Question:

Major Airlines wants to train new flight attendants in an economically rational way. The air-line requires a staff of about 1,000 trained attendants to maintain in-flight service. Due to the nature of the job, attendants have a high propensity to quit, with average job tenure being about 2 years; hence the need to train new attendants. Major’s training course takes 6 weeks, after which trainees take 1 week of vacation and travel time before entering the pool from which they are assigned to flight duty as needed to fill vacancies created by attrition. To reduce the dropout rate and ensure the continued availability of trained attendants, Major pays trainees $500 per month while they are training, vacationing, and waiting for assignment.

The cost of the training itself consists mainly of salaries for instructors ($220 per person per week) and support personnel ($80 per person per week). A training team consists of 10 instructors and 10 supporting personnel. The team is paid only for the time engaged in training, and pay is independent of both class size and the number of classes running simultaneously. Assume 50 workweeks in a year.

1. Determine the most economical size of a trainee class, the annual total cost of this policy, and the time interval between starting consecutive classes. Draw the inventory buildup diagram, showing when each batch will begin and end training, when each will take vacation time, and when each will be ready for duty.
2. Now modify the solution in part (a) so that only one class will be in training at one time. Note that this requirement means that a new class must start every 6 weeks. Determine corresponding class size and total annual cost of this operation. Compare your findings for this option with the optimum cost for the option described in part (a) and make a recommendation as to which option Major Airlines should choose.

Price: $2.99

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