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Who works with us, what customers say, which projects made it into daily operation and where we talk about planning optimization. Everything with a source.
Customers
What customers say
I worked with Simon on a Timefold scheduler project for the manufacturing industry. He supported us with his deep domain expertise which is accompanied by a well-structured work approach. Proactive, responsive, and always willing to dive into the intricate details of real-world applications. I would highly recommend his services!
Mastical
DevOps Engineer
April 25, 2025
I wholeheartedly recommend him for his outstanding and freely offered support with a challenging technical issue I encountered as a student working on a Timefold project. His expertise was instrumental in quickly resolving a complex problem related to how different parts of my scheduling solution interacted.
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I especially appreciated his clear and insightful explanation of the underlying cause and his valuable suggestions for improving the robustness and efficiency of my code. His willingness to share his knowledge and provide this level of assistance without any obligation was truly remarkable and incredibly helpful to my progress. Thanks alot Sir.
Driving Digital Transformation in Operations & Supply Chain
January 14, 2025 · Germany
I had the pleasure of working with Simon on a complex project focused on production planning and optimization using OptaPlanner/Timefold in the context of chemical production. From the initial concept through to architecture and development, Simon demonstrated exceptional expertise and dedication.
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What truly sets Simon apart is his pragmatic approach to problem-solving and his quick and deep understanding of business processes and context. He is highly flexible and always available to address any challenges that arose, making him an invaluable asset to our team.
I highly recommend Simon for any project requiring a blend of technical proficiency in the planning and optimization domain, business understanding, and excellent interpersonal skills.
I had the pleasure of working with Simon on a Timefold project. He quickly grasped the complexity of our planning problem. We appreciated his coaching approach, sharing his expertise with our team. He helped us get our Timefold model on track quickly.
Freelance React Developer
August 14, 2024 · Czechia
We asked Simon for help with our first job scheduling project. He quickly understood our needs and provided us with insights so we could successfully continue. We appreciate his attitude and skill.
The Optazen team is very professional and meticulous. They are very knowledgeable about Timefold technology and have demonstrated the ability to empathize with the client's business to find non-obvious solutions.
Simon helped rewriting our software module for solving a vehicle routing problem with pickups and deliveries as well as time windows.
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During the rewrite, Simon provided great value to us in numerous ways. His detailed understanding of both the vehicle routing domain and Optaplanner helped us create a performant and flexible model.
Retrospectively, we are very happy to have worked with Simon and would absolutely recommend his services.
Simon possesses the rare combination of business smart and tech-savvy. Recommended by Red Hat, I instantly had a good report with him and we hit the ground running much faster than I had hoped. He's extremely motivated and easy to talk to, which made the whole experience very pleasant. I can't recommend him enough.
Simon got the "perfect mix" you expect from a consultant: agility, concreteness with strong adaptive capabilities in enterprise context.
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I had a very good experience from his collaboration during realization of MVP related to optimization task: I greatly appreciated his incredible technical skills and his ability to translate it in business value. His work is always top-notch, and he is always welcoming to feedback and making improvements.
I have no hesitation in recommending Simon to other potential consultants and partners!
Project examples
Two pages each as a PDF: the task, how we worked together and the result.
Workforce and shifts
Childcare Center Desktop, Australia: software for childcare centres
A planning solution of its own, built into the customer’s existing platform.
Routing and field service
Dime Software: software for installation and trade businesses
Detailed scheduling with break rules and route optimization, adaptable for small and mid-sized businesses.
Production and maintenance
Allnex: market leader in industrial coating resins, 34 production sites worldwide
Automated, adjustable detailed scheduling with a plan board based on Timefold, built into the existing SAP processes.
Talks and interviews
We share what we learn in projects and listen to where planning really hurts. We have been part of the AI network of IHK Koblenz since its start in March 2024.
With Geoffrey De Smet, Timefold: how optimization gets into real customer systems, from Excel and Google Sheets to SAP and Outlook. We talk about core data that rarely changes and daily data such as orders and availability, often spread across several systems or not even digital yet, and about introducing optimization step by step with the data a company already has.
At "Beyond the Black Box" at IHK Koblenz, a series of talks on trustworthy AI: how does AI decide on shift schedules, routes and production flows, what does fairness mean in planning, and why can the decisions of planning optimization be explained by rules? Talk in German.
Exchange with local businesses on where planning really gets stuck in everyday practice. Photo: Martin Buchholz.
With Geoffrey De Smet at Timefold headquarters in Ghent: which planning problems show up in which industries, hard and soft constraints and how to balance them, working with domain experts and making sure a solution supports the business goals. To close: what works well with Timefold and what we would still like to see. Featured in the Timefold newsletter Planned #3.
Event of the University of Applied Sciences Koblenz and IHK Koblenz, part of WWA Region Koblenz: in the production working group we developed use cases for AI-based planning with local companies, from production planning to staff capacity.
Kick-off of the Zukunftswerkstatt of Initiative Region Koblenz-Mittelrhein at Rhein-Zeitung, with experts from Horváth, AOE and the University of Applied Sciences Koblenz. In the working group on AI in planning we found use cases such as technician scheduling, automated semester planning for universities and task planning by skills. Report in BLICK aktuell (German).
Java User Group Milan, hosted by eDreams ODIGEO: shift scheduling for a café, live-coded with Quarkus and Timefold. Slides as PDF
With our own stand at the hands-on exhibition: planning optimization you can try. Companies were most interested in production planning, field service routing and optimized delivery routes.
Java User Group Bonn, hosted by cronn: more than 40 attendees and many questions from practice. Photo: Daniel Clasen.
AI Innovation Camp of IHK Koblenz: planning optimization with metaheuristics and OptaPlanner as the tool, in exchange with experts from university, simulation and forestry.
For the data science team of IT-Power Services, from Red Hat partner to Red Hat partner: an introduction to planning optimization with Java and Quarkus, with an exchange on constraint solvers.
Partnership
Timefold is the continuation of OptaPlanner. OptaZEN has been an official Timefold partner from the start, in close and personal exchange with the team in Ghent.
"OptaZen has been a valued partner of ours since 2022, helping clients tackle planning challenges like parcel delivery and pickup, warehouse intralogistics, production scheduling, and workforce rostering with our software."
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