ILOG CP Optimizer is a constraint programming (CP) optimizer for solving detailed scheduling problems as well as certain combinatorial optimization problems that cannot be easily linearized and solved using traditional mathematical programming methods.

Detailed scheduling
ILOG CP Optimizer is a necessary and important complement to the optimization specialists' toolbox for solving real-world operational planning and scheduling problems—without a significant investment in R&D.

Example of a detailed scheduling problem solved by ILOG CP Optimizer. Enlarge thumbnail (opens a new window).

ILOG CP Optimizer contains a robust optimizer that handles the side constraints that are invariably found in all real-world problems. For pure academic problems (e.g., job-shop, open-shop and flow-shop), it finds solutions that are comparable to solutions found by state-of-the-art, specialized algorithms.

Combinatorial optimization problems
Certain combinatorial optimization problems cannot be easily linearized and solved with traditional mathematical programming methods. To handle these problems, ILOG CP Optimizer provides a large set of arithmetic and logical constraints, as well as a robust optimizer that brings all the benefits of a model-and-run development process to combinatorial optimization.

ILOG CP Optimizer allows you to add side constraints without changing the structure of your model—thanks to an extensive set of logical and arithmetic constraints—and it lets you extend the set of combinatorial optimization problems that can be solved from a declarative model.

Example of combinatorial optimization with ILOG CPLEX. ILOG CP Optimizer is used to generate valid rotations that are used as input for a set-covering problem solved by ILOG CPLEX. Enlarge thumbnail (opens a new window).

ILOG CP
As our second-generation CP engine, ILOG CP Optimizer allows its users to take full advantage of the development, debugging and tuning features of ILOG OPL Development Studio, ILOG's modeling environment. Our first generation CP engine, ILOG CP, remains available for complex routing problems that are beyond the current capabilities of ILOG CP Optimizer.