Back Issues 11-20

INNOVATIVE FRAMEWORK FOR SKILL SPECIFIC WORKLOAD VARIANCE REDUCTION FOR SRI LANKAN AIRLINES TECHNICAL WORKFORCE CAPACITY PLANNING

Thusitha Rodrigo
School of Management, Huazhong University of
Science and Technology, Wuhan, P.R. China
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Abstract

Employee workload variance is a significant issue in skill specific airline ground opera-tions. This study presents a dual objective capacity assignment model with interdependent objectives of operational cost minimization and workload variance minimization. An inno-vative metaheuristic Tabu Search algorithm is used for solution where equilibrium of the objectives are derived from a feasibility frontier. A numerical experiment is conducted with real time data of Sri Lankan airlines technical workforce segment and the results indicates a significant 70.13% variance minimization compared to manual assignment with a simulta-neous cost saving of 2.58% at a substantially lesser planning time. An inverse relationship is observed between job distribution and the workload variance which explains the ineffi-ciencies in manual capacity assignment. The proposed framework enhances the operational planning flexibility as well in terms of interconnected adjustment feasibility of workload variance and workforce cost.

Keywords: Airline ground operations, workforce variance, cost minimization, planning flexibility, heuristics

Attachments:

0919 Final.pdf

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