An efficient two-phase algorithm for cyclic days-off scheduling

An efficient two-phase algorithm is presented for serving the cyclic manpower days-off scheduling problem with two consecutive off days per week. First, a simple formula is used to calculate the minimum workforce size. Next, this minimum is incorporated as a constraint in a continuous linear programming (LP) model of the problem, ensuring an optimum integer solution. The new algorithm can handle the case in which the costs of different days-off patterns are not equal. Computational experience with 1250 test problems shows this algorithm to be significantly more efficient than other available solution methods. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.