How to Turn On the EDGEBIC Optimizer

To turn on the EDGEBIC optimizer, enable it from the Options screen under the schedule settings, choose an engine and a preset, then run it and review the proposal before you Accept. The optimizer ships off by default, so nothing changes until you deliberately enable and run it.

EDGEBIC by User Solutions keeps the optimizer as an opt-in layer beside the proven scheduling engine. Your schedules are produced the same way whether the optimizer is on or off; turning it on simply makes a second-opinion review available when you want it. This guide walks the setup end to end. For the full picture of what the optimizer does, see the EDGEBIC optimizer guide.

Step 1: Enable it in Options

The optimizer starts disabled. You turn it on from the Options screen, under the schedule settings, where the optimizer engine selection lives. Enabling it does not run anything or change any existing plan. It simply switches the feature on so the optimizer becomes available from the scheduling surface.

This off-by-default posture is intentional. The scheduling engine is complete on its own, and the optimizer adds a deliberate review step rather than an automatic behavior. Until you enable it, your workflow is unchanged. After you enable it, your workflow is still unchanged until you actually choose to run the optimizer on a schedule. The only prerequisite for that first run is open manufacturing orders that are already scheduled, which is the whole checklist in what the optimizer needs before its first run.

Step 2: Choose the engine

The optimizer has two engines, and you pick which one runs from the same schedule settings. The default is the multi-run search, which builds many complete schedules with different job orderings, scores each one, and keeps the best, guaranteed never worse than your starting plan. It is fast, always available, and a sound choice for everyday use.

The second engine is the mathematical solver, which models your schedule and proves how close its result is to the best possible plan, reporting an optimality gap. It can do more, and it can prove more, at the cost of more compute. The trade-off between them is covered in choosing the optimizer engine: multi-run or CP-SAT. If you are unsure, leave it on the multi-run default. If you select the solver in a deployment where it is not available, EDGEBIC falls back to the multi-run search rather than failing, so selecting an engine can never break scheduling.

Step 3: Pick a preset

The preset is the goal you want the optimizer to pursue, and there are four shipped presets, each an ordered list of measures:

On-time first is the sensible default for most plants because it protects due dates absolutely and uses the other measures only to break ties. It is described in the OnTimeFirst optimizer preset explained. Pick the preset whose top goal matches this week's priority: dates, speed, setup, or stability. You can change the preset run to run, so it is easy to compare what different goals propose on the same jobs.

Step 4: Set the time budget

The time budget is the most time you will let a single run take. It acts as a ceiling, not a fixed duration. The multi-run search uses the time to try more orderings; the solver uses it to tighten its proof and can stop early if it proves optimality. Either engine can also be interrupted by you, and it will still return the best valid plan it has found so far.

A short budget suits a quick between-jobs check; a longer budget suits an overnight or between-shifts run where you want the solver to dig deeper. Because a run always returns a valid plan whenever it ends, you can set a generous budget without risk. The details are in setting the optimizer time budget. Start with the default and adjust once you see how long your schedules take.

Step 5: Run it and read the proposal

With the engine, preset, and budget set, you run the optimizer from the scheduling surface. It searches or solves, then presents a proposal: a comparison of the proposed plan against your current one, with a KPI table showing how each measure changed and, for the solver, the optimality gap.

Read the top rows first, where your chosen goal lives, to see the improvement. Then read the lower rows to see what the trade cost. The optimizer may accept a small worsening on a minor measure to gain on the one you asked for, and the table states every direction in words. This is the moment the optimizer's work becomes a decision you make with full visibility rather than a change imposed on you.

Step 6: Accept or Discard

The final step is yours. Accept commits the proposed plan and records the change, so there is an audit trail of what moved. Discard walks away and leaves your committed schedule byte-for-byte unchanged, because the optimizer wrote nothing while you were reviewing. Neither the never-worse guarantee nor the safety gate of validity checks every proposal must clear let a bad plan reach this screen, so Accept is never a downgrade, and Discard is always a clean exit.

That deferred-apply model is what makes the whole feature safe to switch on. Enabling the optimizer does not hand it control of your floor. It gives you a consultation you can take or leave, every single time. Nothing lands unless you Accept it.

The bottom line

Turning on the EDGEBIC optimizer is a five-minute setup: enable it in Options under the schedule settings, choose the multi-run or solver engine, pick one of the four presets, and set a time budget. Then run it, read the KPI comparison, and Accept or Discard. It ships off by default and never auto-applies anything, so enabling it adds a second-opinion review to your workflow without changing how your base schedules are produced. Start with the multi-run engine and On-time first, and adjust once you see how it behaves on your jobs. Explore the platform at EDGEBIC.