The Food Bin grocery store operates 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Fred Bulger, the store manager, has been analyzing the efficiency and productivity of store operations recently. Bulger decided to observe the need for checkout clerks on the first shift for a 1-month period. At the end of the month, he calculated the average number of checkout registers that should be open during the first shift each day. His results showed peak needs on Saturdays and Sundays.

Bulger now has to come up with a workforce schedule that guarantees each checkout clerk 2 consecutive days off, but still covers all requirements.

a. Develop a workforce schedule that covers all requirements while giving 2 consecutive days off to each clerk. How many clerks are needed? Assume that the clerks have no preference regarding which days they have off.

b. Plans can be made to use the clerks for other duties if slack or idle time resulting from this schedule can be determined. How much idle time will result from this schedule, and on what days?

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Day Number of Clerks Required M 3 T 4 W GM 5 Th 5 F 4 S 7 Su 8