Problem 1: M/M/1 Performance Evaluation

The arrival rate to a store is 6 customers per hour and follows

Poisson distribution. The service time is 5 min per customer and
follows exponential distribution.
a) Compute Processing time (How long does a customer stay with
the cashier?)
Tp = 5 min.
b) On average how many customers are with cashier?
R= 6/ hr
Rp=1/Tp = 1/5 per min. or 60(1/5) = 12/hr
U= 6/12 = 0.5  Ip = 0.5
Alternatively; RTp = Ip = 6(5/60) = 0.5 =(6/60)5 = 0.5

Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 1

Problem 1: M/M/1 Performance Evaluation
c) On average how many customers in the waiting line?

U C C
2 ( c 1) 2 2
U 2 (11)
12  12
Ii  
a p
Ii  
1U 2 1U 2

Where there is only one server, and both arrival rate and
processing rate follow Poisson Process (that is the same as
when interarrival time and processing time follow exponential
distribution). Then the Ii formula is simplified to

U2 0.52
Ii  Ii  0 .5 2
1U Ii 
1  0.5 0 .5
Ii = 0.5 flow units (customers).
Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 2
Problem 1: M/M/1 Performance Evaluation
d) How long does a customer stay in the waiting line?
Ti =? RTi =Ii 6Ti =0.5 Ti =0.5/6 hr Ti =5 min
e) On average how many customers are in the system? I = ?
I = Ii+Ip  I = 0.5 +0.5 =1
f) On average how long does a customer stay in the system?
T = Ti+Tp  T = 5 + 5 =10

Alternatively RT=I
6T=1 1/6 hr or 10 min

Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 3

Problem 1: M/M/1 Performance Evaluation
g) What if the arrival rate is 11 per hour? Processing rate is still
Rp=12.
U = R/Rp = 11/12
2
 11 
 
U2
    10.08
12
Ii 
1  U 1  11
RTi = Ii
12
11Ti = 10.08
Ti = 10.08/11
Ti = 0.91667 hour
Ti = 0.91667(60) = 55 minutes
Compute the 6-variables for U=0.5 to U =0.99
Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 4
M/M/1 Performance Evaluation
As the utilization rate increases to 1 (100%) the number of
customers in line (system) and the waiting time in line (in
system) is increasing exponentially.
c R Rp U Ii Ti (min) Tp T Ip I
1 6 12 0.50 0.50 5 5 10 0.50 1
1 7 12 0.58 0.82 7 5 12 0.58 1.4
1 8 12 0.67 1.33 10 5 15 0.67 2
1 9 12 0.75 2.25 15 5 20 0.75 3
1 10 12 0.83 4.17 25 5 30 0.83 5
1 11 12 0.92 10.08 55 5 60 0.92 11
1 11.1 12 0.93 11.41 61.7 5 66.7 0.93 12.33
1 11.2 12 0.93 13.07 70 5 75 0.93 14
1 11.3 12 0.94 15.20 80.7 5 85.7 0.94 16.14
1 11.4 12 0.95 18.05 95 5 100 0.95 19
1 11.5 12 0.96 22.04 115 5 120 0.96 23
1 11.6 12 0.97 28.03 145 5 150 0.97 29
1 11.7 12 0.98 38.03 195 5 200 0.98 39
1 11.9 12 0.99 118.01 595 5 600 0.99 119

Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 5

M/M/1 Performance Evaluation

100.00 500.00

90.00 450.00

80.00 400.00

70.00 350.00

60.00 300.00

50.00 250.00

40.00 200.00

30.00 150.00

20.00 100.00

10.00 50.00

0.00 0.00
0.50 0.60 0.70 0.80 0.90 1.00

Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 6

Problem 2: M/M/1 Performance Evaluation
Case 1. An airport runway for arrivals only. Arriving aircraft join
a single line for the runway. Exponentially distributed service
time with a rate 25 arrivals /hour. Poisson arrivals with a rate 18
/ hour. Compute Tp, Ip, Ii, Ti, I, and T.
R= 18 / hr
Rp=25/hr
U= 18/25 = 0.72
Ip = 0.72
Tp = 25 per 1 hours, how long for 1  Tp=1/25 hr or 60(1/25) 
Tp= 2.4 min
Since there is only one server and Poisson processes in both
arrival and service

Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 7

Problem 2: M/M/1 Performance Evaluation

U 2 ( c 1)
Ca 2  Cp 2 U 2 (11)
12  12 U2
Ii   Ii   Ii 
1U 2 1U 2 1U
0.72 2
Ii   1.851429
1  0.72
Ti =? RTi =Ii 18Ti =1.851429 Ti =1.851429/18
Ti =0.102857 hr or 6.171429
T= Ti+Tp = 8.57
I =Ii + Ip = 2.57

R/hr Rp/hr c Tp (min) U Ip Ii Ti (hr) Ti (min) T (min) I

Case 1 18 25 1 2.4 0.72 0.72 1.85 0.10 6.17 8.57 2.57

Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 8

Problem 2: M/M/1 Performance Evaluation
Case 2. Now suppose we are in holidays and the arrival rate
increases to 22 arrivals/hour.
R= 21 / hr, Rp=25/hr  U= 21/25 = 0.84
R/hr Rp/hr c Tp (min) U Ip Ii Ti (hr) Ti (min) T (min) I
Case 1 18 25 1 2.4 0.72 0.72 1.85 0.10 6.17 8.57 2.57
Case 2 21 25 1 2.4 0.84 0.84 4.41 0.21 12.60 15.00 5.25

Case 3. Now suppose we have a bad weather and the service

rate decreases 22 landing /hour.
R= 21 / hr, Rp=22/hr  U= 21/22 = 0.95
R/hr Rp/hr c Tp (min) U Ip Ii Ti (hr) Ti (min) T (min) I
Case 1 18 25 1 2.4 0.72 0.72 1.85 0.10 6.17 8.57 2.57
Case 2 21 25 1 2.4 0.84 0.84 4.41 0.21 12.60 15.00 5.25
Case 3 21 22 1 2.7 0.95 0.95 20.05 0.95 57.27 60.00 21.00

Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 9

Problem 2: M/M/1 Performance Evaluation
Case 4. Now suppose we open a second runway. R=21,
Rp=2*25/hr  U= 21/50 = 0.42

U 2( c 1) U 2( 21) 0.42 6

Ii  Ii  Ii  Ii  0.44
1U 1U 1  0.42

R/hr Rp/hr c Tp (min) U Ip Ii Ti (hr) Ti (min) T (min) I

Case 1 18 25 1 2.4 0.72 0.72 1.85 0.10 6.17 8.57 2.57
Case 2 21 25 1 2.4 0.84 0.84 4.41 0.21 12.60 15.00 5.25
Case 3 21 22 1 2.7 0.95 0.95 20.05 0.95 57.27 60.00 21.00
Case 4 21 22 2 2.7 0.48 0.95 0.44 0.02 1.25 3.97 0.91

Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 10

Problem 3: M/G/c
An store on average has 10 customers /hr for the checkout line.
The inter-arrival time follows the exponential distribution. The
store has two cashiers. The service time for checkout follows a
normal distribution with mean equal to 5 min and a standard
deviation of 1 min.
Arrival rate: R = 10 per hour.
Number of servers: c =2.
Rp = c/Tp = 2/5 per min or 24 per hour.
U= R/Rp = 10/24 = 0.42
Average service time: Tp = 5 min
Standard deviation of service time: Sp = 1 min
Coefficient of variation for service time: Cp = Sp /Tp = 1/5 =0.2
Average inter-arrival time: Ta = 1/R = 1/10 hr = 6 min
Inter-arrival time is exponential  Ca = Sa/Ta = 1: Sa =Ta
Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 11
M/G/2 Example
a) On average how many customers are in the waiting line?
U 2 ( c 1)
Ca2  C p2 0.42 2 ( 21) 12  0.2 2
Ii      0.11
1U 2 1  0.42 2
b) How long does a customer stay in the line?
RTi = Ii
10Ti = 0.11
Ti = 0.011 hour  Ti = 0.011(60) = 0.7 minute
c) How long does a customer stay in the processors (with the
servers)?
Average service time: Tp = 5 min

Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 12

M/G/2 Example

d) On average how many customers are with the servers ?

