AMPL in Action

Airline Fleet Assignment

US Airways integrates a complex optimization model into a graphical interactive system for assigning aircraft types to flights. The AMPL modeling language's expressive power speeds development, eases maintenance, and encourages experimentation.

"Balanced" Assignment

A company divides its employees at meetings and training sessions into groups "as diverse as possible" with respect to several characteristics. This problem differs in key ways from the textbook "assignment problem" and other familiar applications of optimization. AMPL's power and flexibility are advantageous in trying out many alternative models in for quickly modifying models to accommodate new requirements.

Location of Distribution Centers

Volkswagen links optimization and simulation models in a heuristic iterative procedure for deciding where to build North American vehicle distribution centers. AMPL's procedural statements and flexible input/output offer a convenient environment for implementation of the heuristic.

Meat Product Blend Optimization

A maker of beef patties employs an optimization model as the backbone of its planning, blending and procurement system. AMPL's powerful set-handling features and flexible solver interfaces help to make the system more reliable and adaptable. AMPL Plus simplifies the job of interfacing to spreadsheet and database software.

Strategic Planning of Train Crews

BC Rail uses an optimization model to plan hiring, training, and vacation allocation for its crews. An AMPL model and run file are embedded within a Visual Basic application to simplify both program development and maintenance.

Teacher Scheduling

The Maxwell Project optimizes teacher assignments for high schools in the city of Linkoping, Sweden. An AMPL optimization model is embedded in a comprehensive client-server system.

Toxic Waste Disposal

A pharmaceutical and chemicals company seeks to improve its scheduling of a special toxic waste furnace. An AMPL mixed-integer program determines a solution that increases throughput by 20% while more evenly distributing filter load and reducing slag burnoff.

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