A Holonic Workforce Sizing Model Based on Demand Trend and Disturbance Rate in Job-shop Production

Abstract

This paper presents a job-shop workforce sizing method developed in the light of Holonic Manufacturing System (HMS). As one of the management paradigms gaining attention worldwide, HMS represents a novel methodology that integrates computers, machines, and humans into a single function unit capable to cope with dynamics in the business environment. Over the decades, the concepts of holons and holonic systems have been adopted in many research fields, but they are scarcely attempted on labour planning. A literature gap exists, thus motivating the author to come up with a holonic model that uses exponential smoothing to forecast some quantitative variables in labour-intensive production. These varying parameters include the machine utilisation that reflects the demand and the worker absenteeism and turnover that constitute the disturbance. Collective equations are formulated to periodically compute the number of workers required. For model validation purpose, twenty-four-month data analysis is conducted on a mock-up basis.