Optimising businesses: Unlocking the potential of Quantum Computing

The Galician Supercomputer Centre (CESGA) set a challenge to address combinatorial optimization challenges faced by strategic sectors in Galicia, including transport, logistics, energy, and finance. CESGA collaborated with Ayesa, leveraging the company’s deep expertise in quantum computing to explore innovative solutions. Combinatorial optimization problems involve selecting the best solution from a large set of possible options, while meeting certain constraints. These problems, such as optimizing routes, schedules, or resource allocations, are challenging because the number of potential solutions grows rapidly as the problem size increases.

As part of the project, a real-world industrial combinatorial optimization problem was chosen and tested using CESGA’s quantum computers and simulators, showcasing the potential of quantum technology to address complex challenges in strategic sectors.

While the initiative was under way, CESGA installed Qmio, one of the most powerful quantum computer (32 qubits) installed at a public R&D organisation in Southern Europe. Omio is being used is to further research and innovation in academia and business.

The collaborative project with Ayesa explored a range of optimization techniques, applying them to quantum circuits generated through mathematical modeling. These techniques focused on maximizing and minimizing objective functions within predefined constraints. The study also examined the feasibility of circuit division methods to enhance computational efficiency. Building on this foundation, the team evaluated the potential real-world applications of the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) in industrial settings, analysed through CESGA’s advanced quantum simulator

As the result of this challenge, the partners developed an innovative method which improves the way workloads and tasks are assigned to employees and machines in industrial settings.

This breakthrough has made processes more efficient by maximising the number of tasks sent to machines.

Traditional systems were unable to evaluate all possible scenarios in terms of work and tasks assigned to machines. However, quantum technology using CESGA’s advanced infrastructure has overcome this limitation,  providing a solution that optimises operations consistently, at all times.