BASF Uses a Framework for Developing

Web-Based Production-Planning-
Optimization Tools
Young M. Lee E. Jack Chen
IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, PO Box 218, Route 134, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598
BASF Corporation, 3000 Continental Drive North, Mount Olive, New Jersey 07828
ymlee@us.ibm.com chenej@basf-corp.com
This paper was refereed.

We developed a computational framework for delivering practical production-planning-

optimization tools on BASF Intranet. The framework enables users with Web browsers to
access complex optimization tools to interactively compute optimal production plans on any
computer platform. We formulated a MILP (mixed-integer linear programming) production-
planning-optimization model for one of BASFs chemical manufacturing plants and built a
generic infrastructure for integrating optimization engines and the Internet using server-side
Java programming. This framework has changed the way BASF implements and deploys
mathematical modeling tools.
(Industries: chemical, production-planning. Programming: integer, linear.)

T he World Wide Web (WWW) has become one

of the most important information sources and
communication platforms in industry and has experi-
enced tremendous growth since its introduction in the
early 1990s (Paxson and Floyd 1997). The Web, or the
Internet, is a loose coupling of thousands of networks
and millions of computers around the globe. It has
grown rapidly for several reasons, including a single
user-interface paradigm, its distributed architecture,
and the growth of open standards (Cohen et al. 2001).
Many companies now use the Web to communicate
various types of information to corporate employees
and external customers. In the chemical industry, for
example, corporate Web sites that allow customers to
purchase products and request related services are
common. Companies that do not provide e-commerce
support may lose competitive advantage. Interest is in-
creasing in using the Web for delivering interactive
computational tools and as an environment for hosting
all sorts of enterprise applications. BASF, a chemical
manufacturer, developed a computational model
called CrunchServer (Krieger 1997), which provides
thermodynamics data to process engineers through the
BASF Intranet, which allows Intranet users to run an
optimization model remotely. Many have responded
enthusiastically to those applications.
Via the Web, it is now possible to deliver compu-
tational services that were once available only to
those employees with specialized computer training
and access to special computers and tools. Web-based
computational applications can be accessed from vir-
tually any Web browser on any computer anywhere
in the world at any time to perform complex com-
putational tasks. Optimization is one such computa-
tional tool that can provide lots of benets when it is
available on the Internet. Optimization has been used
widely in industry for solving complex business prob-
lems. BASF, for example, has been using MILP
(mixed-integer linear programming) to optimize dis-
tribution networks, production planning, and sched-
uling. However, until now, the users of such optimi-
zation applications had to have powerful computers

