Solve the Solved Example 5 on pages 342-343 using Excel Solver

Solved Example 4 Labor Scheduling Linear Programming Problem A customer service center needs to schedule enough employees to meet the expected call volumes over the 24 hours of every day. Based on estimated demand, the minimum number of employees required dur- ing each three-hour time interval is given in Table 9.4. The employees can begin their shifts at the starting time of any of these time periods. However, they have to work for exactly six hours. What is (continued D E F G H Obj. Fn. length shift options TABLE 9.4 Constraint LHS Constraint RHS Surplus Time Period the minimum number of employees required to satisfy the require ments? Note that while we keep the problem "simple" by forcing em. Customer Service Center - Labor Scheduling ployees to work six-hour shifts, the approach could easily be modified to allow for the choice of four, five, six-, seven-, eight-hour, or any A B No. of Employees Labor Requirements for Different Time Periods Minimum Number of Customer Service Agents Needed Requirements 12AM-3AM 3AM-6AM 5 12AM 3AM Midnight-3 a.m. 3AM-6AM 4 3 a.m.-6 a.m. 6AM-9AM 8 9AM-12PM 6 a.m.-9 a.m 12PM-3PM 9 a.m.-noon 15 3PM-6PM 6PM-9PM Noon-3p.m. 20 9PM-12AM 3 p.m.-6 p.m. 12 6AM-9AM 9AM-12PM 12PM-3PM 3PM-6PM 6PM-9PM 9PM-12AM 5 4 > 15 20 12 16 8 16 6 p.m.-9 p.m. 9 p.m.-midnight 8