SmartShift: Intelligent Shift Planning with AI

SmartShift is an AI-powered warehouse workforce rebalancing system that revolutionizes how managers handle zone overloads and shift planning. Built in collaboration with IBM Bob as an AI development partner, this project demonstrates the power of human-AI collaboration in solving real-world operational challenges. THE PROBLEM: Warehouse managers face a daily challenge: when a zone becomes overloaded, they spend 2-3 hours manually analyzing worker data, checking skills, availability, and workload to find suitable candidates for rebalancing. THE SOLUTION: SmartShift transforms this process using advanced AI technology. Managers simply describe the problem in natural language (e.g., "Zone A quality inspection is overloaded, need help"), and our system analyzes all workers in 15 seconds using: • CrewAI Multi-Agent System: Two specialized AI agents (Skill Matcher and Shift Planner) work together to analyze and recommend optimal candidates • ChromaDB Vector Database: Semantic search that understands "quality inspection" means "Quality Inspector" skills, going beyond simple keyword matching • Factor Analysis: Considers primary skills, transferable skills, current workload etc • OpenRouter Integration: Uses Qwen 2.5 72B model for intelligent decision TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION: Built with FastAPI backend and Next.js frontend, deployed on Hugging Face Spaces and Vercel. The system features real-time workforce dashboards, interactive worker tables with pagination, and detailed AI-generated recommendations with explanations. IBM BOB'S ROLE: IBM Bob was instrumental throughout development, helping architect the multi-agent system, debug integration issues, optimize the vector search implementation, and migrate to a cost-effective deployment strategy. This project showcases AI-assisted development at its best. SmartShift is production-ready, fully deployed, and solving real warehouse management problems today.