3.4-11. Larry Edison is the director of the Computer Center for the Buckly College.

He now
needs to schedule the staffing of the center. It is open from 8 am until midnight. Larry has
monitored the usage of the center at various times of the day, and determined that the following
number of computer consultants are required:

Time of the Day Minimum Number of Consultants Required

to be on Duty
8 am – Noon 4
Noon – 4 pm 8
4 pm – 8 pm 10
8 pm – Midnight 6

Two types of computer consultants can be hired: full-time and part-time. The full-time
consultants work for 8 hours a day in any time of the following shifts: morning (8am – 4pm),
afternoon (noon- 8pm) and evening (4pm – midnight). Full-time consultants are paid $40 per
hour.

Part-time consultants can be hired to work of any of the 4 shifts listed in the above table.
Part-time consultants are paid $30 per hour.

An additional requirement is that during every time period, there must be at least 2-full-
time consultants on duty for every for every part-time consultant on duty.

Larry would like to determine how many full-time and how many part-time workers
should work each shift to meet the above requirements at minimum possible cost.

a. Formulate a linear programming model for this problem

b. Solve this model by the simplex method

Solutions:

a. Linear Programming model

Let ft1 = number of full-time consultants working the morning shift (8 a.m.-4 p.m.)

ft2 = number of full-time consultants working the afternoon shift (Noon-8 p.m.)

ft3 = number of full-time consultants working the evening shift (4 p.m.-midnight)

 pt 1 = number of part-time consultants working the first shift (8 a.m.-noon)

pt 2 = number of part-time consultants working the second shift (Noon-4 p.m.)

pt 3 = number of part-time consultants working the third shift (4 p.m.-8 p.m.)

pt 4 = number of part-time consultants working the fourth shift (8 p.m.-midnight)

Minimize

C  (40  8)  ( ft1  ft2  ft3 )  (30  4)  ( pt1  pt 2  pt 3  pt 4 )

Constraints

ft1  pt1  4
ft1  ft2  pt2  8
ft2  ft3  pt3  10
ft3  pt4  6
ft1  2 pt1
ft1  ft2  2 pt2
ft2  ft3  2 pt3
ft3  2 pt4
ft1 , ft2 , ft3 , pt1 , pt2 , pt3 , pt4  0

b. Simplex Model

Total cost Variables Constraints Inequalities Constants

4106.667 Full-time 1 (8am-4pm) 2.666667 4 >= 4
Full-time 2(noon -
2.666667 8 >= 8
8pm)
Full-time 3(4pm-
4 10 >= 10
midnight)
part-time 1(8am-noon) 1.333333 6 >= 6
part-time 2(noon-4pm) 2.666667 0 >= 0
part-time 3(4pm-8pm) 3.333333 0 >= 0
part-time 4(8pm-
2 0 >= 0
midnight)
0 >= 0
2.666666667 >= 0
2.666666667 >= 0
4 >= 0
1.333333333 >= 0
 2.666666667 >= 0
3.333333333 >= 0
2 >= 0

Microsoft Excel 16.0 Sensitivity Report

Worksheet: [Book1]Sheet1
Report Created: 11/03/2019 10:40:44 PM

Variable Cells
Final Reduced Objective Allowable Allowable
Cell Name Value Cost Coefficient Increase Decrease
$L$10 ft1 2.666666667 0 320 0 80
$L$11 ft2 2.666666667 0 320 80 0
$L$12 ft3 4 0 320 1E+30 80
$L$13 pt1 1.333333333 0 120 80 0
$L$14 pt2 2.666666667 0 120 80 520
$L$15 pt3 3.333333333 0 120 0 360
$L$16 pt4 2 0 120 80 520

Constraints
Final Shadow Constraint Allowable Allowable
Cell Name Value Price R.H. Side Increase Decrease
$M$10 Constraints 4 120 4 0 1.333333333
$M$11 Constraints 8 173.3333333 8 2 0
$M$12 Constraints 10 120 10 0 2
$M$13 Constraints 6 173.3333333 6 2 0
$M$14 Constraints 0 0 0 0 1E+30
$M$15 Constraints 0 26.66666667 0 4 0
$M$16 Constraints 0 0 0 0 4
$M$17 Constraints 0 26.66666667 0 4 0
$M$18 Constraints 2.666666667 0 0 2.666666667 1E+30
$M$19 Constraints 2.666666667 0 0 2.666666667 1E+30
$M$20 Constraints 4 0 0 4 1E+30
$M$21 Constraints 1.333333333 0 0 1.333333333 1E+30
$M$22 Constraints 2.666666667 0 0 2.666666667 1E+30
$M$23 Constraints 3.333333333 0 0 3.333333333 1E+30
$M$24 Constraints 2 0 0 2 1E+30

The optimal solution has fractional components: 2.666667, 2.666667, 4, 1.333333,

2.666667, 3.333333, and 2. If the number of consultants have to be integer, then the problem
is an integer programming problem and the solution is (3,3,4,1,3,3,2) with cost of $4,106.667.