Counterfactual optimization for fault prevention in complex wind energy systems
2025-10-03 10:00 - 11:00 UTC
Speaker: Martina Fischetti, tenure-track researcher at the University of Seville, Spain
About the speaker:
Martina Fischetti is a tenure-track researcher at the University of Seville, Spain. She holds M.Sc. degrees from the University of Padova (March 2014) and the University of Aalborg (June 2014) in Automation Engineering. In March 2018, she finished her Industrial PhD in OR at the Technical University of Denmark in collaboration with Vattenfall (the lead energy company in North Europe). Her PhD thesis was titled Mathematical Programming Models and Algorithms for Offshore Wind Park Design. Her PhD work on the optimization of wind farm design and cable routing has been awarded various international prizes, such as the Best Industrial PhD from Innovation Fund Denmark (2019), EURO Doctoral Dissertation Award (2019), Glover-Klingman Prize (2018), AIRO Best Application Paper award (2018), the Best Student Paper Award ICORES (2017), and finalist positions at the EURO Excellence in Practice award (2018) and the prestigious INFORMS Franz Edelman award (2019). She was also selected as a role model for young women in OR by the EURO WISDOM forum in 2021. After her PhD, she worked in industry (lead engineer in Vattenfall BA Wind, specializing in OR) and in government institutions (at the Joint Research Center of the European Commission in Seville, Spain, where she applied Operations Research to European transport challenges).

Abstract:
Machine Learning models are increasingly used in businesses to detect faults and anomalies in complex systems. In this work, we take this approach a step further: beyond merely detecting anomalies, we aim to identify the optimal control strategy that restores the system to a safe state with minimal disruption. We frame this challenge as a counterfactual problem: given a Machine Learning model that classifies system states as either “good” or “anomalous,” our goal is to determine the minimal adjustment to the system’s control variables (i.e., its current status) that is necessary to return it to the “good” state. To achieve this, we leverage a mathematical model that finds the optimal
counterfactual solution while respecting system-specific constraints. Notably, most counterfactual analysis in the literature focuses on individual cases where a person seeks to alter their status relative to a decision made by a classifier—such as for loan approval or medical diagnosis. Our work addresses a fundamentally different challenge: optimizing counterfactuals for a complex energy system, specifically an offshore wind turbine oil-type transformer. This application not only advances counterfactual optimization in a new domain but also opens avenues for broader research in this area. Our tests on real-world data provided by our industrial partner show that our methodology easily adapts to user preferences and brings savings in the order of 3 million euros per year in a typical farm.

EURO Practitioners’ Forum past and planned activities are available to the Forum members, as well as the wider public.
Visit the website and register as a member for free, to get the regular updates on all activities: EPF Member registration page. The recordings and details from previous webinars are also available on this website. Follow the Forum LinkedIN group and LinkedIN page, and feel free to get in touch.

Axis: planning and scheduling logistics to maximize margins
2025-11-07 10:00 - 11:00
Speaker: Borja Menéndez Moreno, PhD, Lead Operations Research Engineer at Trucksters
Abstract:
Trucksters developed and implemented a simulation and optimization tool to maximize margins in European trucking operations. Combining graph theory, heuristics, and CP-SAT optimization, the tool builds feasible multi-week route plans while suggesting new market routes. Implemented as production software, it is used weekly by senior management. In 2024 alone, it increased margins by 5 percentage points in a 25M€-revenue startup and reduced free capacity kms by 66%, creating a positive organizational flywheel. It also opened a new revenue stream by selling the tool externally. During the talk, we’ll talk about the tool, how it’s been made, and why it is so unique in the market.
About the speaker:
Borja is a PhD in Operations Research leading the Algorithms team at Trucksters, a Spanish logistics startup. He has more than 11 years of experience in the field helping optimize decision making, and is intellectually curious about solving complex problems at scale. Metaheuristics passionate, he’s currently focused on mathematical modeling for the logistics industry. As he loves writing, he also writes a newsletter about all things Operations Research called Feasible.
EURO Practitioners’ Forum past and planned activities are available to the Forum members, as well as the wider public. Visit the website and register as a member for free, to get the regular updates on all activities: EPF Member registration page. Follow the Forum LinkedIN group and LinkedIN page, and feel free to get in touch.