0092-2102/02/3206/0015$05.00 Interfaces, 2002 INFORMS

1526-551X electronic ISSN Vol. 32, No. 6, NovemberDecember 2002, pp. 1524
 LEE AND CHEN
BASF
with special optimizing engines and other data inter-
face utilities. Many of the optimization models used
within BASF have been standalone applications and
have lacked standard interfaces with other enterprise
applications, such as data-warehouse (DW) or
enterprise-resources-planning (ERP) systems. There-
fore, it has been difcult to deploy such optimization
tools to multiple users and to maintain the tools. Also,
communicating optimization results among users has
not been easy.
With the optimization tools on the Web, virtually
anyone within the allowed community on the Internet
or Intranet can access complex optimization tools with-
out any special hardware or software. It is now easy
to make optimization technology available to many
people. The optimization engine can reside on only
one powerful server with enough computing resources
(or in rare cases, a few servers). Moreover, a network
of computers can serve as a parallel and distributed
processing server environment for solving computa-
tionally intensive problems. Communicating the opti-
mization results among the users, especially among
business managers, engineers, and production plan-
ners, is easy, because the optimization results are
stored in a centralized server and can be accessed by
and presented to the users through a exible and pow-
erful medium. Furthermore, maintaining a Web-based
optimization tool is much easier than maintaining tra-
ditional optimization tools installed separately on each
users computer. One can modify or enhance a Web-
based optimization tool on one server, and all the users
can access the change immediately. Moreover, the Hy-
per Text Markup Language (HTML) page is a exible
medium that facilitates presentation of the optimiza-
tion results, for example, using graphic presentation of
input data and optimization results encourages in-
sights, resulting in improved productivity. Optimiza-
tion is particularly well suited to Internet innovations.
Both the Optimization Technology Center of Argonne
National Laboratory and Northwestern Universitys
Network-Enabled Optimization System (NEOS) pro-
ject (Fourer and Goux 2001) have the mission of pro-
viding optimization as an Internet resource.
We have exploited the Web infrastructure to build
integrated applications and to execute optimization
components remotely on the Web. They permit users
16
to change the objective functions and constraints of op-
timization models using a Web browser and to run
optimizations and view the results in HTML pages.
Users do not need to use FTP or TELNET protocols. In
our framework, the input and output presentations are
dynamically generated from a JSP (Java Server Page)
that resides on a Web server. The Web is a client-server
application; the client is a local computer and the
server is a remote host (computer). We use the term
client to refer to local computers in a client-server ap-
plication. The input data are taken from the clients and
passed to the application (optimization) server, where
an optimization model is executed remotely. Typically,
the server is a powerful, high-end computer. After the
optimization is complete, the results are passed from
the server back to the client computers in the form of
a standard HTML document, which users can view on
the browser. The client computer could be any com-
puter with a Web browser and Internet access.
Todays enterprise systems can capture a vast amount
of transaction data, but they lack the analytical tools
they need to examine the data and to help managers
make optimal decisions (Fan et al. 2000). The concept of
a Web-based optimization tool is not new. Fourer and
Goux (2001), Bhargava and Krishnan (1998), and
Bhargava et al. (1997) describe a variety of such tools
and systems that are available today. Several Web
sites, such as
www.sas.com,
www.statware.com,

