Priority-based ergonomic workforce scheduling for industrial workers performing hazardous jobs

Abstract

This paper presents a mathematical model for the multi-objective ergonomic workforce scheduling problem (MO-EWSP). The problem considers three conflicting criteria: (1) workforce size, (2) productivity, and (3) job satisfaction. Four objective functions are developed based on these three criteria, whereas two functions are for the productivity criterion. The MO-EWSP is formulated as a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) problem. Depending on the priority hierarchy, a preemptive optimization approach is applied to find an optimal set of safe daily rotating work schedules for workers. A hypothetical numerical example is presented and solved by the ILOG CPLEX. The result yields the optimal workforce scheduling solution that meets all objectives based on the predefined priority hierarchy.

Keywords:

• Workforce scheduling
• ergonomics hazard exposure
• priority-based solution approach
• multi-objective problem