Joint Determination of Machine Requirements and Shift Scheduling in Banking Operations

In a recent article in this journal Krajewski, Ritzman, and McKenzie [Krajewski, L. J., L. P. Ritzman, P. McKenzie. 1980. Shift scheduling in banking operations: A case application. Interfaces10 (2, April).] described a linear programming approach for shift scheduling of encoder operations in commercial banks. Their methodology uses a one-week time horizon, thereby recognizing the need to satisfy personnel considerations while responding to substantial day-to-day volume fluctuations. As part of the sensitivity analysis, they performed a series of runs to determine the sensitivity of machine requirements to changes in the weekly volume of check arrivals. One set of runs used expected check arrivals while another set used a “worst case” series of check arrivals. With a minimal change in their formulation, the optimal number of machines for any volume of check arrivals could be determined directly.