www.optamaze.com,
www.mcs.anl.gov/neos, and

riot.ieor.berkeley.edu/riot provide capabilities for
Web-based optimization. One can also nd a number
of such online optimization tools at
www.informs.org/
resources/computer_programs. We designed, imple-
mented, and used an interactive Web-based optimiza-
tion tool. Our framework can be generalized and is easy
to implement. We used it to solve a practical optimi-
zation (MILP) problem, a production-planning optimi-
zation for a chemical manufacturing plant.
A Production-Planning Optimization
for a Chemical Manufacturing Plant
We deployed an optimization model of a production-
planning problem (Lee and Selikson 2000) on the In-
tranet for one of BASFs chemical manufacturing
plants. The plant has multiple production lines and
Interfaces
Vol. 32, No. 6, NovemberDecember 2002
 LEE AND CHEN
BASF
produces hundreds of millions of pounds of chemicals
per year. Each production line is a continuous process
that operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year except
during maintenance when production is interrupted
for a few days. The plant produces multiple product
grades with different physical properties. When the
plant switches from one product to another in a pro-
duction line, the line will produce an off-grade product
for a few days until the process reaches a steady state
and meets specications. BASF sells off-grade prod-
ucts at much lower prices than products meeting spec-
ications, so it wants to minimize the number of prod-
uct changeovers. Furthermore, it operates the plant at
full capacity; therefore, it must have a well-planned
product-changeover schedule to maintain overall pro-
duction levels. Each production line can produce only
certain product grades and has a minimum and max-
imum production rate. The permanent storage tanks
for the nished products have limited space, and tem-
porary storage space is costly. Each production line has
a minimum length for production campaigns during
which product changeovers are not permitted. The
goal in planning production is to compute a produc-
tion plan that minimizes the inventory-holding costs
and product-changeover costs while satisfying all the
customer demands for nished goods and the other
process constraints.
An enterprise system is intended to help companies
make intelligent business decisions by integrating all
types of business information. To do that, a system
should be able to coordinate activities across the or-
ganization and provide decision tools for decision
makers (Fan et al. 2000). Information generated in all
of the business processes can be stored, integrated, and
analyzed. Most companies have data-repository sys-
tems, such as DW and ERP systems, which contain the
input data needed for the optimization, such as the
demand forecast, the inventory, and production ca-
pacity. The optimization model can be set up to access
those data already available in the database system.
The output results of the optimization model can also
be stored in these database systems and can be avail-
able for other enterprise applications. Consequently,
optimization applications can be integrated with other
enterprise applications. Furthermore, companies can
Interfaces
Vol. 32, No. 6, NovemberDecember 2002
use the Internet to share information with their sup-
pliers and customers. They can use the Internet to col-
lect customer feedback for production planning. For
example, they can update the customer-order infor-
mation and demand almost in real time.
System Architecture for Web-Based
Optimization
Java technology has revolutionized computer use, and
applications are increasingly developed in Java and
Web-enabled. However, most optimization modeling
and optimization packages, such as ILOG OPL (Opti-
mization Programming Language) and XPRESS-MP
(by Dash Associates), are based on C and other tradi-
tional programming languages. Thus, it was impossi-
ble to call those optimization subroutines from Java
directly until recently. Fortunately, Java provides the
Java Native Interface (JNI), which allows Java to inter-
face with other popular programming languages, such
as C or C, Visual Basic, and Fortran, which can be
interfaced with most optimization packages. We de-
veloped a framework for calling optimization subrou-
tines from Java via JNI with Web browsers. Web
browsers make it easy for novices to use many opera-
tions research tools.
We deployed one production-planning-
optimization model using a three-tiered architecture
(Figure 1). The rst tier on the client side processes the
input data and presents the output data. The second
tier is the Web server, which manages the server-side
processing and communicates with third-tier servers,
such as the database server and the application server.
The JSP and Java programs, the database system, and
the optimization engine can all run on one server.
However, for security and performance reasons, it is
better to run them in separate servers, for example, on
a Web server, a database server, and an application
(optimization) server. Users can use a Web browser in
the client computer to edit input data, invoke execu-
tion of the optimization, and receive results via ordi-
nary Web pages. The main implementations and pro-
cessing tasks are carried out on the server side. This
framework provides the exibility of a programming
language in a production environment, and develop-
ers can customize connections among models, data
17
 LEE AND CHEN
BASF
Figure 1: In the three-tiered architecture of the Web-based optimization,
several processes communicate. The user edits input data and invokes
the optimization via a standard Web interface in the client side. When the
user selects an input file, the JSP will retrieve the information from the
server and display those data in a tabular format. The user can easily
modify and update data in the server via the JSP and a Java servlet. When
the user invokes the optimization, a Java servlet will pass the information
to JNI, which in turn will pass it to C programs. The C interface program
can call optimization engines directly. The optimization engine retrieves
and updates data according to prespecified instructions. Once the opti-
mization is completed, the results can be displayed as HTML pages.
sources, and user interfaces. Programmers can embed
xed models or change or add models to the server
