Determining the optimal operator allocation in SME's food manufacturing company using computer simulation and data envelopment analysis

Abstract

In a labor intensive manufacturing system, optimal operator allocation is one of the most important decisions in determining the efficiency of the system. In this paper, ten operator allocation alternatives are identified using the computer simulation ARENA. Two inputs; average wait time and average cycle time and two outputs; average operator utilization and total packet values of each alternative are generated. Four Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models; CCR, BCC, MCDEA and AHP/DEA are used to determine the optimal operator allocation at one of the SME food manufacturing companies in Selangor. The results of all four DEA models showed that the optimal operator allocation is six operators at peeling process, three operators at washing and slicing process, three operators at frying process and two operators at packaging process.