https://submissions.mirasmart.com/InformsAnnual2025/Itinerary/PresentationDetail.aspx?evdid=6452 8:12 AM – 8:24 AM Alkiviadis Vazacopoulos, Optimization Direct, Inc.; Robert Ashford, Optimization Direct, Inc.. As optimization challenges grow increasingly complex across industries, traditional solvers often fall short when faced with large-scale, multi-constraint decision models. Optimization Direct Heuristics (ODH) for FICO® Xpress represents a transformative enhancement in optimization technology—enabling organizations to overcome long-standing performance…

Every major industry today relies on optimization — for supply chain planning, grid expansion, workforce allocation, transportation routing, and more. Yet there is a persistent problem experts know all too well: Even the best MIP solvers eventually hit a wall. Models grow too large. Run times become unpredictable. Feasible solutions arrive late — or not…

Hollywood FL, May 2025 Enhancing Mathematical Optimization with Generative AI: Insights from the FICO Xpress Workshop By Dr. Alkis Vazacopoulos, Vice President, Optimization Direct In an era where decision intelligence and optimization are converging with generative AI, the recent FICO World Optimization Forum in May 2025 spotlighted a transformative vision: how generative AI can elevate…

Presented by: Alkis Vazacopoulos 2025 INFORMS Analytics+ Conference! Indianapolis This workshop introduces participants to the transformative potential of generative AI in mathematical programming using FICO Xpress. Through hands-on demonstrations and practical exercises, attendees will learn how to leverage generative AI to streamline model development, enhance code generation, and improve result interpretation. The workshop covers key…

March 5, 2025, 12pm ET | 9am PT ODH is a software package from Optimization Direct that runs concurrently with FICO Xpress to accelerate and extend your ability to solve large and difficult optimization models. Our new webinar, co-presented by FICO and Optimization Direct, will discuss ODH’s functionality, capabilities, and how it can help solve…

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Case Study Challenge: Increase the speed and complexity of solving delivery matching problems in order to improve delivery time and efficiency for each order. Solution: FICO® Xpress Optimization Results: Using FICO’s optimization solver on a mixed integer problem (MIP), DoorDash has improved solving time by 10–100x and can now assign multiple orders to each driver to…

HOW TO DEPLOY APPLICATIONS THAT COMBINE MACHINE LEARNING/DEEP LEARNING TOOLS AND OPTIMIZATION TECHNOLOGIES SUCH AS XPRESS/ ODH|XPRESS Presented by: Robert Ashford Organizations are increasingly hiring Data Scientists with Open Source skills. They leverage the capabilities and work with Open Source tools like R, Python, Spark, as well as integration with FICO-XPRESS and large data. Come…

We will present at the FICO Technology Workshop at INFORMS https://meetings.informs.org/wordpress/phoenix2023/exhibitor-workshops/#fico Presented by: Robert Ashford Saturday, October 14, 4-6:30 pm, Location: CC-North 121 B ODH-XPRESS Integration ODH is a software package from Optimization Direct Inc. that runs concurrently with MIP optimizers like FICO Xpress to accelerate and extend their capabilities for large and difficult optimization…

Optimization Direct has partnered with and entered into a distribution agreement with FICO. Combining the founders’ industry and software experience and FICO’s Xpress product with the arsenal of Optimization modeling and solving tools from FICO provides customers with the most powerful capabilities in the industry. FICO Xpress solves large-scale optimization problems and enables better business decisions…