Questions:
1. Set up this problem as an aggregate planning problem and determine the minimum cost plan. Briefly state the tradeoff analysis you used.
2. What factors, other than cost, should be considered in this aggregate planning? Explain.
Lands’ End is a mail and phone order company for clothes.
Like other retailers, its sales surge close to Christmas. The full-time equivalent (FTE) employee requirements for October to December of last year were as follows: October: 4,000 FTE, November: 6,600 FTE, and December: 7,100 FTE. Lands' End employs 4,000 FTE employees throughout the year (3,500 full time and 1,000 half-time). During November and December, Lands' End can employ up to 1,500 additional FTE part-time and temporary' workers (high school students and idle workers from a local cheese factory). Also, Lands’ End can use tip to 2,000 FTE of overtime work (hours worked beyond an eight-hour shift in a day). Each FTE permanent employee receives $3,000 a month. Each FTE of overtime work receives $4,500 a month. Each Temporary' FTE of part-time and temporary workers receives $3,000 a month, but needs an average of $1,000 of training (charged to the first month of employment).