Initial problem research including a minimum of 10 references; 7 minimum must be from real journals or books, others can be from the internet (but must have proper formatting and information in the bilbiograpy – do not simply insert a website).
Here is the the problem summary:
Petsmart is struggling with determining the current and future employee headcount required in each job function of distribution center given recent volume trends and projections. They want to develop a tool that ensures limited employee resources are appropriately aligned to help reduce bottlenecks and breakdowns in their production. The tool will help to maintain a steady flow in their production flow. Moreover, they have not develop a tool to measure the overall output capacity of the facility in terms of PetSmart’s productivity KPI (Units Per Hour). Therefore, the main focus will be to develop a tool to determine the current and future employee headcount and to measure the overall output capacity of the facility. The project will begin by observing each job function in the fish distribution center, then move to observing the different job functions in the main part of the distribution center. Although the project is based at PetSmart’s Phoenix DC, opportunities exist to expand the project to other DCs in the network and will be examined if time permits.
Key Objectives:
• Measuring the current UPH (direct and Indirect) for each job function
• Measuring the maximum UPH (direct and Indirect) for each job function
• Developing a staffing module to determine the current and future employee headcount for each job function
• The staffing model must capture the seasonality when their will be high volume of demand
• Deterring the UPH based on the staffing model which will help with the financial plan for Petsmat
• Developing a module to increase the production capacity