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| Emergency roadside services rely on good rostering and scheduling to meet
customers' demands. |
Optimising Roadside Services
Client: RACV
It's raining. The car battery is flat and you've called for roadside service. How long
will you wait? It's a complex mathematical question.
What if?
The RACV need to know whether service performance is enhanced if, for example, a patrol
is moved from one place to another, and whether changes to patrol logistics could reduce
waiting times without increasing costs. However, making changes to such a complex system,
while in operation, is risky and expensive. Small changes that have not previously been
tested may have large, unpredictable effects. Some changes might even adversely effect the
service, while others may be impractical to test.
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| Emergency roadside services rely on good rostering and scheduling to make
sure that customers aren’t kept waiting too long at the side of the road.
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Finding solutions: Computer modelling
A lower risk alternative is to build a computer model and test proposed changes on
that. Technical Operations Analyst with the RACV, Jim Youngman, hoped that, by using a
'safe' computer model, managers would explore a wider range of alternative strategies.
Youngman approached the CSIRO to develop the simulation model based on RACV data.
"The [CSIRO] Group was very quick to understand
the nature of our problem," Youngman said, "They built a conceptual model that
threw a lot of light on our business. What they produced was a fairly coarse simulation,
but one which has the potential to broadly answer our questions."
The model covers the processing of a service request from its reception to its
allocation to a patrol and the final delivery of the service. It captures the essential
logic and logistics of this complex interactive system. The model quickly provides
statistics on customer waiting times. This enables managers to check rapidly many
"what-if" scenarios and see how possible changes affect service delivery.
CSIRO’s scientists could also help the RACV with rostering their staff. Personnel
costs are the RACV’s highest single expense associated with delivering their
emergency roadside service. Optimising personnel operations, through better scheduling and
rostering, can lead to large savings. CSIRO has expertise in developing simulations on
which to test different staffing arrangements for service and other industries.
Client Feedback
The Group was very quick to understand the nature of our problem. They built a conceptual model that threw light on our business. What they produced was a fairly coarse simulation but one which has potential to broadly answer our questions.
Jim Youngman, RACV
Further Information
Please contact Andreas Ernst
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