Workforce Scheduling in the Context of Human Performance Variability: The Worker ApproachBentefouet, Frank Unrelated tasksRelated tasksSchedulingIndividual differencesWorker performanceLearningForgettingHeuristics.Industrial EngineeringPHDIt has been discussed that an adequate response to short product life cycle are improvements not only in the efficiency of technical processes but also on the workers involved in the processes. In the same environment on a given task, workers exhibit different levels of productivity. As they continue to perform the task, some quickly become better at it while others slowly improve. When reassigned to the same task after a break, some need more time to retrieve the performance level they displayed before the interruption. The presented research addresses the impact of human performance variability in the worker-to-task allocation problem. The study adopts the task approach concept and focuses on scheduling problems in two configurations: parallel system and serial system. Schedules are obtained from Math program formulations that model production scenarios while including general human productivity function. The investigation starts by establishing structural properties of the proposed mathematical formulations. The established results reduce the mathematical formulations complexity without loss of optimality. The last segment of the presentation is devoted to the insights gained from conducted experiments when considering factors such as workforce heterogeneity, ratio of flexible workers to specialist workers, level of multi-functionality, and transfer of knowledge. David Arthur Nembhard, Dissertation Advisor/Co-AdvisorDavid Arthur Nembhard, Committee Chair/Co-ChairChristopher H Griffin, Committee MemberDr Paul M Griffin, Committee MemberDr Soundar Kumara, Committee Memberopen_access2013-03-10T07:42:57Zhttps://etda.libraries.psu.edu/catalog/16925