Thomas I. Maindl – författare

This book describes and demonstrates how SAP APO - can be used to tackle real optimization problems arising in industry. In a unique combination it deals with the aspects of model-building as well as with the implementation in commercial supply chain management software, SAP APO - being a typical example of an advanced planning system (APS).The authors address people involved in projects in which SAP and, particularly, SAP APO - are implemented in companies. These are the project designers, projects leaders, the IT personnel inside the companies, but also operations research practitioners, supply chain management consultants and decision makers in the area of tool selection for optimization. Graduates in the economic sciences, business and operations research, but also mathematicians and physicists with interest in solving real optimization problems might benefit from reading this book.

Optimization is a serious issue, touching many aspects of our life and activity. But it has not yet been completely absorbed in our culture. In this book the authors point out how relatively young even the word “model” is. On top of that, the concept is rather elusive. How to deal with a technology that ?nds applicationsinthingsasdi?erentaslogistics,robotics,circuitlayout,?nancial deals and tra?c control? Although, during the last decades, we made signi?cant progress, the broad public remained largely unaware of that. The days of John von Neumann, with his vast halls full of people frantically working mechanical calculators are long gone. Things that looked completely impossible in my youth, like solving mixed integer problems are routine by now. All that was not just achieved by ever faster and cheaper computers, but also by serious progress in mathematics. But even in a world that more and more understands that it cannot a?ord to waste resources, optimization remains to a large extent unknown. R It is quite logical and also fortunate that SAP , the leading supplier of enterprise management systems has embedded an optimizer in his software. The authors have very carefully investigated the capabilities and the limits of APO. Remember that optimization is still a work in progress. We do not have the tool that does everything for everybody.