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BLENDING, DIET AND FEED-MIX PROBLEMS 157

MANAGEMENT SCIENCE IN ACTION

Pilot Staffing and Training at Continental Airlines
aking sure that you have the right staff with the comprised four inter-connected models. The Staffing
M right skills in the right place at the right time is model looked at current staff availability, expected staff
critical for any organization. For large organizations demand, new staff recruitment and staff losses to iden-
workforce planning and scheduling is not a trivial tify staff shortage and surpluses. The Vacation model
task and typically takes time and resources to get analyzed the vacation periods available to pilots to
right. No wonder that organizations are keen to bet- avoid staff shortages at peak demand periods. The
ter planning and scheduling methods available Planning Optimization model matched pilot availability
through the application of MS models. Continental with the airline’s operational requirements. Finally, the
Airlines did just that and has saved an estimated Training Optimization model developed a staff training
US$10 million a year as a result. The airline operates plan for pilots undertaking training and development,
a complex global flight schedule with over 1100 for example to qualify to fly a different type of aeroplane.
flights each day utilizing around 350 aircraft of differ- The integrated modelling approach has not only cut
ent types. Amongst its 44 000 employees it has costs and saved time but has also allowed the staff
around 4500 pilots based at its four main crew loca- planners to examine alternative options and led to a
tions. Clearly on a routine basis the company has to change in the way the airline plans its pilot staffing and
make sure its pilots are matched properly to flights training. Darryal Chadler, Director of Crew Resources
and to aircraft but this is a complex task involving a and Administration at Continental commented ‘Solver
number of factors: the start and end points of the provides the opportunity to run numerous scenarios to
flight; the flight duration; the type of aircraft; the select the optimal plan that will meet the airline’s flying
training and experience of the pilot. On top of this, requirement. .. . The system will be an invaluable tool
staff preferences also need to be taken into account – that will help us maintain pilot productivity as we manage
the type of aircraft the pilot prefers to fly; the type of our business in the future’.
flight schedule they prefer; holiday and family com-
Based on G. Yu, J. Pachon, B. Thengvall, D. Chandler and A. Wilson,
mitments and so on. The company developed a
‘Optimizing Pilot Planning and Training for Continental Airlines’, Inter-
decision support system, CrewResourceSolver, that faces 34 4 (2004): 253–64.

chemical industry producing drugs, medicines, fertilizers, etc., to the food industry
where different foodstuffs have to be mixed together to produce some food item or a
The blending problem balanced meal.
was first applied to the The Delta Oil Company (DOC) operates in Nigeria and runs an oil refinery that
Philadelphia Refinery of blends three different petroleum components into two different fuels. The fuels are
Gulf Oil in the 1950s
sold on to fuel companies around the world depending on demand and worldwide
fuel prices. The company calculates its costs and profits using the US$. The company
is trying to plan its daily production. Currently DOC estimates it can sell its regular
fuel at $1 per litre and its premium fuel at $1.08 per litre. The cost of the three
petroleum components that it uses are shown in Table 4.9, together with available
quantities.
Product specifications for the regular and premium fuels restrict the amounts of
each component that can be used in each gasoline product. Table 4.10 lists the
product specifications. Current commitments to customers require DOC to produce
at least 10 000 litres of regular fuel each day.
The DOC blending problem is to determine how many litres of each component
should be used in the regular blend and how many should be used in the premium
blend. The optimal blending solution should maximize the firm’s profit, subject to
the constraints on the available petroleum supplies shown in Table 4.9, the product
specifications shown in Table 4.10, and the required 10 000 litres of regular fuel.

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