Solutions

Chapter 6

E6.1

Objective

To determine the number of ATMs of each type (general, paying-in and statement) to ensure
that 99% of customers queue for less than 5 minutes. The maximum number of ATMs is six.

Experimental Factors and Responses

Experimental Factors

• Number of ATMs of each type (total must be less than or equal to six)

Responses (to determine achievement of objectives)

• Percentage of customers who queue for less than 5 minutes

Responses (to identify reasons for failure to meet objectives)

• Histogram of waiting time for each customer in the queues, mean, standard deviation,
minimum and maximum
• ATM utilisation (cumulative percentage)

Model Scope

Component Include/exclude Justification

Customers Include Demand for ATM service
ATM – General Include Experimental factor, required for ATM
utilisation response
– Paying-in Include Experimental factor, required for ATM
utilisation response
– Statement Include Experimental factor, required for ATM
utilisation response
Queues at ATMs Include Required for waiting time response
Other bank services Exclude Limited substitution between ATM and
other bank services

Model Level of Detail

Component Detail Include/exclude Comment

Customers Customer inter- Include Modelled as a distribution,
arrival times varying by hour of day and day of
week
Service Include Route customers to required

1
 requirement ATM
ATMs Number of each Include Experimental factor
type
Service time Include Modelled as a distribution, taking
account of variability in customer
requirements and speed
Failures Exclude Rarely occur
Queues Queuing Include Required for waiting time
response
Capacity Exclude Assume no effective limit
Queue behaviour Exclude (except Behaviour not well understood.
assume join Results will show imbalance of
shortest queue arrival and service rates
for ATM
required)

Assumptions

• Customers form separate queues for each ATM.

• There is limited substitution between ATM and other bank services, and so other bank
services need not be modelled.
• ATMs fail only rarely and so breakdowns do not need to be modelled.
• Individual customer behaviour has little effect on the overall performance of the system
and so it is not modelled.
• Modelling arrivals by hour of day and day of week provides sufficient granularity.

Simplifications

• Multiple use of ATMs by one customer is not explicitly modelled. As a result, the data
on customer arrivals and requirements needs to reflect the total number of service
requests rather than individual customers.

E6.2

Simulation of an airport

Model 1

Objective: to determine requirement for check-in desks to achieve satisfactory service level
for passengers.

Model content: customer arrivals, queues, check-in desks, staff rosters.

Model 2

Objective: to determine requirements to achieve a satisfactory service level at all facilities for
departing passengers.

Model content: customer arrivals, queues, check-in desks, security check, passport control,
shop and restaurant facilities, departure gate, staff rosters.

2
Model 3

Objective: to determine the number of gates required at a new terminal building.

Model content: aeroplane departure and arrival schedules, disturbance to schedule due to
delays, number of gates.

E6.4

a) Exclude infrequent events: do not model the 17 rare product types.

b) Group entities: an entity represents say 300 bottles (1 minute's processing).
c) Exclude components: only model the seven key components.
Black-box modelling: only represent in detail the sections of the line where the key
components are used, otherwise use black-boxes to represent sections of the assembly
line.
d) Replace components with random events: randomly sample weather conditions from
distributions based on historic data.
e) Black-box modelling: represent the factory, warehouse and retail outlets as black-boxes.
Possibly group the retail outlets by region into a single black-box.
Splitting models: if detailed models of various stages in the supply chain already exist,
then they could be kept separate and linked through data files or potentially through
parallel processing on multiple computers.
f) Reduce the rule set: use a simple set of rules for splitting and forming trains.
g) Group entities: an entity represents a pallet load of crockery.