To set the optimizer time budget in EDGEBIC, open the Optimizer tab in the Schedule area, pick a Goal, and choose a Time budget of 10, 30, or 60 seconds before you click Run. The optimizer in EDGEBIC by User Solutions spends up to that long trying complete alternative schedules and shows the best one next to your current plan; the budget is a per-run choice, the default is 30 seconds, and a longer budget only ever helps because the result is guaranteed never worse than what you had and nothing is saved until you Accept.
This post covers the time budget. To choose which engine powers the run, see how to choose the optimizer engine in EDGEBIC; the full task library is at the EDGEBIC how-to hub.
Before You Start
- You have open, scheduled manufacturing orders. The optimizer improves an existing plan.
- You can reach the Optimizer tab in the Schedule area, or the Optimize Schedule button on the Drive Schedule toolbar.
- You know the run is safe to try: nothing changes until you press Accept.
The Steps
- Open the Optimizer tab. In the Schedule area, open the Optimizer tab, or click Optimize Schedule on the Drive Schedule toolbar, which switches you there.
- Read the contract. The line at the top confirms the promise: it tries many schedules and shows the best one, and nothing changes until you press Accept.
- Pick a goal. Choose a Goal, for example On-time first, from the dropdown.
- Choose the time budget. In Time budget, select 10, 30, or 60 seconds. The default is 30. Longer budgets let the optimizer try more alternatives.
- Run. Click Run. The status shows it is trying schedules; Cancel stops it harmlessly with nothing changed.
- Read the result. When it finishes, the verdict, a badge reporting how many schedules were tried, a KPI comparison, and the list of moves appear. Nothing is saved yet.
- Accept or Discard. Press Accept to save the proposal through the normal scheduling pipeline, or Discard to keep your current plan untouched.
What Changes When You Save
| Surface | Effect |
|---|---|
| While the run thinks | Nothing. Jobs, capacity, and everyone else's view stay exactly as they are. |
| A longer budget | More complete alternative schedules tried, so a better plan is more likely to be found. |
| The proposal | Lives on your screen only until you Accept. |
| On Accept | The proposed starts and ends replace the current ones for the moved operations; an audit record is written. |
| On Discard | Nothing. The database is byte-for-byte untouched. |
How to Check It Worked
After a run, read the badge in the result area. It reports how many complete schedules were tried and in how long, for example "Best of 6 schedules tried in 2.1s." Raise the Time budget and run again on the same workload; on a nontrivial plan the badge should report more schedules tried, and the verdict may improve. Because nothing saves until Accept, you can compare a 10-second run and a 60-second run freely and keep whichever plan you prefer.
Common Mistakes
Assuming a longer budget can hurt. It cannot. Every proposal is compared against your current plan and shown only if it is strictly better, so more thinking time only ever finds a better plan or confirms your current one.
Looking for the time budget in Settings. It is not there. The budget and the goal are per-run choices on the Optimizer tab; Settings only stores which engine runs.
Worrying the run locks the plan. It does not. A run computes in memory and holds the result on your screen until you Accept.
Accepting without reading the moves. The move list is deliberately short, showing only operations that move. Read it before you Accept so you know what the plan changes.
What to Do Next
The engine choice pairs with the budget: how to choose the optimizer engine in EDGEBIC covers the multi-run search versus the mathematical solver, and how to pin a job so the optimizer cannot move it in EDGEBIC covers protecting a fixed job. For the wider set of scheduling choices, how to configure scheduling policy in EDGEBIC is the starting point, and the EDGEBIC product page shows where the optimizer sits in the platform.
Expert Q&A: Deep Dive
Q: I ran the optimizer for 10 seconds, got a small improvement, and want to know if there is more to find. What do I do?
A: Run it again with a longer time budget. On the Optimizer tab, raise Time budget to 30 or 60 seconds, keep the same goal, and click Run. A longer budget lets the optimizer try more complete orderings, so it may surface a better plan that the shorter run did not reach. Running again costs you nothing, because nothing is saved until you press Accept and every proposal is guaranteed never worse than your current plan. Compare the new verdict and the badge, which reports how many schedules were tried, then Accept the plan you prefer or Discard and keep what you have.
Q: Does a 60-second budget lock the schedule or slow everyone else down while it runs?
A: No. A run computes in memory and holds the result on your screen; the database and everyone else's view of it are untouched until you press Accept. Jobs and capacity stay exactly as they are while the optimizer thinks, whether that is 10 seconds or 60. The only thing a longer budget costs is your own wait, and even that is capped at the budget you chose, because a Cancel stops the run harmlessly with nothing changed. So you can pick 60 seconds for a considered planning run without worrying about locking the live plan or disturbing other planners.
Frequently Asked Questions
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User Solutions has been developing production planning and scheduling software for manufacturers since 1991. Our team combines 35+ years of manufacturing software expertise with deep industry knowledge to help factories optimize their operations.
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