Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T07:55:30.536Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Solution approaches to large shift scheduling problems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2008

Monia Rekik ,
Jean-François Cordeau  and
François Soumis
Monia Rekik
Affiliation:
École Polytechnique de Montréal and GERAD, C.P. 6079, succ. Centre-Ville Montréal, H3C 3A7, Canada
Jean-François Cordeau
Affiliation:
HEC Montréal and GERAD, 3000, chemin de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine, Montréal H3T 2A7, Canada; [email protected]
François Soumis
Affiliation:
École Polytechnique de Montréal and GERAD, C.P. 6079, succ. Centre-Ville Montréal, H3C 3A7, Canada
Get access

Abstract

This paper considers large shift scheduling problems with different shiftstart times and lengths, fractionable breaks and work stretch durationrestrictions. Two solution approaches are proposed to solve the problemsover a multiple-day planning horizon. The first approach is based on alocal branching strategy and the second one is based on a temporaldecomposition of the problem. Local branching is veryefficient in finding good feasible solutions when compared to a classicalbranch-and-bound procedure. However, the decomposition approach has theadvantage of yielding feasible solutions in short computing times, even for difficult instances.

Keywords

Shift schedulingflexibilityfractionablebreakswork stretch restrictionsforward and backward constraintslocalbranchingheuristic.
Type
Research Article
Information
RAIRO - Operations Research , Volume 42 , Issue 2: CIRO 05 , April 2008 , pp. 229 - 258
Copyright
© EDP Sciences, ROADEF, SMAI, 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

I. Addou and F. Soumis. Bechtold-Jacobs generalized model for shift scheduling with extraordinary overlap. Technical report, GERAD, HEC Montréal, (2004).
T. Aykin. Optimal shift scheduling with multiple break windows. Manage. Sci. 42 (1996) 591–602.
T. Aykin. A composite branch and cut algorithm for optimal shift scheduling with multiple breaks and break windows. J. Oper. Res. Soc. 49 (1998) 603–615. CrossRef
T. Aykin. A comparative evaluation of modeling approaches to the labor shift scheduling problem. Eur. J. Oper. Res. 125 (2000) 381–397.
S.E. Bechtold and L.W. Jacobs. Implicit modeling of flexible break assignments in optimal shift scheduling. Manage. Sci. 36 (1990) 1339–1351.
S.E. Bechtold and L.W. Jacobs. Labor utilization effects of labor scheduling flexibility alternatives in a tour scheduling environment. Decision Sciences 24 (1993) 148–166.
M.J. Brusco and L.W. Jacobs. Cost analysis of alternative formulations for personnel scheduling in continuously operating organisations. Eur. J. Oper. Res. 86 (1995) 249–261.
M.J. Brusco and L.W. Jacobs. Starting-time decisions in labor tour scheduling: an experimental analysis and case study. Eur. J. Oper. Res. 131 (2001) 459–475. CrossRef
T. Çezik and O. Günlük. Reformulating linear programs with transportation constraints- with applications to workforce scheduling. Naval Research Logistics 51 (2004) 275–296.
Danna, E., Rothberg, E., and Le Pape, C.. Exploring relaxation induced neighborhoods to improve MIP solutions. Math. Program. 102 (2005) 71–90. CrossRef
G.B. Dantzig. A comment on Edie's traffic delays at toll booths. Oper. Res. 2 (1954) 339–341.
M. Fischetti and A. Lodi. Local branching. Math. Program. B 98 (2003) 23–47.
W.B. Henderson and W.L. Berry. Heuristic methods for telephone operator shift scheduling: an experimental analysis. Manage. Sci. 22 (1976) 1372–1380.
D.S. Hochbaum and A. Levin. Cyclical scheduling and multi-shift scheduling: Complexity and approximation algorithms. Discrete Optimization 3(4) (2006) 327–340.
N. Mladenovic and P. Hansen. Variable neighborhood search. Comput. Oper. Res. 24 (1997) 1097–1100.
S.L. Moondra. An L.P. model for workforce scheduling in banks. J. Bank Res. 6 (1976) 299–301.
Rekik, M., Cordeau, J.-F., and Soumis, F.. Using Benders decomposition to implicitly model tour scheduling. Ann. Oper. Res. 128 (2004) 111–133. CrossRef
M. Rekik, J-F. Cordeau, and F. Soumis. Implicit shift scheduling with multiple breaks and work stretch duration restrictions. Technical report, GERAD-2005-15, (2005).
G.M. Thompson. Improved implicit optimal modeling of the labor shift scheduling problem. Manage. Sci. 41 (1995) 595–607.
G.M. Thompson. A simulated annealing heuristic for shift scheduling using non-continuously available employees. Comput. Oper. Res. 32 (1996) 275–288.
S. Topaloglua and I. Ozkarahan. Implicit optimal tour scheduling with flexible break assignments. Computers & Industrial Engineering 44 (2002) 75–89.