SolveIT Software

SolveIT Software Pty Ltd is a provider of advanced planning and scheduling enterprise software for supply and demand optimisation and predictive modelling. Based in Adelaide, South Australia, 70% of its turnover is generated from software deployed in the mining and bulk material handling sectors.
History.
The company was set up in 2005 by four academics who were also experienced business people, all recent immigrants to Australia. The team was headed by ex-Ernst and Young consultant Matthew Michalewicz, who had moved to Adelaide in 2004 after selling his last company, NuTech Solutions. The other three partners were Zbigniew Michalewicz PhD, Martin Schmidt and Constantin Chiriac, all four of which were co-authors of the book "Adaptive Business Intelligence".
The company first developed an optimization and predictive modeling platform based on Artificial Intelligence, and then built its supply chain applications for planning, scheduling, and demand forecasting on this platform. Early customers included Orlando Wines, ABB Grain, the Fosters wine brands and later Pernod Ricard that were also located in the Barossa Valley region.
In 2008, Rio Tinto Iron Ore asked the company to improve its mining planning and scheduling operations based at Pilbara. SolveIT succeeded in applying its advanced planning and scheduling product, based on non-linear optimization, to the Rio Tinto mine scheduling problem, after many other vendors had failed over a period of ten years.
With 30 employees at this point, it then won an additional contract in the mining sector with BHP Billiton/Mitsubishi Alliance Coal, leading to subsequent tender wins in the sector, including: BHP Billiton; CBH Group; Fortescue Metals Group, Hills Holdings, Pacific National Coal; and Xstrata Coal.
On 3 September 2012, SolveIT announced it was acquired by Schneider Electric, a global specialist in energy management.
Operations.
Headquartered in Adelaide, the company has over 150 staff based across operational offices in: Melbourne; Brisbane; Perth; and Chişinău, Moldova.
The company develops advanced planning and scheduling business optimisation software, which helps manage complex operations using artificial intelligence. Most of the products were initially developed around the key South Australian industries of wine and grain handling, and today SolveIt has a specialist mining division due to early adoption of the company's software within the mining market. The software helps companies accurately predict and plan their production, supply chain, shipping and currency hedging.
Due to the scientific optimisation components embedded in the company's software products, it sometimes uses a prize-based system to recruit the required high-level of talent. In 2011, the company used a Magic square problem, won by University of Nottingham graduate Yuri Bykov, who developed a program which solved a constrained version of a 2600 by 2600 magic square within a minute.
In 2011, the company won the Australian National iAward in the e-Logistics and Supply Chain category for its Supply Chain Network Optimiser (SCNO). In February 2012, SolveIT and Schneider Electric became co-organisers of the Integrated Planning and Optimisation Summit, held at the Adelaide Convention Centre.
Products/Services.
The company's mining division provides integrated planning, scheduling and optimisation for the whole traditional mining supply chain network of mine, process plant, transport network, port and trading desk. Variables into the systems allow for asset management, workforce variability, maintenance, accommodation and market factors.