Packing the best thing first. What does that cost you?
Eight things, one box, twenty kilos. Fill it with the best item and keep going while things fit and you get $1,335. The optimizer gets $1,385 out of the same box, and the rule of thumb that nearly fixes it is not quite right either.
Operations Starter Optimization free
After you install, this is the model to open.
Fit the Most Into One Box
- In your spreadsheet, click the Sortia icon in the strip of icons down the right-hand edge. No strip? Click the arrow at the bottom-right to open it. You can also use Extensions, then Sortia, then Open Sortia.
- Click Start from a template and put that name in the search box.
- Pick the card with that name and click Load this template. It arrives on a new tab with real numbers already in it.
The answer
Three ways to fill the same box:
- Optimized
- $1,385 19.9 kg
- Most valuable first
- $1,335 19.8 kg
- Best value per kilo
- $1,365 a good rule, still short
- At a 23 kg limit
- $1,515 and the answer re-picks
Value per kilo is a genuinely good rule and it still loses, because it fills the box with the best ratios and leaves a gap at the end that nothing fits. The optimizer is not applying a rule at all, it is comparing every combination that fits, which is what separates it from sorting. Raise the limit to 23 kg and the value goes to $1,515 with two items swapping back in, so growing the allowance does not simply add, it re-picks, which tells you what a bigger box is worth before you pay for one. This is the shape of a lot of decisions with different nouns: which projects fit the quarter, which deals fit the fund, which features fit the release.
The model
One row per item with a weight, a value and a take-it cell forced to a clean 0 or 1, so nothing comes back as four tenths of an espresso machine. The weight limit sits beside the total.
| Items | 8 |
| Box limit | 20 kg |
| Weights | 0.4 to 8.2 kg |
| Values | $45 to $520 |
| What to pack, and its value | solved |
Once it is in your sheet
- The model arrives with real numbers in it and runs as it stands, so you can press the button first and understand it second.
- Change the numbers to yours. The sheet marks which cells are inputs and which hold formulas, and most labels carry a note explaining the row.
- Press the run button at the bottom of the panel. It is labeled for the tool you are in, and the result lands on its own tab, with a written reading of it beside the figures.
Never used Google Sheets? Start here goes the whole way, in seven steps, and assumes nothing.
Next question
- Does the cheapest quote stay cheapest after freight?Which Suppliers Fill the Order Cheapest?
- When does the next unit of stock stop paying?How Much Safety Stock Do We Actually Need?
- How much stock does a longer lead time cost you?When Should We Reorder?
- What does a 95% promise cost, in units?What Stock Level Holds a 95% Service Level?
- Which category did the buying plan get wrong?Is the Product Mix What We Planned For?
- Is the overrun general or is it one bad line?Is the Event Build On Track?
Every model like this one, and the method behind them: Optimization in Google Sheets.