Optimized?

Optimized with respect to WHAT?

Consider a Soap-box Derby car. It is to race on a hill where there is a hazard at the bottom of the hill and it will be necessary to vigorously apply the brakes in order to avoid crashing into the hazard.

Further, picture in your head that the grandparent are helping their grandchild "engineer" the vehicle and the grandchild has weak legs.

One form of "optimization" is to maximize the output for a given input. In this case, the grandparent hits upon a scheme to maximize the braking force for the amount input from the driver's leg. The brake is a two-by-four with the pivot reversed from the regular orientation so the pivot is behind and above the location where the rubber-pad contacts the ground. That causes to the brake to be self-energizing as the force on the pad cause it to rotate around the pivot and push the pad into the ground, much like a pole-vaulting pole "planting" into the pit.

This is analogous to the "leading shoe" of a drum-brake.

Consider that the rubber pad on the business end of the two-by-four is interacting with the ground. The self-energizing feature means that if it hits a smooth or greasy patch the braking will be hugely impacted in a negative way. On the other hand, if the brake encounters a gritty or sticky surface, the pad may "lock" onto the surface and vault the vehicle upward causing the steering wheels to be lifted off of the surface with a total loss of directional control.

Plainly stated, the braking force is now exquisitely sensitive to the coefficient of friction and the condition of the surface it is traveling over. Additionally, the hyper-sensitivity can result in unexpected failure-modes to rear their ugly heads.

Another form of "optimization" is to minimize the system's sensitivity to a given input.

Drum brakes are vulnerable to brake-fade under heavy braking. The hot friction material has a lower coefficient of friction and the self-energizing feature multiplies the loss of braking capability. The "fix" was to migrate to disc brakes on all four corners. More boost was needed to achieve the same amount of braking force but the end result was much more predictable, especially under heavy braking.

Another example

An agriculture system can be "optimized" to produce

• The maximum number of calories per acre
• The maximum number of calories per amount of supplemental irrigation
• The maximum amount of protein per acre
• The maximum amount of usable food per unit of pesticide applied
• Minimize the capital expenditures per acre put under the plow
  
• Minimize the amount of human labor required to harvest the crop
• Maximize the number of food-calories per gallon of diesel used
  
• Minimize sensitivity to variation in length of growing season
• Minimize nutrient run-off and the impact on surface water quality
• Minimize the amount of nitrates leaching into the ground-water
  
• Maximize the amount of carbon sequestered per acre
• Maximize the number or kg of earthworms per cubic meter of topsoil
• Maximize the number of insect species or nesting bird-pairs or the number of pollinators
  
• To maximize favorable treatment under the current year's tax-code

and so on.

The phrase "The system has been optimized" is meaningless because it is incomplete.