Method to Estimate Needed Personnel for Production of Akkawi and Kashkaval Cheese: A Case Study

Abstract

Calculating staffing needs is part of human resource planning, the process of analyzing and identifying staffing gaps and surpluses. Various formulas are used to estimate and predict staffing needs, based on the company’s historical and estimated performance data such as sales and production numbers. Human resource planning focuses on staffing the organization with the right number of personnel with the required skills when needed to meet business objectives in the short and long term. However, very few depend on the actual process and the target needs. For this purpose, this method was developed as a management tool of two production lines with four rules of thumb. Each movement by a human worker is considered as one second per unit. When an action involves processing, transferring more than one unit, it is considered one second per process or transfer. When a machine is processing huge numbers of units, it is considered one second per machine stage. The technical efficiency of labor was set at 89%. The above-mentioned method was applied on an Akkawi and a kashkaval production line and the results were validated and proper allocation of personnel increase the production of both by at least 1.2 times.