For this problem we are tasked with using the Excel solver function in order to maximize productivity. There is also an error in the description of the problem, not all of the 38 employees must be used. However, all 18 machines must be used.

Alpha Engineering (AE) produces and sells, among many other products, a portable scanner. AE faces challenges in its factory and retail store. Your team is hired to help. AE has 38 employees in its factory. They are categorized by their expertise into three categories: expert (E), experienced (P) and beginner (B). The number of employees in each category is given in Table 1. Table 1: Expertise Summary These three categories differ in their monthly productivity, and employees can team up to raise productivity. For example, an expert working alone can make 15 products per month, while an expert and an experienced employee working together (E+P) can produce 29 products per month. There are a total of seven possible team configurations, shown in Table 2. Table 2: Monthly Productivity Each team occupies a machine (an employee working individually is also considered a team). The company has 18 machines, three of which are old and can only be operated by one employee (of any category). All the employees are hired on salary and the company does not want to recruit or lay off any of them. Assume that labor is a sunk cost and can be ignored in this analysis. Finding a way to form teams for these 38 employees to maximize the factory's monthly productivity becomes AE's first key objective