MiniZinc should've let you farm out your problem to CBC if it could be made into an LP or MIP problem. CBC isn't as good as CPLEX or GUROBI, but is great free software that can run massive scale models.
I just never explored it past the point of trying out the ideas on my laptop. I knew it could be done (and should've mentioned that in my prior post), but had no immediate need to. Their scheduling solutions were effective, though suboptimal (at my sister's job). Additionally, as I spoke with her more I found out there were a lot of factors I didn't know about (and some I couldn't be told about for various reasons). I love my sister, and it was a good learning experience, but I can only work pro bono for so long. She had no support from her leadership to explore this approach further so that was that.