INNOVATIVE SCHEDULING, LLC
DALLAS, TX

Nerds making the world more efficient 2000 - Our company is founded as Innovative Scheduling by Dr. Ravindra K. Ahuja, a world-renowned researcher and academician; former professor at the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge; and current professor at the University of Florida, Gainesville. The company receives its first project from CSX Transportation and is tasked with optimizing its locomotive planning function. 2004 - We obtain our first Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to build a decision support system for railroad blocking problems. We also hire our first set of full-time employees, including Krishna C. Jha, Wei Huang, and Arvind Kumar – all of whom completed their Ph.Ds. at the University of Florida under Dr. Ahuja’s guidance. 2005 - We receive our second SBIR grant from the NSF to build a decision support system for train scheduling. BNSF Railway, the second largest freight railroad in the world, provides a matching grant. These two grants, plus the licensing revenues from the product funded by the first NSF grant, provide continued funding for the research and development of innovative technologies for railroads. 2010 - We begin developing software solutions that embed optimization within simulation systems, which we name as simulation-guided optimization. We develop such solutions for modeling CSX Transportation’s largest intermodal yard and several hump yards, modeling distribution centers for Walmart, and modeling a rail network for BHP Billiton, the largest mining company in the world. 2011 - We start doing research for solving the linehaul (or long haul) planning problems for less-than-truckload (LTL) carriers, which are considered to be some of the most difficult optimization problems. We eventually crack these difficult decision problems and show that optimization can reduce linehaul costs by 3% - 6%. Several top LTL carriers show serious interest and license our software product, HaulPLAN. 2012 - We engage in partnerships with Canadian Pacific Railway and CSX Transportation to develop enterprise-wide data visualization, data analytics and business intelligence applications. These applications are the first of their kind in the railroad industry and are greatly appreciated by users. We also develop our IT framework and processes for developing these applications in a rapid development mode. 2012 - We begin the development of simulation and optimization solutions for BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining company. We first develop a solution to simulate the movement of trains in the rail network connecting mines to ports, and we then develop a real-time train scheduling system. These engagements give us a deep understanding of challenges faced by mining companies as they automate and optimize their operations. 2014 - We changed our name to Optym to better reflect our expanding range of work, both in the products and services that we offer and the industries we serve. Optym, which is derived from the word optimization, truly reflects the essence of what we do. The name change is part of a broader rebranding effort that also includes a new logo as well as the new tagline, “Live Efficiently.” 2016 - The Optym team consists of over 200 highly qualified professionals offering technology solutions for transportation and logistics companies worldwide. We license our current suite of decision support systems, build custom software applications for clients, develop new systems by funding our own internal research, and provide technology-enabled consulting services using our software solutions. Subject matter expertise in the area that we are trying to automate is very important, as decision in various industries must honor certain resource constraints and optimize certain goals. To automate decision making, we need to know how decisions are made. Thus, our team works very closely with businesses and our clients to understand all aspects of the business problem and document it. We ask a lot of questions to develop a deep understanding of the subject areas. be made. We propose if there is a better way of doing tasks. As Henry Ford once said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” Being creative and coming up with a better way of decision making is an essential part of our delivery. Data is not just numbers; it is the story of a business process. We analyze the data to get insight into the business process, and this insight leads to the development of correct decision engines. Our team is well versed in data analytics, data treatment, data storage in databases, and data retrieval through efficient query design. Use of big data techniques is also one of our core skill sets. Sometimes the data available for decision making is incomplete or incorrect. Sometimes the data coming from multiple sources is inconsistent. This is why we do data treatment before it can be consumed by decision modules. This is an essential part of building decision automation systems. When we have developed a technique to solve a business problem, it needs to be implemented. The implementation can make or break the system. If, for a real-time application, the decision engine takes five minutes, it will not be used; but if it takes less than five seconds, it can be used. Using the right data structures to implement an engine, writing efficient code, and using parallel computing can have a significant impact on the running of a decision engine. Data mining and machine learning are also used in decision engines. Our team is well versed in these computer science techniques and uses them extensively in our software development. By recruiting specialized computer science gurus with advanced degrees, we ensure that we have an infusion of the latest technological developments to our company. As well, we hold internal workshops on emerging topics so that we continue to disseminate these developments among other team members and keep them current.