Integrated workforce staffing and scheduling A

Labor costs are amongst the most important costs for companies in highly developed countries. While manufacturers move their production units en masse to low wage countries, service companies are often tied to their current locations. Unlike production, the service surplus value is often directly related to the place where the service is provided. Moreover, service companies generally require more highly educated employees who tend to be scarce in low wage countries. Therefore, modern staffing and rostering software can have great value for these kinds of service companies. The methodology described in this paper was successfully applied for the employee staffing and scheduling problem of Sabena Technics, a major aircraft maintenance company. Sabena Technics takes care of the maintenance for over 300 flights, arriving at and departing from Brussels Airport in a fixed weekly schedule. The maintenance of aircraft needs to be done by highly qualified employees and cannot simply be moved to a low wage country airport.