Reducing production cycle time by ergonomic workforce scheduling

Job rotation and allocation problems play important roles in the workforce scheduling domain. In this paper, the ergonomic considerations are employed for determining an efficient workforce schedule for a given planning period. This schedule contains both worker assignment and rotating among the workstations in a production line. Ergonomic adequation level between job and operator is the basis for the assignment. The studied production system is a continuous assembly line that must work all seven days a week. In the research, the main objective is to analyse the impact of the adequation level between workers and jobs on the operation time of the operators. In this way, an integer linear mathematical model is proposed to reduce the daily production cycle time by an ergonomic workforce scheduling. The model is solved by applying an optimization software named GUROBI. The output of the model is an optimal ergonomic worker assignment to different posts that can be changed from a day to another during a given planning period.