Japanese Hotel Achieves Productivity Gains, Better Forecasting Using WINWORKS and ILOG CPLEX

Logistics Insight Asia - New Products, 21/10/2008

ILOG and WINWORKS recently announced that Japanese Hotel Okura Frontier Hotel Tsukuba has deployed ILOG CPLEX as part of WINWORKS One workforce scheduling software to calculate and identify an optimal work schedule for hotel personnel. Using the optimization-based tool, the hotel achieved productivity gains of 20 percent during peak times and 14 percent on average using the combined solution for customer forecasting and to implement effective work schedules in its restaurant Camellia. Productivity gains are measured in this instance by the number of customers served per employee per hour.

Previously, Okura Hotel did its workforce scheduling by hand. In addition to automating the scheduling process, Okura Hotel wanted a solution that would reduce unnecessary resources - for instance, by avoiding having too many employees during slow periods - and would adapt personnel schedules to the forecasted number of customers. Any solution also had to take into account work-related rules unique to the restaurant - such as employment rules, regulations under the Labor Standards Law, terms and conditions of employment contracts or skills of individuals and shift rules. Also, events such as days off, training, or business trips of each employee needed to be taken into consideration.

By using WINWORKS One and ILOG CPLEX, the restaurant Camellia of Okura
Frontier Hotel Tsukuba has improved the accuracy of work schedules by defining staff schedules and work rules that correspond to the hotel room or banquet reservations. The hotel management has also improved employee satisfaction by providing schedules that reflect individual preferences, which ensured a fair distribution of shifts between the employees.

During development WINWORKS has been able to obtain the number of customers from Point of Sale (POS) data, analyze the trends and create a model, which forecasts the number of customers per hour for each day. By using this model, the Camellia estimates how many staff members are required for each hour of the work schedule.

Since the software can balance demand forecasts, work regulations and staff schedules, it has reduced staff during low demand periods and provided for additional personnel during busy hours. This process has considerably improved the efficiency of customer service and minimized lost sales opportunities.

WINWORKS, www.win-works.com.
ILOG, www.ilog.com.