How to Run the Optimization Suggestions Report in EDGEBIC

The BOR optimization suggestions report in EDGEBIC by User Solutions lives in the Reports hub: it scans your schedule against seven rules and returns a ranked list of routing and capacity changes that would buy back hours, each with an estimated impact. It is a decision-support scan, not an automatic fix. Every suggestion is yours to apply by hand and verify.

Keep one distinction clear: this report suggests improvements to your routing data, while the optimizer engine actually rearranges the schedule and returns a plan guaranteed never worse than the baseline, with its goal, its search, and its before-and-after numbers set out in the Explain dialog on the proposal. Use the suggestions report to clean up the inputs, then let the optimizer work against the better setup. Where both fit in the report family is in EDGEBIC reports explained. Every task in this library is mapped on the EDGEBIC how-to hub.

Before You Start

• Jobs are scheduled. The report scans the current schedule for opportunities.
• Your routings carry their real fields. Suggestions like lot streaming or parallel processing key off whether those fields are configured.
• You are ready to make changes in the routing editor and re-run the schedule. The report itself changes nothing.

Step 1: Open the Report and Set the Range

Open Reports from the main navigation and click the BOR Optimization Suggestions card. A date range dialog appears with a default window covering the recent past and the near-term forward plan. Set the range you want to scan, then click OK. The report evaluates seven rules across the schedule and builds the results.

Step 2: Read the Ranked Suggestions

The main grid lists suggestions, each with a rule code, the job and operation it concerns, the work center, an estimated impact in hours, the number of affected jobs, a plain-language description of the issue, and a suggested change. Sort by estimated impact hours, highest first, and the single biggest opportunity sits at the top.

The seven rules flag: excessive wait gaps between sequential steps, a lot-streaming opportunity on a large job with no overlap configured, a bottleneck station not flagged as a constraint, one-per-day scheduling leaving instances idle, alternatives configured but never selected, parallel processing that is possible but not set up, and a queue time configured alongside a flow step that creates a known override.

Step 3: Read the Bottleneck Summary

Switch to the bottleneck summary tab for a per-station verdict: constraint, hot, at risk, ok, or idle. This is where a suggestion to flag a station as a bottleneck comes from. A station reading constraint that is not yet flagged is the report telling you to turn on anchor scheduling so the plan protects it.

Step 4: Apply One Change and Verify

Pick the top suggestion and read its suggested change. For a step-gap suggestion, for example, the report offers ranked options such as routing the delayed step to a less-loaded alternative, or enabling lot streaming on the blocking step. Make the change in the routing editor, re-run the schedule, then re-run this report. If the estimated impact on that row drops toward zero, the improvement was real. If it barely moves, the change did not touch the true constraint.

What Changes When You Apply a Suggestion

Nothing changes until you act. When you edit the routing and re-run the schedule, the engine replans with the new configuration: a newly flagged bottleneck triggers anchor scheduling, an enabled transfer batch lets partial quantities move downstream sooner, and a promoted alternative gives the scheduler another station to load. The report then reflects the new reality on its next run.

How to Check It Worked

Because the report makes no changes, verification is the re-run. Apply one change, re-run the schedule, and re-run the report. The suggestion you acted on should shrink or disappear, and the estimated impact should drop. If it does not, the opportunity was theoretical and the constraint lies elsewhere.

Common Mistakes

• Treating estimated impact as guaranteed. The hours are an estimate the report cannot fully verify. The rerun is the proof, not the estimate.
• Expecting the report to change the schedule. It is decision support. Every change is applied by you in the routing editor.
• Confusing it with the optimizer engine. This report improves routing data by hand; the optimizer rearranges the plan. They are separate tools that work well in sequence.
• Flagging a station as a bottleneck when it is not the real constraint. Over-protecting the wrong station pulls other utilization down. Confirm the constraint on the bottleneck summary first.

Related Reading

• How to run and read an optimization: the engine that rearranges the plan, distinct from this suggestions scan.
• How to choose an optimizer goal: setting what the engine optimizes for.
• EDGEBIC platform overview: where decision support fits in the wider system.