dynamically. The success of this framework has
changed the way BASF implements and deploys math-
ematical modeling tools.
Some optimization-service Web sites deliver Web-
based optimization by providing FTP utilities; users
upload their local model and data les to the host com-
puters and remotely invoke the execution of the opti-
mization model. Some other optimization-service Web
sites provide text boxes that allow users to edit their
models and data les in the server. These implemen-
tations are fairly easy and straightforward. However,
they require users to know quite a bit about the opti-
mization model and the optimization engine to use the
tools.
In industry, however, users of optimization tools
typically are not people trained in mathematics or op-
timization. Therefore, to be useful, industrial optimi-
zation tools must be easy to use. In our implementa-
tion, we had to provide a user-friendly interface and
integrate Web forms and the embedded optimization
18
modules in the system so that people with little knowl-
edge of mathematical modeling could operate the
optimization model. Users of the models control their
optimization goals, such as minimizing cost or maxi-
mizing prots, and constraints by changing the param-
eters in the user interface screen; however, they often
dont need to understand the mathematical models
and solver to use the model.
In any use of a client-server application, some local
client program is invoked to manage the communica-
tions. Client-server interactions are mediated by sev-
eral basic Web components: browser-based interpret-
ers for HTML pages, servers for hypertext transfer
protocol (HTTP) requests and responses, and server-
side connections to solvers via Java. The optimization
process starts when users make an HTTP request for a
JSP from a client computer. JSP technology enables
rapid development of dynamic Web applications that
are platform independent. JSP separates the user in-
terface from content generation, making it possible to
change the overall layout of the Web page without al-
tering the underlying dynamic contents. Pekowsky
(2000) describes how JSP works with HTML in detail.
The JSP program makes a connection to optimization
input les via a Java servlet (JavaBean) and dynami-
cally displays the names of the optimization input data
tables associated with the model.
Using the input-le-selection screen, the user selects
one or more tables from the les, for example, pro-
duction demand for future months; then JSP generates
and displays an HTML page with those data. The data
are displayed in a tabulated format; values that can be
updated are displayed in text cells. Users can change
the data by typing over the displayed data in the text
cell on the browser. When sent back to the server, the
modied data updates the les through the JSP and a
servlet. Most solvers provide the option to decouple
the model and data les. The high-level algebraic for-
mulations describe optimization models in concise,
symbolic formats, and an accompanying data le spec-
ies the model instance to be solved. However, differ-
ent solvers may require different formats for the model
and data les. A servlet will translate data from the
browser into solver-specic formats. Moreover, some
solvers provide the option to read in data from spread-
sheets and databases based on the SQL queries in the
Interfaces
Vol. 32, No. 6, NovemberDecember 2002
 LEE AND CHEN
BASF
optimization model. For example, the XPRESS-
Connect interfaces enable the optimization model to
connect to a range of popular spreadsheets and data-
bases such as MS (MicroSoft) Excel, MS Access, and
other ODBC (open database connectivity) data sources
(Dash Associates 2000). If solvers do not have the op-
tion to interface with spreadsheets and databases di-
rectly, one can write a Java servlet to retrieve data from
databases, translate data into solver-specic formats,
and write them to data les. It is also possible to re-
trieve or update data from multiple databases using
different access methods and protocols as long as they
are available on the network.
Once the user has updated the input data, the JSP
program calls a servlet that runs a JNI (Java Native
Interface) with a C-based program, which in turn runs
the optimization engine with an optimization model.
The C-based program will initiate a command instruct-
ing the optimization model to read in data from data
les specied in the model and to bind the data with
predened variables before it initiates the optimization
command. In XPRESS-MP, this is accomplished by
the model(sProblem,GENERATE,0,&nModelError)
statement. Thus, the model and data are completely
independent. On the other hand, different solvers may
have different model syntaxes; therefore, the model
and solver are not completely independent. When the
optimization is completed, the results are updated to
the output les. A JSP program then dynamically dis-
plays the selected output report tables to the users
browser as HTML pages. The user can select any tables
and view the optimization results. When the user se-
lects the output le of interest from the drop-down
menu, for example, production schedule, a JSP gener-
ates and displays an HTML page with those data. A
downstream application uses the optimization results
to generate daily production schedules, hourly raw
material feed rates, and production reports, such as
Gantt charts.
In the Web-based optimization framework for BASF,
we used XPRESS-MP as the modeling and optimiza-
tion engine. However, the framework will work with
other optimization packages as long as they have C-
based optimization library. We developed a generic C
function that interfaces with the XPRESS-MP optimi-
zation package through XMSL (the XPRESS-MP mod-
eler subroutine library) and XOSL (the XPRESS-MP
Interfaces
Vol. 32, No. 6, NovemberDecember 2002
optimization subroutine library) (Dash Associates
2000). The interface C function can be built as a dy-
namic linking library (.dll) in the Microsoft Windows
environment or as a shared object (.so) le in the UNIX
environment. The JNI is able to interface with those
libraries.
In a typical implementation of a C function
(Java_Xpress_optimize) that can be invoked by JNI,
the name of the optimization model is passed in as
a parameter. The C function calls the XPRESS-MP
