This paper presents a Pinch Analysis-based methodology for general shift scheduling problems with task-based demand. Shift scheduling, which is a subset of staff scheduling is a widely researched field that has recently received more attention because of the great potential to reduce labour costs in organizations by optimizing staff schedules. Although several mathematical approaches such as mixed integer programming and linear programming methods exist in literature and commercial scheduling software are available, the visual nature of pinch analysis would make scheduling easier and more flexible for organizations by enabling them to understand the effects of employee leave, deadline shifts and other schedule changes on the overall minimum outsourcing required. The method proposed in this paper extends previous work on improving shift schedules through pinch analysis, now enabling the targeting of overall minimum outsourcing required for larger groups of employees through a Total Time Pinch Diagram.
