Abstract
The main purpose of this paper is to demonstrate a real-world application of pure integer programming to find the optimum solution to a labour cost problem. The length of a daily working shift is defined as an integer variable and several shift strategies are analysed to determine the optimum length and shift combinations that satisfy a predicted demand at minimum cost. The state-space model has been used to predict the stochastic behaviour of monthly demands for beer and soft drink. Savings of about 7% of the annual sales have been obtained as a result of implementing the integer programming approach. A numerical example shows that the solution obtained by rounding off the continuous optimal solution does not match with the integer optimal solution. It was also noted that if a rounded-off solution is feasible, then it provides an initial integer solution for the branch-and-bound algorithm that may reduce the computational time.
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Ramirez-Beltran, N. Integer Programming to Minimize Labour Costs. J Oper Res Soc 46, 139–146 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1057/jors.1995.20
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/jors.1995.20