RTp = Ip = (5/60)(10) = 0.84
Ip = cU = 2(0.42) = 0.84
e) On average how many customers are in the system?
I=?
I = Ii+Ip
I = 0.11+0.84 = 0.95
f) On average how long does a customer stay in the system?
T= ?
T = Ti+Tp
T= 0.7+5 = 5.7 minutes
Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 13
Comment on General Formula

 Approximation formula gives exact answers for M/M/1

system.

 Approximation formula provide good approximations for

M/M/2 system.

Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 14

Problem 4: M/M/c Example

A call center has 11 operators. The arrival rate of calls is 200 calls
per hour. Each of the operators can serve 20 customers per hour.
Assume inter-arrival time and processing time follow Poisson
and Exponential, respectively. What is the average waiting time
(time before a customer’s call is answered)?
U = 200/220 = 0.91, Ca = 1, Cp = 1

U 2 ( c 1)
Ca2  C p2 0.91 2(12) 1  1
Ii   Ii    6.89
1U 2 1  0.91 2
RTi = Ii
200Ti = 6.89
Ti = 0.0345 hour  Ti = 0.0345(60) = 2.1 min
Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 15
Problem 5: M/D/c Example

 Suppose the service time is a constant

 What is the answer to the previous question?
 In this case Cp  0

U C C
2 ( c 1) 2 2
0.91 2(111) 1  0
Ii  
a p Ii    3.45
1U 2 1  0.91 2
RTi = Ii
200Ti = 3.45
Ti = 0.017 hour  Ti = 0.017(60) = 1.03 min

Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 16

Problem 1: M/M/1 Performance Evaluation
The arrival rate to a store is 6 customers per hour and follows
Poisson distribution. The service time is 5 min per customer and
20.00
follows exponential distribution. 2 ( c 1)
C2  C2 U
Ii  
18.00 a p

16.00 1U 2
14.00
V-Part
12.00 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 0.99
0.5 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30 0.35 0.40 0.45 0.50
10.00
0.55 0.07 0.13 0.20 0.27 0.34 0.40 0.47 0.54 0.61 0.67
8.00 0.6 0.09 0.18 0.27 0.36 0.45 0.54 0.63 0.72 0.81 0.89
0.65 0.12 0.24 0.36 0.48 0.60 0.72 0.85 0.97 1.09 1.20
U-Part 6.00 0.7 0.16 0.33 0.49 0.65 0.82 0.98 1.14 1.31 1.47 1.62
0.75 0.23 0.45 0.68 0.90 1.13 1.35 1.58 1.80 2.03 2.23
4.00 0.8 0.32 0.64 0.96 1.28 1.60 1.92 2.24 2.56 2.88 3.17
0.85 0.48 0.96 1.45 1.93 2.41 2.89 3.37 3.85 4.34 4.77
2.00
0.9 0.81 1.62 2.43 3.24 4.05 4.86 5.67 6.48 7.29 8.02
0.00 0.95 1.81 3.61 5.42 7.22 9.03 10.83 12.64 14.44 16.25 17.87
0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65 0.7 0.75 0.8 0.85 0.9 0.95

Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 17

Additional Problems

Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 18

Problem A1
Students arrive at the Administrative Services Office on the
average of one every 15 minutes, and their request take on
average 10 minutes to be processed. The service counter clerk
works 8 hours per day and is staffed by only 1 clerk, Judy
Gumshoe. Assume Poisson arrivals and exponential service times.
M/M/1 Queuing System
R = 4 customers/hour, Poisson (Ca =1)
Rp = 6 customers/hour, Exponential (Cp =1)

a) What percentage of time is Judy idle?

b) How much time, on average, does a student spend waiting in
line?

Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 19

Problem A1; M/M/1

a) What percentage of time is Judy idle?

U = R/Rp = 4/6 = 66.67% of time she is busy
1- U = 33.33% of time idle

b) How much time, on average, does a student spend waiting in

line?

