Queuing Theory

1. Outline
Characteristics of a waiting line system
- Arrival Characteristics
- Waiting Line Characteristics
- Service Facility Characteristics
- Measuring the Queues Performance
- Queuing Costs
The Variety of Queuing Models
Model A: Single-Channel Queuing Model ith
Poisson Arrivals and !"#onential Service $imes
Model %: Multi#le-Channel Queuing Model
Model C: Constant Service $ime Model
Model &: Limited Po#ulation Model
Other Queuing Approaches'
(' Imagine the following situations:
Sho##ers aiting in front of a chec)out stand in a su#ermar)et*
Cars aiting at a red traffic light*
Patients aiting in a lounge of a medical centre*
Planes aiting for ta)ing off in an air#ort*
Customers aiting for ta+les in Pi,,a -ut
What these situations have in common is the situation of aiting.
Waiting causes inconvenience/ +ut li)e it or not/ it is #art of our daily life' All e
ho#e to achieve is to reduce the inconvenience to +eara+le levels'
$he aiting #henomenon is the direct result of randomness in the o#eration
service facilities'
0n general/ the customers arrival and service time are not )non in advance'
1ur o+2ective in studying the o#eration of a service facility under random
conditions is to secure some characteristics that measure the #erformance of the
system under study'
3
4' Waiting ine !"amples
Situation Arrivals Servers Service Process
%an) Customers $eller &e#osit etc
&octors 1ffice Patient &octor $reatment
$raffic intersection Cars Light Controlled Passage
Assem+ly Line Parts Wor)ers Assem+ly
Air#ort Air#lanes 5unays Landing6$a)e off
Why do e have to ait.
Why do services have 7ueues.
- Processing time and or arrival time variance
- Costs of ca#acity
' Can e afford to alays have more #eo#le than
customers.
- !fficiency
For e"am#le/ at the doctors office you ait most of the
time the doctor is +usy or has emergency'
8' #o what is a $ueue.
A line
- Can you give e"am#les that are not formally a line of
#eo#le.
- &o all 7ueues serve one customer at a time.
- Can e have multi#le 7ueues ith our system.
So 7ueues are then any#lace here e have or) 9customers in a service:
aiting to +e #rocessed'
%. Waiting lines
First studied +y A' ;' !rlang in 3<34 = analy,ed tele#hone facilities
%ody of )noledge called 7ueuing theory = Queue is another name for
aiting line
&ecision #ro+lem = %alance cost of #roviding good service ith cost of
customers aiting'
&. Characteristics of a $ueuing system
Arri'al Characteristics: Com#rises of the si,e of the calling #o#ulation/
the #atterns of arrival at the 7ueuing systems and the +ehaviors of the
arrivals'
Si,e of the calling #o#ulation
(
Pattern of arrivals at the 7ueuing system
%ehaviour of the arrivals:
>' Waiting line characteristics: the length of a line can +e either limited or
unlimited' A 7ueue is limited hen it cannot/ +y la of #hysical restrictions/
increase to an infinite length' A 7ueue is unlimited hen its si,e is unrestricted/
as in the case of the tool +ooth serving arriving automo+iles'
(. !lements of Waiting ines
Waiting lines result +ecause customers do not arrive at a constant/ evenly
#aced rate/ nor they all served in an e7ual amount of time'
&ecisions a+out aiting lines and the management of aiting lines are
+ased on these averages for customer arrivals and service times' $hey are
used in 7ueuing formulas to com#ute o#erating characteristics'
1#erating characteristics are average values for characteristics that
descri+e the #erformance of a aiting line system'
). Implications of Waiting lines
Cost of 7ueues
Loss of +usiness
- customers leaving
- Customers refusing to ait
Loss of goodill/ that is re#utation
5eduction in customer satisfaction
Congestion may disru#t other +usiness o#erations'
1*. Costs of $ueues
+o $ueue:
- asted ca#acity: can also +e a com#etitive advantage9no aiting:
Queue: #rovider costs:
- lost customers
- annoyed customers
- s#ace
pro'ider opportunities
- move to other #arts of system 9increased sales:
- customer costs - asted time'
11. The #ingle,#er'er Waiting ine #ystem
4
A single aiting line is the sim#lest form of 7ueuing system'
Com#onents of a aiting line system include arrivals/ servers/ and the
aiting line structure'
$he most im#ortant factors to consider in analy,ing a 7ueuing system:
- $he Queue &isci#line
- $he ?ature of the calling #o#ulation
- $he arrival rate
- $he service rate
1-. .asic components of the Queuing system
