

Specific topics include the following. What is an optimization problem? Algorithm complexity and the combinatorial explosion. Standard algorithmic problems. Basic algorithm design techniques: divide&conquer, dynamic programming, greedy algorithms. Methods of discrete optimization: enumerative search, branch&bound, local search, linear and integer linear programming. Optimal vs. heuristic methods. Modelling. Basic ways of modelling and solving routing problems. Case studies including Carmen Crew Pairing and Carmen Crew Rostering. How column generation works.

Duration
1 day.