Success story
Manage Supply Disruptions Across a Fortune 50 Supply Network
Identify the best mitigation source for orders at risk, balancing material availability, priorities, quantities, and costs across the supply network.
of orders at risk saved
to generate daily
mitigation strategies
reduction in inventory
carrying costs
reduction in
planning workload
A Fortune 50 company managing a large European supply chain was facing a growing challenge in mitigating orders at risk of being cut. With a high volume of SKUs, deployment backlogs, and a continuous influx of orders, planners were spending significant time identifying alternative sources of supply and determining the best mitigation strategy for each case.
The challenge was not simply finding additional stock. Each order at risk could have several possible responses, including material substitution or expedited shipments, with multiple constraints and priorities determining which source represented the best option across the network.
Rulex implemented an end-to-end optimization workflow that automatically evaluated these trade-offs across the European supply network and identified the optimal mitigation sources, helping planners respond faster while protecting supply continuity.
Network-wide mitigation at scale
Rulex’s proprietary optimization task evaluated material and product availability while simultaneously accounting for the constraints, costs, and priorities that determined the best mitigation option:
- Material priorities.
- Transportation costs.
- Batch quantities.
- Penalties for unmet demand.
- Quantities available at each source.
- Requests at each destination.
By considering these factors within a single optimization process, the company could consistently identify the best mitigation options across its European network, even with a high volume of SKUs and a continuous flow of orders.
Preferred materials, substitutes, and the trade-offs between them
Material preferences became one of the criteria guiding each mitigation decision. The optimizer gave precedence to the materials favored by each plant, while keeping substitutes available as viable alternatives.
The final choice reflected the wider economics and practicalities of moving supply through the network. When quantities or transportation costs made an alternative more advantageous, the optimizer could move beyond the initial preference and recommend a substitute.
Daily mitigation, ready for action
The optimization workflow turned network-wide supply alternatives into actionable results on a daily basis. Recommendations were generated in approximately 15 minutes and delivered directly to process stakeholders as a Microsoft Excel email attachment.
- 52% of orders at risk protected from being cut on average
- 6% reduction in inventory carrying costs for unsold goods
- 70% reduction in planner workload within the mitigation process
The results were measurable across order protection, inventory costs, and planning effort:
Tech point
Take a closer look at the Rulex Platform capabilities behind this supply disruption mitigation solution.
01. Optimization for complex supply decisions with the Build/Solve task
Rulex’s Build/Solve is a general-purpose optimization task designed to model complex linear optimization problems without requiring users to develop the underlying mathematical formulation. Decision variables and constraints can be configured through spreadsheets using business-readable syntax, while continuous and integer values allow different operational requirements to be represented within the same model.
Once the business logic and data are connected, Build/Solve constructs and solves the optimization problem using proprietary or third-party algorithms. Priorities and costs can be incorporated into the model, allowing the optimization to account for competing requirements rather than treating every feasible alternative equally.
Why Rulex for supply chain distruption mitigation
When supply is disrupted, every alternative comes with trade-offs. Rulex evaluates them together through configurable optimization, helping planners identify the optimal response across the network while reducing the effort required to reach an actionable decision.
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Frequently asked questions
How can optimization help mitigate supply chain disruptions?
Optimization helps planners evaluate multiple mitigation alternatives together rather than considering each option in isolation. Rulex can account for factors such as material availability, priorities, quantities, transportation costs, and penalties for unmet demand to identify the optimal response across the supply network.
How does Rulex decide between a preferred material and a substitute?
Material preferences can be incorporated into the optimization alongside other operational criteria. A preferred material can be prioritized for a plant, while substitutes remain available when factors such as transportation costs or batch quantities make an alternative the better strategy.
What is Rulex Build/Solve?
Build/Solve is Rulex’s general-purpose optimization task for linear optimization problems. It supports continuous and integer decision variables and allows objectives and constraints to be configured in spreadsheets using business-readable syntax. Once the model and data are connected, Build/Solve constructs and solves the optimization problem using proprietary or third-party algorithms.
Can Rulex optimization be used for recurring supply chain decisions?
Yes. Optimization can be embedded into repeatable operational workflows rather than used only for one-off analysis. In this project, mitigation strategies were generated daily in approximately 15 minutes and delivered directly to process stakeholders, allowing the company to repeatedly reassess orders at risk as part of its planning process.