TITLE: Personnel Scheduling in the Retail Sector

SPEAKER: Louis-Martin Rousseau (Associate Professor, Department of Mathematical and Industrial Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique Montreal)

ABSTRACT:

This talk will cover the use of data mining techniques as well as Mixed Integer Programming and Constraint Programming Approaches to schedule workforce in retail stores. The objective is to determine the optimal number of employees that should be present at a given time period in order to maximize revenues. The revenue curve can then be used to construct operational schedules that maximized the expected profit, instead of focusing on lowering paid hours. This formulation yields a non linear integer problem, which we tackle with different approaches such constraint programming and MIP (after linearization).