*Global Footprint Network is an international nonprofit organization founded in 2003. It calculates the Earth Overshoot Day for each year.

Main contributions of optimization technologies for sustainable growth

The nature of optimization technologies is to « do more and better, while consuming less » by minimizing the consumption of resources and by creating synergies to achieve operational performance.

Through intelligent automation of decision-making, optimization softwares offer:

• Time, cost & resource savings
• Better planning & pooling of resources
• Smoothing workload
• Increased efficiency & profitability
• Optimized resource lifecycle

Organize & plan for an optimized and respectful Supply Chain

Facing the ecological emergency, the European Union (EU) aims to lower by 55% emissions of greenhouse gases by 2030. Crucial in the fight against climate change, transport flows have to be optimized and organized with a greener and more durable logistics. By optimizing every supply chain’s link at local and global scales, optimization intelligence provides agile and robust tools to find the best possible resource allocation.

Here are a few examples of Atoptima’s applications for a Green Supply Chain:

• Facility location and distribution network design to minimize delivery distances and inter-site transfers
• Pooling of shipments and facilities to reduce the use of resources
• 3D optimization of parceling, palletization and loading to decrease empty space in trucks and parcels
• Pickup-and-delivery planning with two-echelon distribution network and reverse logistics
• Automation of freight assignment to curtail empty returns and avoid additional pollution
• Multimodal transportation to use less fossil fuels and greenhouse gases (river-road, rail-road…)
• Multiple rotations on the same route to reduce the size of vehicle fleets

In practice: 3 characteristics of a sustainable operations management tool

When you are looking for optimization softwares, you obviously expect to increase operational efficiency, but you also need to find the right fit for your Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy. Here are 3 characteristics you should keep in mind to find the best combination of both profitability and sustainability:

1. Systemic approach:

To get a real impact on the environment, it’s all about acting globally. So it is for operational performance. Major improvements can only be achieved by considering the mutual dependences between your different decisions (e.g. for your delivery routing decision, you should simultaneously consider decisions on packing, inventory, staff, …).

2. Tailored models:

A decision support tool must be suited to your specific needs, even when they evolve. If it doesn’t handle all your constraints, it won’t tackle your real problem. Just as your objective, that can be a customized mix of economic, environmental and quality-of-service goals.

3. Measurable indicators:

Clear and customized indicators and insights are key to promote your results to your stakeholders and clients.

Becoming a real competitive advantage since consumer expectations are moving towards eco-friendly products and services, organizations have to take a stand on their ecological impact. With no constraints left out and considering all stages of a problem (technical, social, ecological, financial, political), Atoptima’s optimization technologies aim to find the best solution in seconds with a sustainable approach.