Queuing Systems

Chapter 17
Chapter Topics

Elements of Waiting Line Analysis

Single-Server Waiting Line System
Undefined and Constant Service Times
Finite Queue Length
Finite Calling Problem
Multiple-Server Waiting Line
Addition Types of Queuing Systems
Overview

People and products spent significant amount of time in

waiting lines
Providing quick service is an important aspect of customer
service
Trade-off between the cost of improving service and the
costs associated with making customers wait
A probabilistic form of analysis
Results are referred to as operating characteristics
Results are used to make decisions
Elements of Waiting Line Analysis

Waiting lines form because people arrive at a service faster than

they can be served
Not arrive at a constant rate nor are they served in an equal
amount of time
Have an average rate of customer arrivals and an average
service time
Decisions are based on these averages for customer arrivals and
service times
Formulas are used to compute operating characteristics
Single-Server Waiting Line System

Components include:
Arrivals (customers), servers, (cash register/operator),
customers in line form a waiting line
Factors to consider:
queue discipline.
nature of the calling population
arrival rate
service rate.
Component Definitions

Queue Discipline: order in which customers are served

(FIFO, LIFO, or randomly)
Calling Population: source of customers (infinite or finite)
Arrival Rate: Frequency at which customers arrive at a
waiting line according to a probability distribution (Poisson
distribution)
Service Rate: Average number of customers that can be
served during a time period (negative exponential
distribution)
Single-Server Waiting Line System
Single-Server Model
Assumptions:
An infinite calling population
A first-come, first-served queue discipline
Poisson arrival rate
Exponential service times
Symbology:
= the arrival rate (average number of arrivals/time
period)
= the service rate (average number served/time period)
Customers must be served faster than they arrive ( < )
Single-Server Queuing Formulas

Probability that no customers are in the waiting line:

Po 1

Probability that n customers are in the waiting line:

n n







Pn Po 1

Average number of customers in system: L and

waiting line:
Lq 2

SSingle-Server Queuing Formulas

Average time customer spends waiting and being served:

W 1 L

Average time customer spends waiting in the queue:
Wq

Probability that server is busy (utilization factor): U

Probability that server is idle: I 1U 1

Characteristics for Fast Shop Market

= 24 customers per hour arrive at checkout counter

= 30 customers per hour can be checked out


Po 1 (1 - 24/30)

.20 probabilit y of no customers in the system

L 24/(30 - 24) 4 customers on the avg in the system

2
Lq

(24)2/[30(30 - 24)] 3.2 customers on the avg in the waiting line

Characteristics for Fast Shop Market

W 1 L 1/[30 - 24]

0.167 hour (10 min) avg time in the system per customer

Wq 24/[30(30 - 24)]

0.133 hour (8 min) avg time in the waiting line

U
24/30
.80 probabilit y server busy, .20 probabilit y server will be idle
Steady-State Operating Characteristics

Utilization factor, U, must be less than one:

U < 1,or / < 1 and < .
Ratio of the arrival rate to the service rate must be
less than one or, the service rate must be greater
than the arrival rate
Server must be able to serve customers faster than
the arrival rate in the long run, or waiting line will
grow to infinite size.
Single-Server Waiting Line System
Effect of Operating Characteristics (1 of 6)
Wish to test several alternatives for reducing customer
waiting time:
Addition of another employee to pack up purchases
Addition of another checkout counter.
Alternative 1: Addition of an employee raises service rate
from = 30 to = 40 customers
Cost $150 per week, avoids loss of $75 per week for
each minute of reduced customer waiting time
System operating characteristics with new parameters:
Po = .40 probability of no customers in the system
L = 1.5 customers on the average in the queuing system
Effect of Operating Characteristics

System operating characteristics with new

parameters (continued):
Lq = 0.90 customer on the average in the waiting line
W = 0.063 hour average time in the system per customer
Wq = 0.038 hour average time in the waiting line per customer
U = .60 probability that server is busy and customer must wait
I = .40 probability that server is available
Average customer waiting time reduced from 8 to 2.25
minutes worth $431.25 =(8-2.25)($75) per week.
Effect of Operating Characteristics

Alternative 2: Addition of a new checkout counter ($6,000

plus $200 per week for additional cashier).
= 24/2 = 12 customers per hour per checkout counter
= 30 customers per hour at each counter
System operating characteristics with new parameters:
Po = .60 probability of no customers in the system
L = 0.67 customer in the queuing system
Lq = 0.27 customer in the waiting line
W = 0.055 hour per customer in the system
Wq = 0.022 hour per customer in the waiting line
U = .40 probability that a customer must wait
I = .60 probability that server is idle
Effect of Operating Characteristics

Savings from reduced waiting time worth $500= (8-

1.33)($75) per week - $200 = $300 net savings per week.
After $6,000 recovered, alternative 2 would provide $300 -
281.25 = $18.75 more savings per week.
Undefined and Constant Service Times

Constant occurs with machinery and automated equipment

Constant service times are a special case of the single-
server model with undefined service times
Queuing formulas:

Po 1 Wq Lq

2
/
2 2
1
Lq W Wq
21 /

L Lq
U
Undefined Service Times Example

Data: Arrival rate of 20 customers per hour (Poisson

distributed); undefined service time with mean of 2
minutes, standard deviation of 4 minutes.
Operating characteristics:
Po 1
1 20 .33 probability that machine not in use
30
2 2 2 2
/
2 2




20 1/15 20 / 30






Lq

21 / 21 20 / 30

3.33 employees waiting in line

L Lq
3.33 (20/ 30)
4.0 employees in line and using the machine
Undefined Service Times Example (2 of 2)

Operating characteristics (continued):

Wq Lq 3.33 0.1665 hour 10 minutes waiting time

20
1 0.1665 1 0.1998 hour
W Wq
30
12 minutes in the system
20 67% machine utilizatio n
U
30
Constant Service Times Formulas

No variability in service times; = 0.

