Resource allocation and scheduling in workshops with mentally disabled people

Abstract

Workshops with a disabled workforce face a dilemma as they have to pursue economic as well as social objectives. In order to be competitive in the market they may introduce CNC (Computerized Numeric Control) technology to improve productivity, quality, and delivery times. This widens the gap between social and economic objectives, because CNC machines can perform all those operations which can also be carried out by the disabled workers, faster and more accurately. This gap can be bridged by an effective resource allocation which takes into account the especially diverse qualification structure of workforces consisting of disabled and normal workers. This paper presents the development of an EDP (Electronic Data Processing)-based planning tool which assists the planner in finding a compromise between economic objectives, on the one hand, and the well-being, satisfaction and education of the workers, on the other. It also is designed to take into account the special circumstances of employing mentally disabled people. The tool was developed in close cooperation with a workshop with a mainly mentally disabled workforce. Relevance to industry Any metalworking company that employs mentally disabled peoples faces the corresponding problems of personnel allocation and scheduling described in the paper. In some countries (e.g. Germany) companies even have the obligation to employ disabled people to a certain extent. As existing production planning and control (PPC) systems and scheduling algorithms cannot handle these problems a new approach is needed. The tool presented in this paper is a possible solution for these companies.