9a/ Input source
- @enerates customers for the service mechanism
- Can +e characteri,ed +y o+serving the folloing factors:
0i/ si1e
- infinite source : customer arrivals are restricted
- finite source : the num+er of #otential customers is limited'
0ii/ arri'al distri2ution
- the customer arrival rate can +e descri+ed +y a Poisson
distri+ution'
02/ Queue 3iscipline
0n descri+ing a 7ueuing system/ e must define the manner in hich the
7ueuing customers are arranged for service' $he #ossi+le 7ueue disci#lines
are:
- First-in-first-out9F0F1: or first-come-first-served9FCFS:
- Last-in-first-served9L0F1:
- Service-in-random-order9S051:
- 1thers
- $he F0F1 7ueue disci#line a##lies to many situations'
0c/ #er'ice Mechanism
$he service time can +e descri+ed +y a negative e"#onential distri+ution'
$he #hysical layout of the service facilities are:
- Single Channel/ Single Phase
- Single Channel/ Multi#le Phase
- Multi#le Channel/ Single Phase
0d/ Customer4s .eha'iour
$he customers generally +ehave in the folloing ays in the 7ueue:
.al5ing = Customers get discouraged +y seeing the length of the aiting line or
there is no sufficient s#ace for aiting and decide to 2oin the 7ueue'
8
6eneging = Customers after aiting in the 7ueue for some time +ecome im#atient
and may leave the system'
7oc5eying = Customers ho move from one 7ueue to another ho#ing to receive
service more 7uic)ly'
18. Managing Waiting times
@ood aiting line management consists of the management of actual aiting
time and #erceived aiting time'
What is the average arrival rate of customers.
0n hat order ill customers +e serviced.
What is the average service rate of the service #roviders.
-o are customer arrival and service times distri+uted.
-o long ill customers ait in line +efore they either leave or loer their
#erce#tions of service 7uality.
-o can customers +e )e#t in line even longer ithout loering their
#erce#tions of service 7uality.
19. Waiting,ine :erformance Measures
Average 7ueue time/ W
7
'
Average num+er of customers in 7ueue/ L
7
Average time in system/ W
s
Average num+er in system/ L
s
Pro+a+ility of idle service facility/ P
A
System Btili,ation/ C9rho:
Pro+a+ility of ) units in system/ P
nD)
1%. Assumptions of the .asic #imple Queuing Model
Arrivals are served on a first come/ first served +asis 9F0F1 +asis:
Arrivals are inde#endent of #receding arrivals'
Arrival rates are descri+ed +y the Poisson #ro+a+ility distri+ution/ and
customers come from a very large #o#ulation'
Service times vary from one customer to another/ and are inde#endent of one
and other* the average service time is )non'
Service times are descri+ed +y the negative e"#onential #ro+a+ility
distri+ution'
$he service rate is greater than the arrival rate'
1&. Types of Queuing Models
Sim#le9M6M63: - e"am#le: 0nformation +ooth at mall
E
Multi-channel 9M6M6S: = e"am#le: airline tic)et counter
Constant Service 9 M6&63: = e"am#le: automated car ash
Limited #o#ulation = e"am#le: e7ui#ment re#airs in a factory that has E
machines'
1;. #imple 0M<M<1/ Model Characteristics
$y#e: Single-channel/ single-#hase system
0n#ut source: 0nfinite* no +al)s/ no reneging'
Arrival distri+ution : Poisson
Queue: Bnlimited* single line
Queue &isci#line: F0F1 9FCFS:
Service &istri+ution : ?egative e"#onential
5elationshi#: 0nde#endent service F arrival
Service rate D arrival rate
G H the mean arrival rate
I H the mean service rate
1(. #imple 0M<M<1/ Model !$uations
Average num+er of customers in the system L H

Average aiting time in system W H

3
Average num+er of customers in the 7ueue/ L
7
H
( )

(
Average aiting time in 7ueue/ W
7
H
( )

System Btilisation

=
$he #ro+a+ility that no customers are in the 7ueuing system:
P
A
H

3
$he #ro+a+ility that n customers are in the 7ueuing system:

3
A
n n
n
P P
!"am#le:
Ale" is a+le to install ne com#onents of a com#uter at an average rate of 4 #er hour/
or a+out 3 every (A minutes' Customers needing this service arrive at the sho# on the
average of ( #er hour' Jou are re7uired to calculate:
9a: the average num+er of customers in the system
9+: the average time a customer s#ends in the system
K
9c: Average num+er of customers in the 7ueue'
9d: Average time a customer s#ent aiting in the 7ueue'
9e: $he #ro+a+ility that the service is +eing used'
9f: $he #ro+a+ility that no one is in the system'
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