OperationsResearch

Unit9

Unit9
Structure
9.1 9.2. Introduction FiniteQueuingTables 9.1.1FiniteQueuingTables 9.1.2MeasuresofSystemEfficiency 9.1.3UseofFiniteQueuingTables: 9.3. Summary TerminalQuestions AnswerstoSAQsandTQs 9.1 Introduction

FiniteQueuingModels

The models discussed so far relate to situations involving infinite population of customers i.e. the queuecanincreaseindefinitely.Therewillbecases,wherethepossiblenumberofarrivalsislimited andisrelativelysmall.Inaproductionshop,ifthemachinesareconsideredascustomersrequiring servicefromrepaircrewsoroperators,thepopulationisrestrictedtothetotalnumberofmachinesin the shop. In a hospital ward, the probability of the doctors or nurses being called for service is governedbythenumberofbedsintheward.Similarly,inanaircraftthenumberofseatsisfiniteand the number of stewardesses provided by the airlines will be based on the consideration of the maximumnumberofpassengerswhocandemandservice.Asinthecaseofaqueuingsystemwith infinite population, the efficiency of the system can be improved in terms of reducing the average lengthofqueues,averagewaitingtimeandtimespentbythecustomerinthesystembyincreasing thenumberofservicechannels.However,suchincreasesmeanadditionalcostandwillhavetobe balancedwiththebenefitslikelytoaccrue.Ifthequeuingsysteminamachineshopisunderstudy, thecostofprovidingadditionalmaintenancecrewsoroperatorscanbecomparedwiththevalueof additional production possible due to reduced downtime of the machines. In cases where it is not possible to quantify the benefits, the management will have to base its decisions on the desired standardsforcustomerservice.

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LearningObjectives Afterstudyingthisunit,youshouldbeabletounderstandthefollowing 1 TounderstandthedifferencebetweenfiniteandinfiniteQueuingmodels 2 Differentmathematicalmodelsavailable. Thequeuedisciplineinafinitequeuingprocesscanbe: (i) Firstcomefirstserved keptwaitingeveniftheyhadbrokendownbefore. (iii) Random e.g.: in a machine shop if a single operator is attending to several machines and severalmachinescallforhisattentionatatime,hemayattendfirsttotheonenearesttohim TheanalysisofFiniteQueuingModelsismorecomplexthanthosewithinfinitepopulationalthough theapproachissimilar.L.G.PeckandR.N.Hazelwoodhaveprovidedsolutionstosuchproblemsin theirbookFiniteQueuingTables(JohnWiley&SonsInc1958) 9.2.1 FiniteQueuingTables Notationsusedaredifferentandaregivenbelow: N = Population(machines,customersetc.) M = Servicechannels(repairmen,telephonelinesetc.) T = Averageservicetime(repairtime,lengthofconversationonatelephoneetc.) W = Averagewaitingtime U = Averagerunningtime(ofmachines)ormeantimebetweencallsforserviceperunit H = Averagenumberofunitsbeingserviced L = Averagenumberofunitswaitingforservice J = Averagenumberofunitsinoperation F = EfficiencyFactor X = ServiceFactor D = Probabilitythatifaunitcallsforservice,itwillhavetowait. Let us consider a machine shop with N machines. The inter breakdown time of these machines followsanegativeexponentialdistributionwithmeanU.ThenumberofbreakdownsfollowsPoisson (ii) Prioritye.g.:Machinesofhighcostmaybegivenpriorityformaintenancewhileothersmaybe

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distributionwithmean

l= 1

Itisassumedthatmachinesarekeptrunning(orinoperation)exceptwhentheyareunderrepairsor waitingforrepaircrewtoattend. IfMrepaircrewsareavailable,thetimetakenbyanycrewfollowsanegativeexponentialdistribution withmeanT.Naturally,amachinewhichhasbrokendownwillhavetowaitforrepairsifalltherepair crewsarebusy. 9.2.2 MeasuresOfSystemEfficiency EfficiencyoftheRepairSystem Foragivensetofmachines,theefficiencyoftherepairsystemmaybejudgedbytheextenttowhich machines have to wait for repairs. If W is the average time for which a machine has to wait, the efficiencyfactorFisdefinedas
F = T + U T + U + W

Atanypointoftime,amachinewilleitherberunningorunderrepairorwaitingforrepairs.Therefore, thetotalnumberofmachinesN=J+H+L.
H j L , and N N N correspond

to

the

probability

that

machine

is

being

repaired,runningorwaitingforrepairsrespectively.
X = T T + U X is an indicator of the

In the finite queuing tables, service factor X is defined as utilisationofrepaircrew. Theformulaeforotherpropertiesofthe.systemaregivenbelow:

H = L = NT = FNX T + W + U

NW = N ( 1- F) T + W + U NU J = = NF ( 1- X) T + W + U T + U H + J F = = H + L + J T + U + W

9.1.3UseOfFiniteQueuingTables:
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ThetablesgivethevaluesofFandDfordifferentvaluesofN,MandX.Theyarearrangedin theascendingorderofthevaluesofthepopulation.ForeachN,thevalueofXincreasesfrom .001to.950.ForagivenservicefactorX,severalvaluesofMcanbefound. ForeachvalueofXandM,valuesofDandFaretabulated. ThestepsintheuseofFiniteQueuingTablesmaybesummarisedasfollows: (i) FindmeanservicetimeTandmeanrunningtimeU. (ii) Computetheservicefactor (iii) SelectthetablecorrespondingtothepopulationN. (iv) Forthegivenpopulation,locatetheservicefactorvalue. (v) Readofffromtables,valuesofDandFforthenumberofservicecrewsM.Ifnecessary,these valuesmaybeinterpolatedbetweenrelevantvaluesofX. (vi) CalculatetheothermeasuresL,W,H,andJfromtheformulaegiven. TheoverallefficiencyFofthesystemwillincreasewiththenumberofservicechannels(M)provided. As mentioned earlier, addition of service crews involves cost, which should be justified by the increaseintheefficiencyofthesystemi.e.additionalrunningtimeofmachinespossible.However,it will be seenfrom the tables that as M increases, the rate of increase inefficiencydecreases. The practicalsignificanceisthatbeyondacertainvalueofM,itisnotworthwhileincreasingMasthere wouldbenoappreciableincreaseintheefficiencyofthesystem. Example1: In a chemical factory there arefivehoppers of identicalsize whichfeed material togrinding mills. Duetochangesintherequirementofmaterial,therearevariationsinthetimetakenforemptyingthe hoppers. On the basis of past experience this time was found to follow negative exponential distributionwithanaverageof10hoursbetweengettingemptied.Wheneverahoppergetsemptyit hastobefilledbyapayloader.Althoughthecapacityofthehoppersisthesame,thetimetakento fillthehoppersvariesduetodifferentlocationsfromwhichthematerialistobeloaded. The time for filling the hopper also was found to follow negative exponential distribution with an averageof2.5hours.ThecompanyhiresthepayloadersatacostofRs.100perhourirrespectiveof whetheritisoperatedornot.IfthemillhastobestoppedduetoitshoppergettingemptyitcostsRs. 1000perhourintermsoflossofprofits.Determinethenumberofpayloaderswhichthecompany shouldengagetominimizeoverallcost.

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Solution: SinceT=2.5andU=10
X = T 2 . 5 = = 0 . 200 T + U 2 . 5 + 10

ForN=5,X=0.200wehavethefollowingvaluesfromthetables: M 3 2 1 D 0.028 0.194 0.689 F 0.998 0.976 0.801

Wenowprepareatableasbelow:

Table 1. No.ofPayloaders 2. Overallefficiencyofsystem(F) 3. N(1X) 4. 3 0.998 4.00 2 1

0.976 0.801 4.00 4.00

AverageNumberofMillsrunningperhourJ= 3.992 NF(1X) 3,992 300 3,692 Loading cost @ Rs. 100 per hour per pay loader

3.904 3.204 3,904 3,204 200 100

5. Expectedprofits@Rs.1000perhour 6.

7. Expectednetprofitsperhour(56)

3,704 3,104

As increasing the number of pay loadersbeyond two reducesprofits,the company shouldengage onlytwopayloaders. SelfAssessmentQuestions StateTrueorFalse

1. WhenthepossiblenumberofarrivalsislimitedthenweapplyinfiniteQueuingModel. 2. TheQueuedisciplineinafiniteQueuingprocesscanberandom. 3. TheefficiencyfactorforthismodelisHJ/H+J+L.

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9.3 Summary Queuingtheorydealswithsituationswherecustomersarrive,waitfortheservice,gettheservice andleave the system. Customers, human or nor human, may come individually or in groups from large/small population, at known/variable times, from one or more queues and move in a certain order then to the servicestation/sprovidingservicewhosespeedmaybefixedorvariable.Queuingsystemsareanalyzed fordeterminingtheoptimalservicelevel,wherethetotalcostofprovidingserviceandwaiting,isminimized. Anincreaseintheservicelevelincreasesthecostofprovidingservicebutreducesthe costofwaiting,while adecreaseintheservicelevelinducesoppositechanges. TerminalQuestions 1. Customersarriveatthefirstclassticketcounterofatheatreatarateof12perhour.Thereisone clerkservingthecustomersatarateof30per hour. i) Whatistheprobabilitythatthereisnocustomerincounter(i.e.,thesystemisidle). ii) Whatistheprobabilitythattherearemorethan2customersinthecounter? iii) Whatistheprobabilitythatthereisnocustomerwaitingtobeserved? iv) Whatistheprobabilitythatacustomerisbeingservedandnobodyiswaiting? 2. Assume that at a bank teller window the customers arrive in their cars at the average rate of twenty per hour according to a poisson distribution. Assume also that the bank teller spends averageoftwominutespercustomertocompleteaservice,andtheservicetimeisexponentially distributed. Customers who arrive from an infinite population, are served on a first come first servedbasisandthereisnolimittopossinlequeuelength. i) Whatistheexpectedwaitingtimeinthesystempercustomer? ii) Whatisthemeannumberofcustomerswaitinginthesystem? iii) Whatistheprobabilityofzerocustomersinthesystem? iv) Whatvalueistheutilizationfactor? AnswersToSelfAssessmentQuestions SelfAssessmentQuestions 1.False 2.True 3. False

AnswersforTerminalQuestions 1. i) P(thesystemisidle)=1 r =10.4=0.6. ii) P(n>2)=1P(n 2)=1[P(0)+P(1)+P(2)]=10.936=0.064.

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iii) P(nocustomerwaitingtobeserved)=P(0)+P(1)=0.84. iv) P(acustomerisbeingservedandnoneiswaiting)=P(1)=0.24. 2. i) Expectedwaitingtimeinthesystempercustomer, W s =1/(ml)=1/(3020)=1/10hr.. ii) Meannumberofcustomerswaitinginthesystem, 2 3 4 Lq = = = . 1- r 2 3 13

r2

iii) Probabilityofzerocustomersinthesystem,P(0)=1 - r = 1iv) Utilizationfactor, r = 2 3

2 1 = 3 3

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