Formwork Optimizer
Formwork treated as the constrained, reusable inventory problem it actually is.
- Category
- Construction logistics
- Model
- SaaS
- Core platform
- ALIA Constraint Engine
- Status
- PLANNED
01 Problem
Formwork is expensive, reusable and chronically lost between construction projects. Contractors buy and rent more than they need because nobody can say what the company owns, where it is or when it frees up.
The cost is capital sitting in yards and rental invoices for components idle two sites away.
02 Specification
This is the specification we are building toward. The status column shows what exists today.
- Formwork and component inventoryPLANNED
Every panel, prop and component is tracked as inventory with its condition and location.
PLANNED - Multi-site allocation optimizationPLANNED
Allocation across projects is optimized company-wide instead of negotiated site by site.
PLANNED - Geometry and configuration matchingPLANNED
Project requirements are matched against component geometry, so sites receive sets that actually assemble.
PLANNED - Transport-cost-aware schedulingPLANNED
Moves between sites are scheduled with transport cost in the objective, not as an afterthought.
PLANNED - Reuse-cycle and condition trackingPLANNED
Each component’s reuse count and condition are tracked against its rated life.
PLANNED - Rental-vs-own economicsPLANNED
The system compares renting against using owned stock for each demand, in dollars.
PLANNED - Project schedule integrationPLANNED
Pour schedules and project phases drive when components are needed and when they release.
PLANNED - Loss and shrinkage accountingPLANNED
Losses are attributed by project and site, so shrinkage becomes a managed number instead of a mystery.
PLANNED
Updated as capabilities ship. BUILT means working and validated; nothing gets that label early.
03 System
- 01Component inventory
- 02Project demands and schedules
- 03Allocation optimizer
- 04Site assignments
- 05Reuse ledger
04 Engineering
Constraint core
The optimizer runs on the ALIA Constraint Engine. Component geometry, condition, rated reuse life, transport cost and project schedules enter one allocation model, and solves are incremental so a schedule slip at one site propagates through the plan without a company-wide replan from scratch.
Data model
The system is designed around imperfect inventory truth. Every allocation carries its confidence in the underlying counts, and yard checks and site confirmations are treated as readings that correct the model rather than as bookkeeping chores.
Integration surface
Project schedules arrive from the planning tools contractors already run, and the ledger reconciles against rental invoices so rent-versus-own comparisons use real numbers from the contractor’s own books.
05 Why this is hard
The genuine problem is allocation across sites with geometry, condition and transport constraints, on inventory data that is always partly wrong. Formwork counts drift with every pour and every move, and an optimizer that trusts a false inventory produces confidently wrong plans. The engineering work is optimization that stays useful under uncertainty and a data model that improves its own inventory truth from ordinary site activity.
06 Design constraints
- Optimizes company-wide, not site by site
- Transport cost sits inside the objective
- Works with imperfect inventory data
- Comparisons stated in dollars
- No new site paperwork to feed it
07 Design partner program
Design partner program.
We are looking for a small number of design and pilot partners. A partner gets the problem solved for their operation first, direct influence on the specification above, and pilot pricing. In exchange we get reality: real constraints, real data, real operators. No external partner is engaged on this product yet.