Tutorial Set (Queuing Models)

1. Shoprite is a busy center for residents in East Legon and its surrounding community.

Assume that 2 customers arrive every 12 minutes and 3 customers are served every 15

minutes and that currently, there is only one cashier:

a. What is the average waiting time in minutes before service begins?

b. Find the proportion of time that a customer has to wait

Management perceives that the waiting time computed in (a) above is not acceptable and is

faced with two options. Management can either employ an assistant for the cashier or open a

second cash machine. The former, if implemented will enable 4 requests to be served every 15

minutes and the assistant will receive a monthly salary of Ghc160. The latter, if implemented,

will improve the arrival rate to 1 customer every 12 minutes.

However, it requires an initial capital outlay of Ghc3000 and the cashier who will man the cash

machine will receive a monthly salary of GhC250. The shop avoids a loss in sales of Ghc80 per

month for each minute that average customer waiting time is reduced.

c. Calculate the financial gain for Shoprite under option 2, assuming the initial capital

outlay is sunk cost and advise management under this option.

d. Assuming the initial capital is sunk cost, which option would you recommend to

management?

e. After how many months would management be indifferent between the two options?
2. The ticket booth on Ebrewohor Campus is operated by one person, who is selling tickets for

the annual Yam festival. The ticket seller can serve an average of 15 customers per hour; on

average, 3 customers arrive to purchase tickets each 15 minutes.

i. Determine the average time a ticket buyer must wait in the queue

ii. Determine the portion of time the ticket seller is idle.

iii. The management of the Campus likes to have its operators working of 80% of the

time. What must the service rate be in order for the operators to be as idle as

management would like?

3. Chemical Oil is a small fuel station in Accra which operates both fuel dispensing and

grocery services. Cars arrive at this fuel station at a rate of 2 cars every 6 minutes. Service at

the fuel station follows an exponential time distribution with average of 5 cars every 12

minutes. For maintenance and safety reasons, it is management policy that the pump will be

free at least 25% of the time each day. Since the filling station has single pump, it is

management policy that there will be no more than 2 cars in the queuing system.

a. Given current arrival and service conditions, is management idle time policy violated?

Justify

b. How many minutes must on average customers spend waiting to be served?

An analyst contracted to help reduce the waiting time has proposed two ways of

managing the waiting time. First, she believes that a number of customers usually found

in the waiting line are not actually waiting to purchase fuel but are interested in using the

grocery services. She proposes that constructing a different entrance (road) to the
 grocery shop for such customers to use. This is expected to lead to only one car using the

old entrance every 5 minutes but his will come with accosts of Ghc400 for the job and

Ghc300 for workmanship. The second solution is to get an additional fuel pump at the

station. This new fuel pump will mean that 5 cars can refuel every 10 minutes but will

come with an initial capital outlay of Ghc1500 and an operator who must be paid

Ghc200 per month. If every minute saved results in avoidance of Ghc150 loss in sales

c. Estimate the net financial gains under the first option

d. Estimate the net financial gains under the second option assuming the initial capital

outlay is sunk cost

e. Which option will you advise management of Chemical Oil to select? Justify

f. How long will it take to be different between the two options considering the initial

capital outlay?

4. The Petroco Service Station has one pump for regular unleaded gas, which (with an

attendant) can service one customer every six minutes. Cars arrive at the regular unleaded

pump at an average of 6 customers per hour.

a. What is the average time a customer waits in the queue to receive service?

b. Management of Petroco likes to have its operators working 90% of the time. What

must the arrival rate be for the pump attendant to be as busy as management would

like?

The average waiting time computed in (a) above is not pleasant to management and

it wishes to reduce it. There are two alternatives open to management. First,
 management can add an assistant to the attendant and this will improve the serve rat

to one customer every four minutes. This assistant will receive a salary of Ghc100

per month. The second alternative is that management can add a second pump which

will cost Ghc2000 and this amount is a free gift from Banuro & sons. This

alternative will reduce the arrival rate to 3 every hour. However, Petroco will have to

pay the attendant a monthly salary of Ghc150. Whichever alternative management

adopts, Petroco avoids a loss sales of Ghc100 for every minute that average waiting

time is reduced. Could you advise management which alternative it must adopt?

5. All trucks travelling on the Accra-Cape road are required to stop at a weigh station. Trucks

arrive at the weigh station at a rate of 120 within an 8- hour working period, and the station

can weigh, on the average, 140 trucks within the 8-hour working period.

i. What is the probability of zero trucks at the weigh station?

ii. Determine the average number of trucks waiting, and the average time (in minutes)

spent at the weigh station (including time spent weighing) by each truck

iii. If the truck drivers find out they must remain at the weigh station longer than 15

minutes on the average, they will start taking a different route or travelling at night,

thus depriving the government of taxes. The government of Ghana estimates it loses

Ghc40,000 in taxes per year each extra minute (after first 15 minutes) that trucks

must remain at the weigh station. A new set of scales would have the same service

capacity as the present set of scales and it assumed that arriving trucks will line up

equally between the two sets of scale. The new scale is a gift but will cost Ghc

150,000 per year to operate. Should the government install the new set of scales?