C C
2 ( c 1) 2 2 2 (11)
12  12
I i  1.33
0.67
U Ii  
Ii  
a p
1  0.67 2
1U 2
Ti R = Ii  Ti = Ii/R  1.33/4 = 0.33 hours
= 0.33 hours or 20 minutes
Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 20
Problem A2
You are working at a bank and doing resource requirements
planning. You think that there should be six tellers working in
the bank. Tellers take fifteen minutes per customer with a
standard deviation of five minutes. On average one customer
arrives in every three minutes according to an exponential
distribution.
a) On average how many customers would be waiting in line?
b) On average how long would a customer spend in the bank?

Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 21

Problem A2; M/G/c
c = 6, R = 20, Rp = c/Tp = 6/15 /min, 60(6/15) = 24 /hr
U = R/Rp = 20/24 = 0.83
Ca = 1, Cp = 5/15 = 0.33
a) On average how many customers are in line?

C C
2 ( c 1) 2 2
0.83 2 ( 61)
12  0.332
Ii 
U

a p
Ii   I i  1.62
1U 2 1  0.83 2
b) On average how long would a customer spend in the bank?
Ti = Ii/R  1.62/20 = 0.081 hours, or 4.86 minutes
Tp = 15 minutes
T = Ti+Tp = 4.86+15 = 19.86 minutes
Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 22
Problem
Consider a call center with 8 agents. Past data has shown that the mean
time between customer arrivals is 1 minute, and has a standard
deviation of 1/2 minute. The amount of time in minutes the past 10
callers have spent talking to an agent is as follows: 4.1, 6.2, 5.5, 3.5, 3.2,
7.3, 8.4, 6.3, 2.6, 4.9.
a) What is the coefficient of variation for the inter-arrival times?
b) What is the mean time a caller spends talking to an agent?
c) What is the standard deviation of the time a caller spends talking to
an agent?
d) What is the coefficient of variation for the times a caller spends
talking to an agent?
e) What is the expected number of callers on hold, waiting to talk to an
agent?

Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 23

Problem A3; G/G/1
a) What is the coefficient of variation for the inter-arrival times?
Ca = Sa/Ta = 0.5/1 = 0.5

b) What is the mean time a caller spends talking to an agent?

= average (4.1, 6.2, 5.5, 3.5, 3.2, 7.3, 8.4, 6.3, 2.6, 4.9) = 5.2
minutes.
c) What is the standard deviation of the time a caller spends
talking to an agent?
= stdev(4.1, 6.2, 5.5, 3.5, 3.2, 7.3, 8.4, 6.3, 2.6, 4.9) =1.88
minutes

Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 24

Problem A3
d) What is the coefficient of variation for the times a caller
spends talking to an agent?
(standard deviation)/mean = 1.88/5.2 = 0.36

e) What is the expected number of callers on hold, waiting to talk

to an agent?
R= 1 per minute, c = 8, processing rate for one agent is = 1/5.2.
For c=8 agents, Rp = 8/5.2 = 1.54 /min
U = R/Rp= 1/(1.54) = 0.65

U C C
2 ( c 1) 2 2
0.65 2 (81) 0.52  0.36 2
Ii  
a p
  I i  0.09
1U 2 1  0.65 2
Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 25
Problem A3
f) What is the expected number of callers either on hold or
talking to an agent?
I = Ii + Ip= 0.09 + 0.65(8) =5.29

g) What is the expected amount of time a caller must wait to talk

to an agent?
RTi = Ii  Ti = 0.09/1 = 0.09 minutes

h) What is the expected amount of time between when a caller

first arrives to the system, and when that caller finishes
talking to an agent?
T = I/R = 5.29/1 = 5.29 minutes
Alternatively; T= Ti+Tp = 0.09+5.2 = 5.29
Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 26
Problem A4
Wells Fargo operates one ATM machine in a certain Trader
Joe’s. There is on average 8 customers that use the ATM every
hour, and each customer spends on average 6 minutes at the
ATM. Assume customer arrivals follow a Poisson process, and
the amount of time each customer spends at the ATM follows
an exponential distribution.

a) What is the percentage of time the ATM is in use?

R = 8 per hour, Rp = 10 per hour
U = 8/10 = 0.8 =80%

Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 27

Problem A4 ; M/M/1
b) On average, how many customers are there in line waiting to
use the ATM?

