MBA $502$ Case $2$ Scenario: Davis Instruments

Davis Instruments has two manufacturing plants located in Atlanta, Georgia. Product demand varies considerably

from month to month, causing Davis extreme difficulty in workforce scheduling. Recently Davis started hiring

temporary workers supplied by Workforce Unlimited, a company that specializes in providing temporary employees

for firms in the greater Atlanta area. Workforce Unlimited offered to provide temporary employees under three

contract options that differ in terms of the length of employment and the cost. The three options are as follow:

The longer contract periods are more expensive because Workforce Unlimited experiences greater difficulty finding

temporary workers who are willing to commit to longer work assignments.

Over the next $6$ months, Davis projects the following needs for additional employees:

Each month, Davis can hire as many temporary employees as needed under each of the three options. For instance,

if Davis hires $5$ employees in January under Option B$,$ Workforce Unlimited will supply Davis with $5$ temporary

workers who will work for two months: January and February. For these workers, Davis will have to pay $5($$$4800)=$

$$24,000.$ Because obligations for some merger negotiations underway, Davis does not want to commit to any

contractual obligations for temporary employees that extend beyond June.

Davis's quality control program requires each temporary employee to receive training at the time of hire. The

training program is required even if the person worked for Davis Instruments in the past. Davis estimates that the

cost of training is $$875$ each time a temporary employee is hired. Thus, if a temporary employee is hired for one

month, Davis will incur a training cost of $$875,$ but will incur no additional training cost if the employee is on a two$-$

or three$-$month contract.

Due to its tight budget, Davis Instruments cannot afford expensive consulting services to help them determine what

the firm should do when it comes to scheduling its temporary workforce. Sharon, one of the managers, suggested

that the firm can contact the MBA program of a nearby local college and request assistance from some of the MBA

students. She believes the MBA students will be able to help the firm map out its staffing plan.

should hire each month under each contract plan in order to meet the projected needs at a minimum total cost. In

addition, there are also a few issues that also need to be addressed:

Please answer this in Excel with Solver, show the solution and template, along with the solver prompt.