Turfing

We discuss both the analytical methods and some implementation considerations involved in enriching the job of telephone repairpersons/installers by letting each take full responsibility for all jobs within his own territory, or “turf.” For the problem of carving the region into turfs, which bears a great similarity to the political districting problem, we use a highly interactive software system at the heart of which is a heuristic algorithm combining shortest path, minimum cost flow, and enumerative techniques. We also discuss a stochastic model of the work backlog in a turf, based on the variability of the demand for service. Preliminary experience seems to indicate that this mode of operation is both workable and desirable. It should therefore be noted that, while the discussion takes place in the context of telephone repairpersons/installers, it is of considerably wider applicability.