THE EFFECT OF DEMAND CHARACTERISTICS ON LABOR SCHEDULING METHODS

Labour scheduling heuristic methods have been applied in service opera ting environments using both actual and synthetic demand patterns. Two important characteristics of these demand patterns are (1) demand smo othness and (2) mean demand. Investigates the effects of demand smooth ness and mean demand on the solution quality associated with four prom inent heuristic methods. Indicates that both characteristics can affec t the performance of the heuristic methods. An especially important fi nding is that the two methods which use information from linear progra mming solutions are far more robust to changes in the degree of demand smoothness. Concludes that managers should consider linear programmin g methods as an alternative or supplement for making their scheduling decisions. Also recommends that labour scheduling researchers use mult iple levels of mean demand and demand smoothness when evaluating new h euristic methods.