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Cyclic staff scheduling: optimization models for some real-life problems

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Abstract

In this work, we propose a general integer programming model to address the staff scheduling problem, flexible enough to be easily adapted to a wide-range of real-world problems. The model is applied with slight changes to two case studies: a glass plant and a continuous care unit, and also to a collection of benchmark instances available in the literature. The emphasis of our approach is on a novel formulation of sequence constraints and also on workload balance, which is tackled through cyclic scheduling. Models are solved using the CPLEX solver. Computational results indicate that optimal solutions can be achieved within a reasonable amount of time.

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Acknowledgments

This work is partially funded by the ERDF—European Regional Development Fund through the COMPETE Programme (operational programme for competitiveness) and by National Funds through the FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within Project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-022701.

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  1. INESC TEC, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, s/n, 4200-465, Porto, Portugal

    Marta Rocha, José Fernando Oliveira & Maria Antónia Carravilla

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  1. Marta Rocha
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  2. José Fernando Oliveira
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  3. Maria Antónia Carravilla
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Correspondence to Marta Rocha.

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Rocha, M., Oliveira, J.F. & Carravilla, M.A. Cyclic staff scheduling: optimization models for some real-life problems. J Sched 16, 231–242 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10951-012-0299-4

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