AI and logistics – a strategic partnership?
2026-01-09 10:00 - 11:00
Speaker: Dominik Berbig, Professor of Logistics Operations Management at Pforzheim University

Abstract:
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping supply chains — but too often, companies focus only on isolated tools or single use cases. Today, there is a wide range of AI tools designed to support specific tasks e.g. within purchasing, production, or crisis management, enabling faster and more informed decision-making. Numerous proof-of-concept projects and theoretical discussions demonstrate the potential benefits of these tools in their respective areas. However, when taking a closer look, it becomes clear that most approaches focus only on individual processes or isolated parts of the supply chain. What seems to be largely missing is a comprehensive, practical strategy: How can companies implement AI tools in a reasonable and ideally sustainable way – in what order, and for which use cases? Recent literature review confirms this gap. This leads us to the key question: What could a practical “hands-on guide to AI” for logistics look like, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)? In our speech, we will share deeper insights from our research, present initial strategy recommendations, and outline the next steps necessary to ensure that AI becomes a real driver of value – not just a buzzword – in the logistics sector.

About the speaker:
Dominik Berbig has been Professor of Logistics Operations Management at Pforzheim University since 2021. He studied industrial engineering at the University of Karlsruhe, and then worked as a research associate at the Institute for Material Handling and Logistics (IFL) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) where he earned his doctorate on the topic of developing a comprehensive approach for choosing proper load carriers. During his time at the IFL, he led different industrial and scientific projects with renowned partners, particularly in the automotive, pharmaceutical and warehousing sector.
Prior to his appointment, Dominik Berbig worked at Robert Bosch GmbH in different areas and functions. Among others, he was project manager worldwide for leveling, as well as senior manager for warehousing, packaging and transport in the Power Tools business unit. Most recently, he managed the area Intralogistics and Material Flow as part of the project to introduce SAP S/4HANA & SAP EWM in the Mobility Solutions business unit.

EURO Practitioners’ Forum past and planned activities are available to the Forum members, as well as the wider public.
Register as a member for free, to get the regular updates on all activities: EPF Member registration page. The recordings and details from previous webinars are also available on this website. Follow the Forum LinkedIN group and LinkedIN page, and feel free to get in touch.

Trust but verify - testing optimization models in real life
2026-03-06 10:00 - 11:00
Speaker: Richard Oberdieck, Banking Circle
“Unless you magically find yourself endowed with limitless programming support, sooner or later (most likely sooner) you are likely to need to do some coding.” (Paul Rubin)
Between a beautiful model on paper and real world impact lies the big gap of implementation. To bridge this gap confidently, automated tests are a most important pillars on top of which your code rests. However, many optimization professionals are not familiar with the ins and outs of automated testing. What makes this even more difficult is that writing tests for optimization models specifically is not trivial. Between licensing issues when one uses commercial solvers to run times being many hours, it is not easy to find a good approach on how to build these solid pillars.In this talk, I will share what I have learned about testing optimization models over the past 8 years. We will discuss the anatomy of a good test, what types of testing exists and how property-based testing combined with ChatGPT and good data structures can provide a robust testing setup for code involving optimization models.
About the speaker:
Since getting his PhD from Imperial College in 2017, Richard Oberdieck has spent his career at the intersection between code and optimization. First at Ørsted as a software developer for a cable design tool, then at Gurobi as a technical account manager helping countless customers getting their optimization projects off the ground. Currently, he works for a bank called Banking Circle as a data scientist, where he works on a tool which, if it breaks, stops all payments in the bank, leading to an even higher focus on testing than before.