modeler and optimizer, processes the results, and
passes the objective function value back to the call-
ing procedure. The XPRESS-MP model( ) function
call generates a matrix le that the XPRESS-MP pack-
age uses to execute the optimization. The input data
of the optimization model are read in during this
process. The optimization model provides the nec-
essary instructions internally regarding the interface
with data sets or databases. The DISKDATA com-
mand and XPRESS-Connect interfaces sections in the
XPRESS-MP user guide and reference manual con-
tain details (Dash Associates 2000).
The C function Java_Xpress_optimize is completely
independent from the content of the optimization
model. Thus, this architecture is generalized and is not
specic to the production model using XPRESS-MP.
The name of the optimization model is passed to the
C function through the parameter sProblem. Thus,
the C function can be used to execute any optimization
model. The C function can also be modied to interface
with other solver engines and model formats. Addi-
tional parameters can be added to provide solver
information.
Benets and Impact
The production-planning model we implemented has
1,452 variables (308 binary variables) and 1,113 equa-
tions. The optimization usually takes a few seconds on
a Sun/Solaris workstation, running Netscape Enter-
prise Server. The response time depends on other fac-
tors as well, such as the state of the application server
and the load of network trafc. Before we imple-
mented the model, analysts took several days to plan
a production schedule. The short response time of the
integrated model has allowed the production plant to
19
 LEE AND CHEN
BASF
adjust its production schedule quickly to accommo-
date any sudden market changes. The quality of pro-
duction planning has also improved. The planning
model has helped the production planners to reduce
inventory and to improve BASFs use of production
and storage capacity. In addition, business managers
in different locations are now able to view the results
and make intelligent business decisions quickly. Since
we implemented the Web-based architecture, mainte-
nance and technical support of the model have become
much easier. We modify and enhance the tool in only
one server, and all the users can access the change im-
mediately. Using the framework, we developed an-
other production-planning-optimization model for an-
other BASF manufacturing plant at a different site with
minimal expense by sharing resources, such as the op-
timization engine, server, and data-interface utility.
The availability of powerful operations research soft-
ware on the Internet or Intranet and the effectiveness
of using mathematical models to solve practical prob-
lems will encourage managers on the production oor
to reevaluate their legacy approaches with mathemat-
ical solutions.
One of the benets of integrating the optimization
engine with the Web is that we can easily implement
parallel and distributed processing capability into the
infrastructure. So far, application of parallel processing
has been limited. Until recently, parallel computers
could be found only in research laboratories or large
universities. Furthermore, system software to support
large-scale distributed processing remains scarce (Luo
et al. 2000). On the other hand, an inherent character-
istic of the Web is its distributed processing nature. The
Internet can emulate the parallel processing architec-
ture of expensive parallel hardware, while the Internet
protocol unies diverse networking technologies and
administrative domains. A network of several com-
puters within the Intranet or Internet can collaborate
to solve complex optimization problems, effectively
utilizing computers that may be unused otherwise.
University of California, Berkelys SETI (search for ex-
traterrestrial intelligence) project (and the SETI@home
screen saver) enables idle home computers to get a
chunk of data from SETI data over the Internet, ana-
lyze that data, and report the results back to SETI. The
20
result is that lots of small computers work simulta-
neously on different parts of the analysis and contribute
to the effort of analyzing monstrous amounts of data. In
solving an MILP problem, for example, a main server
can generate suboptimization problems through the
branch-and-bound method, and several computers
within the network can optimize the subproblems in par-
allel while the main server orchestrates the overall opti-
mization strategy. Commercial optimization software,
such as XPRESS-MP, can support such parallel-
processing architecture. Therefore, the marriage between
Web-based optimization and parallel and distributed
processing seems natural. We are planning to implement
parallel and distributed computation in our Web-based
optimization framework in the near future.
The Web-based optimization infrastructure we de-
veloped is a generic framework that can be applied to
a variety of optimization applications. The JNI inter-
face between the Java class and the C-Interface pro-
gram is generic and can be customized easily for other
Web-based computational applications. For instance,
the framework can be used for integrating discrete-
event and continuous-process simulation engines on
the Internet. Luo et al. (2000) and Guru et al. (2000)
described their frameworks for such applications. At
BASF, we plan to use this framework to deliver a va-
riety of optimization applications, such as optimiza-
tion problems for production planning, scheduling,
distribution, transportation, and formulation on the
Web, thus spreading the optimization technology to
wider corporate communities.
Once an operations research tool becomes available
through the Intranet or Internet, it can be further in-
tegrated with other enterprise applications. For ex-
ample, the input parameters of an optimization model
can be updated in databases regularly through some
other enterprise applications. End users of the opti-
mization tool do not need to modify the input data
themselves. Moreover, the optimization results can be
stored in databases for other applications.
Conclusions
The Internet provides inexpensive and ubiquitous
communication and data access while operations re-
search can support strategic and tactical decision making
Interfaces
Vol. 32, No. 6, NovemberDecember 2002
 LEE AND CHEN
BASF

