Epsilon Airlines services predominately the eastern and southeastern United Stat
ID: 462215 • Letter: E
Question
Epsilon Airlines services predominately the eastern and southeastern United States. The vast majority of Epsilon’s customers make reservations through Epsilon’s website, but a small percentage of customers make reservations via phone. Epsilon employs call-center personnel to handle these reservations along with any problems with the website reservation system and for the rebooking of flights for customers if their plans change or their travel is disrupted. Staffing the call center appropriately is a challenge for Epsilon’s management team. Having too many employees on hand is a waste of money, but having too few results in very poor customer service and the potential loss of customers.
Epsilon analysts have estimated the minimum number of call-center employees needed by day of week for the upcoming vacation season (June, July, and the first two weeks of August). These estimates are as follows:
The call-center employees work five consecutive days and then have two consecutive days off. An employee may start work any day of the week. Each call-center employee receives the same salary. Assume that the schedule cycles and ignore start-up and stopping of the schedule. Develop a model that will minimize the total number of call-center employees needed to meet the minimum requirements. Find the optimal solution. Give the number of call-center employees that exceed the minimum required. Use Excel Solver.
Let Xi = the number of call center employees who start work on day i (i = 1 = Monday, i = 2 = Tuesday…)
Solution:
Number of excess employees:
Total Number of Employees =
Minimum Number of Day Employees Needed Monday 45 Tuesday 60 Wednesday 75 Thursday 50 Friday 90 Saturday 45 Sunday 75Explanation / Answer
Decision variables are defined as Xi as per the question and solution is obtained using Excel solver as follows:
Decision Variables X1 X2 X3 X4 X5 X6 X7 SumProduct Values 10 15 40 2.38E-08 25 5 5 ObjectiveMinimize 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 100 Sign RHS Constraint1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 45.0000004 45 Constraint2 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 60.0000008 60 Constraint3 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 75 75 Constraint4 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 70 50 Constraint5 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 90.0000004 90 Constraint6 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 85.0000004 45 Constraint7 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 75 75Related Questions
Navigate
Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.