Substituting = 0 into equations:

2 2 2 2 2
/ 0 /
2 2
/

2
Lq
21 /

21 /

21 / 2


All remaining formulas are the same
Constant Service Times Example

Inspecting one car at a time; constant service time of 4.5

minutes; arrival rate of customers of 10 per hour (Poisson
distributed).
Determine average length of waiting line and average
waiting time
= 10 cars per hour, = 60/4.5 = 13.3 cars per hour

Lq 2 (10)2 1.14 cars waiting

2 ( ) 2(13.3)(13.3 10)

Wq Lq 1.14 0.114 hour or 6.84 minutes waiting time

10
Finite Queue Length

Length of the queue is limited.

Operating characteristics:
M is the maximum number in the system:
n
Po 1 /
for n M
Pn (Po)

1 ( / )M 1

M 1
L / ( M 1)( / ) Lq L (1PM )
1 / 1 ( / )M 1

W L 1
Wq W
(1 PM )
Finite Queue Length Example

Limited parking space (one vehicle in service and three waiting for
service)
Mean time between arrivals of customers is 3 minutes and mean
service time is 2 minutes (both inter-arrival times and service times are
exponentially distributed)
Maximum number of vehicles in the system equals 4.
Operating characteristics for = 20, = 30, M = 4:

Po 1 / 1 20/ 30 .38 prob. that system is empty

1 ( / )M 1 1 (20/ 30)5
nM 4
PM (Po)

(.38) 20 .076 prob. that system is full









30

Example-Cont.

Average queue lengths and waiting times:

/ ( M 1)( / ) M 1
L
1 / 1 ( / )M 1

20 30 (5)(20 / 30)5
L / 1.24 cars in the system
1 20 / 30 1 (20 / 30)5

Lq L (1PM ) 1.24 20(1.076) 0.62 cars waiting

30

W L 1.24 0.067 hours waiting in the system

(1 PM ) 20(1.076)
1 0.067 1 0.033 hour waiting in line
Wq W
30
Finite Calling Population

There is a limited number of potential customers that can

call on the system.
Operating characteristics (Poisson arrival and exponential
service times):
Po 1
n
N N!
( N n)!
n0

where N population size, and n 1, 2,...N

n
Pn N!

Po


Lq N




(1 Po)

( N n)!

L Lq (1 Po) Wq Lq 1
W Wq
( N L)
Finite Calling Population Example

20 machines; each machine operates an average of 200

hours before breaking down; average time to repair is 3.6
hours; breakdown rate is Poisson distributed, service time
is exponentially distributed.
Is repair staff sufficient?
= 1/200 hour = .005 per hour
= 1/3.6 hour = .2778 per hour
N = 20 machines
Finite Calling Population Example

Po 1 .652
20 20! .005
n
(20 n)!.2778
n0

Lq 20 .005 .2778 1.652 .169 machines waiting

.005

L .169 (1.652) .520 machines in the system

Wq .169 1.74 hours waiting for repair

(20 .520)(.005)

W 1.74 1 5.33 hours in the system

.2778
System seems inadequate.
Multiple-Server Waiting Line

Two or more independent servers in parallel serve a single

waiting line; first-come, first-served basis
Assumptions:
First-come first-served queue discipline
Poisson arrivals, exponential service times
Infinite calling population.

Parameter definitions:
= arrival rate (average number of arrivals per time period)
= the service rate (average number served per time period) per server
(channel)
c = number of servers
c = mean effective service rate for the system (must exceed arrival rate)
Multiple-Server Waiting Line: Formulas

Po 1 prob. no customers in system

nc1 1 n c
c
1



n!


c!

c


n0

n


Pn nc Po for n c
1
c!c

n


Pn n Po for n c prob. of n customers in system
1

L ( / )c Po average customers in the system

(c 1)!(c )2

W L average time customer spends in the system

average number of customers in the queue
Lq L

1 Lq average time customer is in the queue

Wq W

c c


1
Pw Po probabilit y customer must wait for service
c! c
Example

= 10, = 4, c = 3
Po 1

0

1

2
3


1 10



1 10 1 10










1 10 3(4)


0! 4



1! 4



2! 4






3! 4 3(4) 10

.045 prob. of no customers

3
L (10)(4)(10 / 4) (.045) 10 6 customers on average in service department
(31)![3(4) 10]2 4

W 6 0.60 hour average customer t ime in the service department

10

Lq 6 10 3.5 customers on the average waiting to be served

4
Wq 3.5 0.35 hour average waiting time in line per customer
10

3 3(4)
Pw
1 10
(.045) .703 prob. customer must wait for service
3! 4 3(4) 10
Notation Used for Waiting Line Models
Kendal suggested A/B/k
A: Denotes the prob. Distribution for the arrival
B: Denotes the prob. Distribution for the service time
k: Denotes of channels
Letters commonly used
M: designates a Poisson prob. Dist. For the arrivals or an exp.
prob. dist. for the service time
D: designates that arrivals or the service time is deterministic
G: designates that the arrivals or the service time has a general
prob. Dist. With a known mean and variance
M/M/1: single-server with Poisson arrivals and exp. service time
M/M/2: two-server with Poisson arrivals and exp. service time
M/G/1: single-server with Poisson arrivals and arbitrary service
time
 Problem#1
A single server queuing system with an
infinite calling population and a FIFO
discipline has the following arrival and
service rates:
16 customers/hour
24 customers/hour
Determine P0, P3, L, Lq, W, Wq, and U