PharmaPlus operates a chain of 30 pharmacies. The pharmacies are staffed by licensed pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. The company currently employs 85 full-time equivalent pharmacists (combination of full time and part time) and 175 full-time equivalent technicians. Each spring management reviews current staffing levels and makes hiring plans for the year. A recent forecast of the prescription load for the next year shows that at least 257 full-time equivalent employees (pharmacists and technicians) will be required to staff the pharmacies. The personnel department expects 10 pharmacists and 30 technicians to leave over the next year. To accommodate the expected attrition and prepare for future growth, management stated that at least 15 new pharmacists must be hired. In addition, PharmaPlus's new service quality guidelines specify no more than two technicians per licensed pharmacist. The average salary for licensed pharmacists is $60 per hour and the average salary for technicians is $15 per hour.

(a)

Determine a minimum-cost staffing plan for PharmaPlus. (Let P be the number of full-time equivalent pharmacists. Let Tbe the number of full-time equivalent technicians.)

Min

s.t.Employees (pharmacists and technicians) required Service quality guideline Pharmacists employed

P, T 0

How many pharmacists and technicians are needed? What is the Optimal Objective Value?

$ at(P, T) =

(b)

Given current staffing levels and expected attrition, how many new hires (if any) must be made to reach the level recommended in part (a)?

Additional Pharmacists to hireAdditional Technicians to hire

What will be the impact on the payroll?

The payroll cost using the current levels of 85 pharmacists and 175 technicians is $ per hour. The payroll cost using the optimal solution in part (a) is $ per hour. Thus, the payroll cost will go ---Select--- up down by $