Sales People Training Programme Scheduling Using Multiple Objective Linear Programming: Case Study of an Indonesian Motorcycle Distributor
Keywords:
Salespeople, Scheduling, Forecasting, Multiple Objective Linear Programming, Winter-HoltzAbstract
One of the problems that has to be overcome by a motorcycle distributor is how best to deliver an effective product knowledge training programme to a new salesman working in a motorcycle dealership. Scheduling such a training programme essentially means a trade-off between maximizing the number of salesmen that can be trained and minimizing the training costs. Based on the collected data, there are numerous motorcycle dealers citywide and it will not be possible for a motorcycle distributor company to conduct a training programme in each city exclusively, therefore, a coverage area policy is applied. In total, there are 5 coverage areas and a training activity will be delivered in each of these areas. One method that can be used to predict the number of new salesmen trained in these areas is the winter-holtz method, whereby multiple-objective linear programming (MOLP) is used to schedule the training programme in these coverage areas based on the forecasting result. The proposed optimization method (finding a trade-off between trained sales people maximization and training cost minimization) is best compared to the current optimization method applied by the company (only maximizing the number of trained sales people) or indeed linear programming to solely minimize the training cost. The application of MOLPprovides 3% less trained sales people compared to the current optimization method applied by the company and reduces the training cost by up to 19.8%.
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