Optimization: The hidden engine that moves the world? 

When I studied in Finland almost a decade ago, our school visited the Rolls-Royce factory in Kokkola. The entire class was buzzing! Rolls-Royce! A household name for luxury cars and price tags that make my eyes water. It was a little bit suspicious though. How come such a luxury brand had a factory in the fairly unknown village where we were studying?

The answer became clear as soon as we arrived at the very unassuming factory. As it turns out, this factory was part of the Maritime department of Rolls Royce (not even the same legal entity as the car department), which created waterjet propulsion engines, the systems that make massive ships glide across oceans. Just the engines!

We were all a bit disappointed we weren’t going to see any of the legendary cars. But the more we learned, the more appreciation I got for these engines that made even the largest ships move. A sentiment I feel at Timefold all the time.

# Optimization is the engine

Whenever I talk to people about the work we do at Timefold, and the possibilities in the wider field of Optimization, I am always greeted with excitement when talking about the results.

• “Wow, you can save that much money?”
• “You mean my workforce will spend 25% less time in their cars?”
• “How many million kilogram CO2 did you save?!?”

When they hear about these gains, people want to get started immediately, integrating these technologies into their pet projects, their business and their hobbies (a friend of mine is making a optimized Karaoke Machine… planning problems sure are everywhere ;)). I share their excitement.

But then come the follow-up questions:

• “So where do I manage my employees?”
• “Do you have a full user interface for that?”
• “Can I setup special rules for my specific use case?”

To which my retort usually is:

Do you need another system to do those things? Or do you already have something?

Quite often, the companies I talk to already invested a lot in the software they already have and are quite hesitant to drag in “yet another tool”. But that’s the great thing about this part of the tech industry:

Optimization isn’t a full product. It’s an engine.

It’s not a replacement for what you have already built, it’s an upgrade. It’s a high-performant engine that turns your existing systems into something faster, cheaper and more efficient.

# Then who builds the rest of the boat?

Business processes are deeply specific. A logistics platform doesn’t look like a workforce management tool. A hospital’s scheduling needs have little in common with a retail warehouse.

Even multiple companies in the same sector might looks fairly different. That’s why vendors of optimization technology rarely build full user experiences. It’s almost impossible to design one that fits every scenario.

So then who builds the other things needed to make the business tick?

Either a business has a large IT department themselves, where they build the software they require. Or they buy existing software packages for Workforce Management (WFM), Field Service or any other use case.

Quite often, these IT people have all the knowhow they need to integrate optimization into an existing system. They know:

• Where the planning data lives: in CRMs, ERPs, spreadsheets, or the classic homegrown system that’s somehow still running after fifteen years.
• How to access it: through APIs, connectors, or custom integrations that already speak the organization’s language.
• How it should look: polished interfaces, dashboards, and workflows that make sense for their industry and users.

It is up to us, optimization experts and companies, to make integrating that engine as easy as possible.

# We don’t build the ship, we make It fly across the water

I remember walking into that Rolls-Royce factory excited, but puzzled. “How can a company survive by building only engines?”

Now I get it. That’s exactly what we do with planning optimization.

We build what pushes businesses forward, even if no one ever sees it. Like those engines in Kokkola, our work lives mostly below the surface… it makes what people build around it move faster and more efficient than ever before.

Engines don’t cross oceans, they power the things that do.