Queuing Theory

Chapter 10
Why Study Queues?
■ Standing in Line Costs $$$
◆ We loose customers
◆ We waste employee time
◆ We “bottleneck” production processes
■ Eliminating Lines Costs $$$
◆ We have to have more servers or shorter
service times
■ So what’s the best trade-off?
Components of Queuing
Process
■ Arrivals (Random)

■ Servers (Random)

■ Waiting Lines or Queues

◆ Discipline: First Come, First Served (FCFS),
LCFS, etc.
Basic Structures
Channel = Servers
Phase = Steps in Service
■ Single Channel, Single Phase *
■ Multiple Channel, Single Phase
■ Single Channel, Multiple Phase
■ Multiple Channel, Multiple Phase
■ Other
 Costs of a Queue

cost Total Cost

$
Service Costs

Waiting Costs

Level of Service
Operating Characteristics
■ Probability of the Service being idle
◆ No units in the system P0

■ Probability of some specified number of

customers (units) are in the system
◆ Pn

■ Mean (expected) waiting time for each

customer (W for total or Wq in queue)
■ Mean (expected) number in the system
◆ L
■ Mean (expected) number in the queue

◆ Lq
 Model Assumptions
■ Arrival Distribution
◆ Most Commonly a Poisson Distribution
◆ Discrete Distribution (See page 474)

Where:
r = Number of arrivals
P(r) = e - λ (λ)r P(r) = Probability of r arrivals
λ = Mean arrival rate
r! e = 2.71828 (base of natural log)
r! = r factoral ( r ) (r-1)(r-2)(r-3)…..
Mean Time Between Arrives
(More Assumptions)
■ Negative exponential distribution with
mean of 1 / λ

■ Example: If mean arrival rate is 2 per

hour then the mean time between
arrivals is 1 / λ or 1 / 2 hours or 30
minutes
 Distribution of Service Times
(More Assumptions)
■ Most commonly negative exponential
probability density function
◆ Area under the curve (See page 475)
When:
t = Service Times
f(t) = µ e -µ t f(t) = probability density function t
µ = mean service rate
1 / µ = mean service time
e = 2.71828 (base of natural log)
Other Issues
■ Infinite vs. Finite Calling Population
■ Infinite vs. Finite Queue Length
■ Steady State vs. Transient System
■ Arrival Rate vs. Service Rate
◆ Ratio of λ / µ will be less then one or
the queue expands uncontrollably
◆ Exponential relationship (see page 478)
Queuing Notation
■ Written: ■ Distributions
(a/b/c) (d/e/f) ◆ M = Poisson
◆ D = Deterministic
■ a = arrival dist ◆ Ek = Erlang
■ b = service dist
◆ G = General
■ c = # of servers
■ d = queue discipline ■ Example
■ e = max # in queue (M/M/1) (FCFS/inf/inf)
■ f = size of calling pop
Single-Channel, Single-Phase
(M/M/1) Formulas
■ Probability of no units in the system
Po = 1 - λ / µ
■ Probability of n units in the system
Pn = (λ /µ)n * (1 - λ /µ)
■ Mean # of units in system
L = λ / (µ − λ)
■ Mean # of units in the queue
Lq = λ 2 / µ ( µ − λ )
(M/M/1) Formulas (Con’t)
■ Mean time in the system
W=1/(µ−λ)
■ Mean time in the queue
Wq = λ / µ ( µ − λ )
■ Service Facility Utilization
p=λ/µ
■ Service Facility Idle Time
I = 1 − λ /µ
FAX (or copier) Example
■ Employees arrive at a rate of 20 per hour
◆ Assume a Poisson Distribution
■ Average time at machine is 2 minutes
◆ Assume a Negative Exponential Dist.
◆ 1/ µ
■ One Machine with One Line

(M/M/1) (FCFS/inf/inf) System

■ Mean # of units in system
L = λ / (µ − λ)
L = 20 / (30 - 20)
L = 20 / 10
L = 2 employees in system
■ Mean # of units in the queue
Lq = λ 2 / µ ( µ − λ )
Lq = 20 2 / 30 ( 30 − 20 )
Lq = 400 / 30 ( 10 )
Lq = 400 / 300
Lq = 1.33 employees in line
■ Mean time in the system
W=1/(µ−λ)
W = 1 / ( 30 − 20 )
W = 1 / 10 of an hour or
W = 6 minutes each (on average) waiting
for and using the machine
■ Mean time in the queue
Wq = λ / µ ( µ − λ )
Wq = 20 / 30 ( 30 − 20 )
Wq = 20 / 30 ( 10 )
Wq = 20 / 300
Wq = 1 / 15th of an hour or
Wq = 4 minutes each (on average) just
waiting in line
■ Service Facility Utilization
p=λ/µ
p = 20 / 30
p = .67 or 67% or the time
■ Service Facility Idle Time
I = 1 − λ /µ
I = 1 − 20 / 30
Ι = 1 − .67
Ι = .33 or 33% of the time its idle
Should we hire an operator?
■ An operator would reduce average
service from 2 minutes to 1.5 minutes
■ The operator would cost $8.00 / hour
■ Average employee wage is $10.20 hours
■ L = λ / µ − λ = 20 / (40 -20) = 1 in
system
■ The average number of employees in
system is reduced from 2 to 1
 Resulting Costs
■ Alternative Service Waiting Total Annual
Cost Cost Cost Cost

No Oper. 0 $20.40 $20.40 $40,800

2 * 10.20

With Oper. $8 $10.20 $18.20 $36,400

|
Annual Savings $ 4,400