with the data (Sodhi 2001). The Web has experienced Zij insufcient storage space of product i in time
tremendous growth since its introduction. To exploit j (slack),
its ubiquitous nature, it is important to make applica- dijk production status of product i, in time j, in line
tions Internet accessible. We developed a generic com- k, dijk {0, 1}, and
putation framework for Web-based optimization using X1ijk, X1ijk product changeover (1 in, 1
server-side Java programming, and we developed and out), X1ijk, X1ijk {0, 1}.
deployed a practical production-planning- The constraints are
optimization model using the architecture. The Java- l
based technology allows distributed processing, uni- Ii,j1
k1
Pijk Iij Uij Zij
versal portability (and platform independence),
modularity, and accessibility, thus presenting the [demand]ij 0 i, j, (1)
chance for a commercial breakthrough and industrial n
success of distributed optimization tools. The Web is Pijk [max prod rate]k 0 j, k, (2)
becoming a popular platform for information, services, i1

and operations in industry, and it is now a portal that n

provides a common gateway for integrating the appli-
i1
Pijk [min prod rate]k 0 j, k, (3)
cations of an entire enterprise. This framework allows
the coupling of optimization models with external data Iij [max storage capacity]ij 0 i, j, (4)
sources to create complete, powerful, highly exible
applications. Because of its generic nature, the frame- Iij [min storage capacity]ij 0 i, j, (5)
work will help people to make more and more opti- Pijk [max prod rate]k [prod capability]ik
mization tools and other computational tools available
dijk 0 i, j, k, (6)
on the Web so that more practitioners can access the
tools from any computer on the Internet using a Web dijk di,j1,k X 1ijk X 1ijk 0 i, j, k, (7)
browser. Our successful implementation of this archi-
and
tecture has accelerated the pace with which BASF is
Web-enabling other applications. Pijk [min campaign vol]k dijk 0 i, j, k. (8)

Acknowledgments Here [prod capability]ik {0, 1} is production capa-

The authors thank Bob Daniel (Dash Optimization), Paul Selikson, bility of product i in line k, that is, if product i can be
Mary F. Haight (Interfaces), and the anonymous referees for their run on line k.
valuable comments, which greatly improved the quality of this pa-
The objective function is
per. Young M. Lee conducted his work for this paper while he was
at BASF, Mount Olive, New Jersey. m n m n
min [IC]i Iij j1
j1 i1
i1
[DC]i Uij
APPENDIX m n

Production-Planning-Optimization
j1 i1
{[SC]i [IC]i} Zij
Model l m n

A simplied MILP formulation for the problem is as

k1 j1 i1
[CC]i X 1ijk, (9)
follows.
The decision variables are where
Pijk amount of product i, in time period j, in [IC]i inventory holding cost of product i ,
line k, [DC]i unmet demand cost (penalty) of product i ,
Iij inventory amount of product i in time pe- [SC]i insufcient storage space cost (penalty) of
riod j, product i ,
Uij unmet demand of product i in time period j, [CC]i changeover cost,

