SINTEF is an independent research institution that conducts various types of research and development projects, including - just like Galgos - dealing with advanced algorithms and combinatorial optimization. However, it approaches this topic in its own way and, for example, also records slightly different benchmarks. Otimo reported to SINTEF its results on the PDPTW Li & Lim (Pickup and Delivery Problem with Time Windows) benchmark for 1000 points, where the primary goal is 1) minimizing the number of vehicles, followed by 2) minimizing the total distance. As these were the best known results for given instance of a problem, the Polish company was located at the list of record owners run by a Norwegian institute (where it is listed as OT).  

“Our team is constantly working on our algorithms so that they improve not only our own achievements in this area, but also world records,” says Krzysztof Chaładyn, Vice-President of Otimo Sp. z o. o. “Of course, recognition from such renowned institutions as Galgos or SINTEF is a nice culmination of often many months of hard work. However, I would like to emphasize that optimization records are followed by measurable business benefits - and that is what we try to focus on. And if a healthy academic and business competition with teams from all over the world helps us build a competitive advantage, it is a win-win situation for us. Our ambition and passion mean that we are not afraid of any challenges, and I know that it's not only us that benefit from this (through self-fulfillment and development of our skills), but also our clients."

This is how the article about us in issue 5/2022 of the Logistics Manager magazine begins. The entire article [in Polish] can be downloaded at this link. We encourage you to read it.

Galgos is an institute affiliated with the Brazilian PUC-Rio university that focuses on the development and application of algorithmic methods to handle and analyze large amounts of data, as well as resource optimization. It keeps and updates a register of the best known results reported by teams from all around the world.

This year Galgos expanded the record register to include Gehring-Homberger benchmarks, i.e. problems in the area of CVRPTW (Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows), i.e. VRP with time windows. To illustrate the issue, let's imagine the following situation: a vehicle fleet operator receives a list of points to visit, their locations, time windows in which they can be visited, the amount of goods that must be delivered to a given point and the maximum load of vehicles. The problem is to find the shortest possible route for vehicles that passes through all the points without exceeding the time windows of visiting any of them or the maximum load of vehicles. A record in this case is understood as improving the best result known so far. Depending on the initial assumptions (number of points to visit, goods, etc.), there can be a lot of instances of such a problem, and therefore also records. 

Otimo reported its results in as many as 71 instances of such a problem. And as these are the best know results in the world so far, it can boast of just as many current records. This is undoubtedly a huge success, not only in the world of science, but perhaps even more importantly - in business. This is not the first Otimo’s achievement in this field. The core of the team are the authors of a globally unique solver – a vehicle routing tool that generates the best known results for the tested instances. Over the years of working on joint projects, the people behind Otimo broke dozens of other records for selected optimization problems. 

"I must admit that we are extremely proud of these achievements.” – says Krzysztof Chaładyn, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Otimo Ltd. “The example of Otimo confirms that it is not always only the size of the company or the resources it has that count. A team of talented people with appropriate knowledge and experience, professionals with a real passion for what they do, was able to make a small company from Lodz win in the global optimization race against giants from Silicon Valley or China. Optimization, especially of the last mile, is currently one of the hottest topics in the logistics industry and all the key players are working on solutions in this area. I can assure you that at Otimo we are just starting to show what we are capable of and more records are ahead of us”. 

The current register of records of the Brazilian institute Galgos is available here.