U C C
2 ( c 1) 2 2
0.8 1 1
2 (11) 2 2

Ii  
a p
   3.2
1U 2 1  0.8 2
c) Suppose that the number of customers in line waiting to use
the ATM is 3. (This may or may not be the answer you found
in part b). All information remains as originally stated. What
is the average time a customer must wait to use the ATM?
State your answer in minutes.

TiR = Ii  Ti = 3/8 hr Ti = 3/8 (60) = 22.5 minutes

Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 28

Problem A4
The Matador housing office has one customer representative
for walk-in students. The arrival rate is 10 customers per hour
and the average service time is 5 minutes. Both inter-arrival
time and service time follow exponential distributions.
a) What is the average waiting time in line?
R = 10 /hr, Rp = 12 /hr, U = 10/12= 0.83
.
U 2 ( c 1)
Ca2  C p2 0.83 1 1
2 (11) 2 2
Ii      4.17
1U 2 1  0.83 2

Ti = Ii/R = 4.17/10 = 0.42 hr

Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 29
Problem A5
The Monterey post station has 7 tellers from Monday to
Saturday. Customers arrive to the station following a Poisson
process with a rate of 36 customers per hour. The service time is
exponentially distributed with mean 10 minutes.
a) What is the utilization rate of the tellers?
R = 36, Rp = 7/10=0.7 /min or 42 /hr
U = R/Rp= 36/42 = 6/7 = 85.7%

b) What is the average number of customers waiting in line?

U C C
2 ( c 1) 2 2
0.857 1 1
2 ( 7 1) 2 2

Ii    
a p
 3.77
1U 2 1  0.857 2
Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 30
Problem A5
On Sunday, instead of tellers, the post station only opens 3
auto-mail machines to provide automatic service. Each machine
can weight the different size of packages, print self-adhesive
labels and accept payments. Arrival is Poisson with rate 20
customers per hour. The service time has an average of 7
minutes and standard deviation of 5.2 minutes.
c) What is the mean service time?
Tp = 7 min
d) What is the coefficient of variation of service time?
Cp = 5.2 / 7 = 0.74

Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 31

Problem A5
e) What is the utilization rate?
R = 20 customers/hr, Rp = 0.429 /min or 25.71
U =R/Rp= 20/(25.71) = 77.7%

f) What is the average number of customers waiting in line?

U 2 ( C 1)
Ca2  C p2
Ii  
1U 2

0.777 2 ( 31)
12  0.742
Ii    2.2  0.77  1.7
1  0.777 2
Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 32
Problem A6: M/G/1 Example

A study-aid desk staffed by a graduate student has been

established to answer students' questions and help in working
problems in your SOM course. The desk is staffed 8 hours per
day. The dean wants to know how the facility is working.
Statistics show that students arrive at a rate of 8 per hour
following Poisson distribution. Assistance time has an average
of 6 Minutes and deviation of 3 minutes.
R= 8/hr
Rp = 60/6 = 10 /hr
OR
Rp = 1/6 per min or 60(1/6) = 10 /hr
U = 8/10 = 0.8

Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 33

Problem A6 : M/G/1 Example

1.What percentage of time the graduate student is idle?

U = 0.8
80% of time the server is busy. 20% idle.
2. Calculate the average number of students in the waiting line.
Interarrival time follows exponential distribution  Ca =1
Processing time follows general distribution, Tp=6, Sp = 3
Cp = Sp/Tp = 3/6 = 0.5

U 2 ( c 1)
Ca2  C p2
Ii  
1U 2
2 (11)
0.8 1  0.52 0.82 1  0.25
Ii      3.2  0.625  2
1  0.8 2 0.2 2
Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 34
Problem A6: M/G/1 Example

3. Calculate the average number of students in the system.

Ip=Ii+Ip
Ip = cU = U = 0.8
Ii= 2
I =2+0.8 = 2.8
4. Calculate the average time in the system.
RT=I
8T = 2.8
T= 0.35 hr
T= 60(0.35) = 21 min

Operations Management: Waiting Lines 2 Ardavan Asef-Vaziri Jan-2018 35