Interfaces
Vol. 32, No. 6, NovemberDecember 2002 21
 LEE AND CHEN
BASF

n number of products, int nModelError;

m number of planning periods, and
l number of production lines.
Equation (1) is the material balance constraint, bal-
ancing the carryover inventory and production with
current-period inventory, demand, unmet demand,
and insufcient storage volume. Constraints (2) and (3)
ensure that the production rate is within the valid
range. Equations (4) and (5) are constraints for the up-
per and lower bounds of the storage space. Equation
(6) forces the binary production status variable, dijk, to
have the value 1 when product i is produced in time j
in line k, and to have the value 0 otherwise, according
to the input-data matrix [production capability]ik,
which indicates if product i can be produced in line k.
Equation (7) balances the production status with prod-
uct changeover; that is, X 1ijk will have the value 1 when
production is switched to produce product i, and
X 1ijk will have the value 1 when production is
switched from product i in time period j in production
line k. Constraint (8) ensures that the production vol-
ume is at least the minimum campaign volume, that
int rtcode;
double objval;
const char *sProblem;
sProblem (*jEnv).GetStringUTFChars(jMsg, 0);
(*jEnv).ReleaseStringUTFChars(jMsg, sProblem);
setoptlog(mylog.lst);
if (initxm(NULL, 0, 0)) error(XMSL Initialize
failed);
if (initlz(NULL, 0)) error(XOSL Initialize
failed);
if (model(sProblem, GENERATE,0,&nModelError))
error(Could not generate matrix file\n);
if (freexm()) error(Could not free xmsl\n);
if (input(sProblem)) error(Could not read MPS
file);
if (minim( )) error(MINIM failed);
if (global()) error(GLOBAL failed);
if (freexo()) error(Could not free xsol\n);
if (initxm(NULL, 0, 0)) error(XMSL Initialize
failed);
if (model(sProblem, REPORT,0,&nModelError)
! 1)
printf(rtcode %d; nModelError %d\n,
rtcode, nModelError);
if (freexm()) error(Could not free xmsl\n);

is, the minimum production volume if the product is getdpv(N_DOBJVL, &objval);

produced at any production cycle. Equation (9) is the
return(objval);
objective function that needs to be minimized, and it
has four components: the inventory carrying cost, an } /* Optimize */
unmet demand penalty, an insufcient storage pen-
alty, and a changeover penalty.
Java Native Interface
A generic JNI function interfaces with a library le
C function Java_Xpress_optimize
XpressOpt.dll (built with the code of
#include stdafx.h
Java_Xpress_optimize). The class name Xpress and
#include windows.h
#include stdio.h the procedure name Optimize are used to construct
#include xpressm.h the name of the C function, Java_Xpress_Optimize.
#include xpresso.h Eckel (1998) explains how to create JNI functions.
#include Xpress.h
#define GENERATE 1 package opt;
#define REPORT 2 public class Xpress {

BOOL APIENTRY DllMain(HANDLE hModule, public native double Optimize (String sProblem);
DWORD dwReason, void** lpReserved) { static {
return TRUE; try {
} System.loadLibrary(XpressOpt);
}
void error(const char *mess) {
catch (UnsatisfiedLinkError e) {
fprintf(stderr, Error: %s\n, mess);
System.out.println (e);
}
System.exit(1);
JNIEXPORT jdouble JNICALL } /* try and catch */
Java_Xpress_optimize(JNIEnv * jEnv, jobject jthis, } /* static */
jstring jMsg) { } /* XPRESS */