A practical approach to replenishment optimization with extended (R, s, Q) policy and probabilistic models
2026-04-10 10:00 - 11:00
Speakers: Alva Presbitero (Senior Applied Scientist, Zalando) and Shikhar Dev (Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Zalando)
In the high-stakes world of e-commerce, inventory management is a constant “Inventory Paradox”: carry too much stock and capital is trapped in liquidation; carry too little and you face the “silent killer” of retail—stock-outs. This webinar demonstrates how the ZEOS Inventory Optimization Tool addresses these challenges by unifying probabilistic demand forecasting with Monte Carlo discrete event simulation to drive optimal replenishment decisions.
The session is divided into two specialized deep dives:
Part 1: Applied Science Deep Dive
We explore the research and methodology behind the engine, focusing on these key technical learnings:
● Extending classical (R, s, Q) policies: How we created recommendations that actually fit the fast-paced e-commerce landscape.
● Probabilistic Demand Modeling: Why our backtest results suggest that modeling full demand probability distributions is far more effective than single-value forecasts.
● Cost Profile Optimization: How combining probabilistic forecasting with the distribution of our cost profile (optimizing for the 75th percentile) yielded significantly better results than simply looking at the mean.
Part 2: Machine Learning Engineering Deep Dive
We reveal the technical architecture and tools used to put the system into production at scale:
● Monte Carlo Simulation at Scale: How we used discrete event simulation to stress-test policies across thousands of “alternate timelines” to find the optimal replenishment timing and quantities.
● Modern ML Stack: A look at how we transitioned research code to scalable and efficient pipelines using AWS, SageMaker, and Databricks, orchestrated by zFlow.
● Scaling to Millions: Managing feature engineering, online feature stores, and real-time inference for millions of SKUs.
References:
1. AS: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-32537-2
2. MLE: https://engineering.zalando.com/posts/2025/06/inventory-optimisation-system.html

About the speakers:
Alva Presbitero, Senior Applied Scientist, Zalando
Alva is a Senior Applied Scientist at Zalando, focusing on the research and data science that powers the ZEOS replenishment engine. She earned her PhD in Computational Science at the University of Amsterdam, where her research focused on modeling the human innate immune system. Drawing on an extensive background in applied science, her earlier work was rooted in complexity science, agent-based modeling, and computational immunology.
Today, she loves using that foundation in complex, stochastic systems to build scalable and smart inventory solutions for the world of e-commerce.
Shikhar Dev, Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Zalando
Shikhar Dev is a founding member of the data and ML engineering team at ZEOS, where he established the vision and technical foundations for the department’s ML infrastructure. With over a decade of experience and a Master’s in Computer Science from TU Delft, Shikhar specializes in bridging the gap between research and production. Beyond his work at ZEOS, Shikhar contributes to Zalando’s broader ML Engineering strategy while also laying the technical foundations for the next generation of GenAI solutions within the department.

EURO Practitioners’ Forum 6th Annual Conference
2026-04-27 - 2026-04-28
Unlocking OR for all: from Models to Business Impact
Monday 27 April – Tuesday 28 April 2026
Warsaw University of Technology, Poland
Conference programme
The theme of this year’s conference is the end-to-end process of designing, developing, and deploying optimization projects. We will discuss not only models and algorithms, but how Operations Researchers can engage with end users, stakeholders and work with other specialists to deliver impact in their work. The core focus of the conference is this intersection of research, expertise and practical applications and how it affects OR projects in all stages, from conceptualization to practical use.
The conference will explore how to make OR solutions more easily accessible to a wider, non-expert audience, and discussions and presentations will help us as practitioners better understand how we can bring our solutions into use. The goal is to increase the impact and usage of OR across industries and application domains.
More details can be found at https://www.euro-online.org/websites/or-in-practice/euro-practitioners-forum-6th-annual-conference/
Important dates:

