Benders Day - Stephen Maher - Should you implement Benders' decomposition?

This is a recording of the talk "Should you implement Benders' decomposition?" by Stephen Maher, given at Benders Day. === Abstract === Benders' decomposition is an extremely popular mathematical programming technique commonly applied to solve computationally challenging problems. While the basic algorithm of Benders' decomposition is quite simply described, the extensive literature on the topic has shown that many sophisticated, problem specific techniques must be implemented to make the Benders' decomposition algorithm effective. The implementation burden of an effective Benders' decomposition algorithm has motivated to the development of numerous general frameworks, such as those available in CPLEX and SCIP, that aim to high performance general solvers. While these frameworks exist, the question still remains: are the frameworks enough to effectively apply Benders' decomposition to most problems, or is it necessary to develop a custom implementation with problem specific enhancement techniques? This talk will discuss the benefits and limitations of general Benders' decomposition frameworks and provide an assessment on whether custom implementations are still the most effective. Finally, this talk will propose an alternative structure for general Benders' decomposition frameworks that aims to address the limitations of those currently available and hopefully eliminate the need for custom Benders' decomposition implementations. === Benders Day === A Workshop to Celebrate the 100th Birthday of Jacques Benders Benders Day is a one day workshop featuring invited talks on topics related to the work of Jacques Benders, in particular, Benders decomposition. The workshop took place at Eindhoven University of Technology on May 31, 2024. See also https://chojny.win.tue.nl/bendersday/... === Program and Local Organizing Committee === Christopher Hojny Cor Hurkens Rudi Pendavingh Bart Smeulders Frits Spieksma === Video/Audio Recording and Editing === Sten Wessel === Background Image === © Bart van Overbeeke Photography