Interfaces
22 Vol. 32, No. 6, NovemberDecember 2002
 LEE AND CHEN
BASF

Xpress.h Header File any Web page; for example, the hyperlink statement
A HREFopt.jsp?lenamepoly.mod Opti-
The C header le Xpress.h, is generated automatically
mize/A will execute the optimization model
with the javah jni Xpress command. The Xpress.h,
poly.mod.
xpressm.h and xpresso.h from the XPRESS-MP pack-
age header les must be included in the le containing %@ page import opt.XpressBean %
the C function. These header les provide the neces- jsp:useBean idxpressopt classopt.XpressBean
sary linkage between Java and C, C and XPRESS-MP. scopesession/
jsp:setProperty namexpressopt property*/
/* DO NOT EDIT THIS FILEit is machine generated
*/ html
#include jni.h headtitleOptimization/title/head
/* Header for class Xpress */ %
String modelfile
#ifndef _Included_Xpress request.getParameter(filename);
#define _Included_Xpress int len modelfile.length();
#ifdef __cplusplus modelfile modelfile.substring(0,len-4);
extern C { %
#endif
/* Production Scheduling Optimization Page. br
* Class: Xpress br
* Method: optimize pThe optimized value is % xpres-
* Signature: (Ljava/lang/String;)Ljava/lang/ sopt.opt(modelfile) %.p
String; /body
*/ /html
JNIEXPORT jdouble JNICALL Java_Xpress_optimize
(JNIEnv *, jobject, jstring); Online References
INFORMS Resources
www.informs.org/Resources/
#ifdef __cplusplus
Computer_Programs
}
#endif Java
developer.java.sun.com/developer/onlineTraining
#endif Neos Server for Optimization
www.mcs.anl.gov/neos
PaperSuite 2.0
www.optamaze.com
Remote Interactive Optimization Testbed
riot.ieor.Berkeley.edu/
JavaBean riot
SAS Institute
www.sas.com/solutions/supplychain/demos/
A generic JavaBean instantiates the JNI dened in the index.html
Xpress class and invokes the function Optimize() to Servlet
java.sun.com/products/servlet/2.1/
optimize the model dened in the parameter Statit tool set
www.statware.com
sProblem:
References
package opt; Bhargava, H. K., R. Krishnan. 1998. The World Wide Web: Oppor-
import Xpress; tunities for operations research and management science. J.
Comput. 10(4) 359383.
public class XpressBean {
Xpress app new Xpress(); , , R. Mueller. 1997. Decision support on demand: Emerging
public double opt (String sProblem) { electronic markets for decision technologies. Decision Support
return app.Optimize(sProblem); Systems 19(3) 193214.
} Cohen, M., C. B. Kelly, A. L. Medaglia. 2001. Decision support with
} /* XPRESSBean */ Web-enabled software. Interfaces 31(2) 109129.
Dash Associates Limited. 2000. XPRESS-MP User Guide and Reference
Manual. Dash Associates Limited, Northants, U.K.
Java Server Page Eckel, B. 1998. Thinking in Java. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Fan, M., J. Stallaert, A. B. Whinston. 2000. The adoption and design
The optimization JSP (opt.jsp) uses the JavaBean
methodologies of component-based enterprise systems. Eur. J.
XpressBean to execute the optimization model de- Inform. Systems 9 2535.
ned in the parameter lename. The JSP le Fourer, R., P. Goux. 2001. Optimization as an Internet resource. In-
opt.jsp can be activated by a hyperlink or a form in terfaces 31(2) 130150.

Interfaces
Vol. 32, No. 6, NovemberDecember 2002 23
 LEE AND CHEN
BASF

Guru, A., P. Savory, R. Williams. 2000. A Web-based interface for
storing and executing simulation models. Proc. 2000 Winter
Simulation Conf., Orlando, FL, December 2000. IEEE Press, New
York, 18101814.
Krieger, J. H. 1997. Integration hits software tools. Chem. Engrg. News
75(40) 2632.
Lee, Y. M., P. L. Selikson. 2000. Optimization of production planning.
Technical report, BASF Corporation, Mount Olive, NJ.
Luo, Y. C., C. H. Chen, E. Yucesan, I. Lee. 2000. Distributed Web-
based simulation optimization. Proc. 2000 Winter Simulation
Conf., Orlando, FL, December 2000. IEEE Press, New York, 1785
1793.
Paxson, V., S. Floyd. 1997. Why we dont know how to simulate the
Internet. Proc. 1997 Winter Simulation Conf., Orlando, FL, Decem-
ber 1997. IEEE Press, New York, 10371044.
Pekowsky, L. 2000. JavaServer Pages. Addison-Wesley, New York.
Sodhi, M. S. 2001. A match made in heaven. OR/MS Today 28(1) 30
33.

Interfaces
24 Vol. 32, No. 6, NovemberDecember 2002