11 January, 2026: Submission deadline
31 January, 2026: Notification of acceptance
20 February, 2026: Final version of submissions
5 March, 2026: Author registration deadline
20 March, 2026: Early bird registration deadline (registration for the conference dinner no longer possible after this date)

REGISTRATION

Contact
For any inquiries, please contact the conference organisers on this address: epf2026@pw.edu.pl

Keynote speakers

Sylwester Ciodyk (Ortec Poland): Practical Optimization: Real-World Success Stories
Paweł Lichocki (Google): An engineering perspective on mixed integer programming in computer systems
Michał Kłos (PSE S.A. (the Polish Transmission System Operator)): Framing Fairness: A Practical Approach to Beyond-Cost Optimization for TSOs’ Mathematical Programming Problems
Geoffrey De Smet (Timefold): How to build an open source solver and a company around it
Tomasz Stopa (IBM): Quantum computer – from holy grail to your favorite toy

Organisation committee:
Vladimir Fux, Zalando (Germany), Michele Quattrone, AirLiquide (France), Sander van Aken, Flix SE (Germany), Torkel Haufman, Sintef (Norway), Waldemar Kocjan, Boeing (Sweden), Izabela Żółtowska, Warsaw University of Technology (Poland), Mariusz Kaleta, Warsaw University of Technology (Poland), Susanne Heipcke, FICO (France) chair

Hosted by:

Algorithmic Timetabling in Practice: Lessons from Building a Timetabling System at SBB
2026-06-05 14:00 - 15:00
Speakers: Dr. Gabrio Caimi and M.Sc. Florian Flükiger, Swiss Federal Railways
About the event:
Algorithmic timetabling has been an active area of research for decades, yet deploying optimization-based timetabling tools in real-world railway operations reveals a striking gap between academic assumptions and operational reality. In this talk, we present insights from the development and application of an algorithmic timetabling tool embedded in SBB’s Traffic Management System. We discuss three key divergences from classical problem formulations: first, that operational timetables need not be conflict-free — conflicts are an accepted and manageable reality, and the objective is to minimize their impact rather than eliminate them; second, that objective functions must go far beyond simple travel-time minimization, incorporating a rich set of planner-driven quality criteria; and third, that timetabling is not a one-shot optimization problem but a continuous, iterative process requiring repeated updates as conditions evolve. Together, these observations motivate a rethinking of how algorithmic approaches are designed and evaluated for practical deployment.
About the speakers:
Dr. Gabrio Caimi holds a doctorate (Dr. sc. ETH, 2009) in Mathematics with a focus on Operations Research from ETH Zurich. He worked at ETH Zurich (2000–2009) on public-transport projects and publications, then moved to industry with senior roles in project and portfolio management at BLS Netz AG, focusing on infrastructure planning and capacity in an international context. Since 2015 he has been with SBB IT, responsible for strategic development of digital solutions for railway operations. He is an expert in strategic planning, timetable design, and applying Operations Research to optimize complex rail systems, combining academic expertise with practical application.
M.Sc. Florian Flükiger is an Application Engineer at SBB (Swiss Federal Railways), where he works on the Traffic Management System as part of the team developing the timetabling core. In parallel, he is a PhD student at the Institute for Transport Planning and Systems (IVT) at ETH Zurich in the group of Prof. Francesco Corman. He holds an M.Sc. in Spatial Development and Infrastructure Systems from ETH Zurich, with a thesis on the integration of resilience in the railway planning process, co-supervised by ETH Zurich and TU Delft. His research focuses on integrated planning of railway systems, with particular emphasis on integrated periodic timetabling, and vehicle scheduling.
EURO Practitioners’ Forum past and planned activities are available to the Forum members, as well as the wider public.
Register as a member for free, to get the regular updates on all activities: EPF Member registration page. The recordings and details from previous webinars are also available on this website. Follow the Forum LinkedIN group and LinkedIN page, and feel free to get in touch.
