Configure and run a Redirect Optimisation
Prerequisites
Before running a Redirect Optimisation, please read the Optimisation Overview article in the Knowledge Base, which covers the different optimisation types available in SimPath.
The minimum required to optimise a Scenario is a configured Forecast and https://support.simpath.io/KB/View/96255952-setting-up-operations. Refer to the Knowledge Base for guidance on each. Configuring costs is optional but recommended. It unlocks cost-based optimisation across individual cost dimensions and total cost, surfacing tradeoffs that Asset-Distance optimisation alone cannot reveal.
What is a Redirect Optimisation?
A Redirect Optimisation is the most constrained optimisation you can run. All locations are set to Mandatory, meaning no facilities are opened or removed. The optimiser can increase or decrease flow through any location, or even stop using one entirely, but every location remains part of the network, and its fixed facility costs continue to contribute to the total whether it is used or not.
Redirect is the right choice when operational or contractual constraints make relocation and closure impractical. The question you are answering is: given the network I have, how should I be using it?
Creating a Redirect Optimisation
The Optimise button is enabled whenever a Scenario has sufficient information to run. Click it, give your optimisation a name, select your optimisation metric (in this example, Total Cost) and click Create.
Optimisation Configuration
This page is where you tell the optimiser what changes it is allowed to make to find a better network.
Setting Locations to Mandatory
Set all location types to Mandatory. This is what classifies the optimisation as a Redirect.
Adding Flex Capacity
With all locations Mandatory, the optimiser can only improve the network by rerouting flow. For this to be possible, locations need headroom above their current throughput. Set Flex Capacity across your location types to give the optimiser room to redirect volume through alternative facilities.
Constraints and Flex Capacity can be configured at the Location Type level or on individual locations.
When you are ready, click Save.
Reviewing the Results
From the Optimisations page, click Run optimisation and monitor progress. Once complete, the results are available for inspection and download.
Savings Summary
In this example, the optimisation returns an overall saving of 3%, with the largest relative saving in transport costs.
Location Comparison Map
The Location Comparison map shows how throughput has shifted across the network. Orange locations have increased volume, and yellow locations have decreased.
The southernmost and westernmost Factories have reduced operations, with better-located Factories in the Midlands and North picking up the slack.
For Distribution Centres, volume has moved away from the two facilities nearest London towards centres further north and west. One Distribution Centre has stopped operations entirely due to poor positioning. It remains in the network and continues to contribute its fixed cost. This is expected behaviour in a Redirect Optimisation, where all locations are Mandatory.
Treatment Centres
Flow is redirected to the northern Treatment Centre. Filtering the map to Factories, Treatment Centres, and Treated Goods Retailers makes the pattern clear: as factory activity shifts north, the northern Treatment Centre handles more volume. Despite the increased distance to Treated Goods Retailers in the south of England, overall costs still fall.
Transport Tab
The transport cost breakdown confirms this tradeoff. Final-mile costs to Retailers increase, and the lanes between Factories and Treatment Centres become more expensive. However, savings across the rest of the network more than offset these increases.
Summary
Redirect Optimisation gives you transparency into the tradeoffs across your network, and surfaces efficiencies that linear analysis alone will not uncover. It is the starting point for understanding how to get more from the network you already have.