Systems Dynamic Modeling: Planning beyond the Worker

Using Systems Dynamic Modeling, we propose a novel formulation that considers workers as a decision variable with other parameters that are beholden to known, but random demand. Previous applications within the literature focus on estimating manpower to meet production demand for a particular process. We extend that work by including system constraints that are more realistically represent the problem under consideration. The proposed model was used to find configurations of workers, shifts, and work stations that achieve a minimized deviation between output and demand while maintaining a near constant workforce. The system under consideration is a manufacturing environment and the model posits the production of certain product lines that are each composed of a series of disparate operations. The model was tested using real production data and the results show that Systems Dynamic Modeling is an effective method in estimating the long-run resource requirements for the variable demand profiles.