You might not realize it when boarding your flight, but the departure time, fuel level, maintenance crew and takeoff lane have likely all been determined by a mathematical optimization model. Whether it is exact solutions such as linear programming or powerful heuristics such as genetic algorithms, optimization models are the silent force behind many scheduling and resource allocation problems. Spurred by increasing computational power and advances in solvers, the 1990s in particular saw a massive wave in optimization techniques being deployed across all industries. Although not necessarily a hot' topic today, computers still slave away to solve inconceivably large optimization problems in virtually every sector. Rarely a week passes without a cheerful headline about a new breakthrough.