CHAPTER 12—Waiting Lines and Queuing Theory Models

12-36. Sal's International Barbershop is a popular haircutting and styling salon near the
campus of the University of New Orleans. Four barbers work full-time and spend an average
of 15 minutes on each customer. Customers arrive all day long at an average rate of 12 per
hour. When they enter, they take a number to wait for the first available barber. Arrivals tend
to follow the Poisson distribution, and service times are exponentially distributed.

Known information:

Number of barbers: 4

Average time spent: 0.25 hour per customer

Average rate of arrival: 12 per hour

(a) What is the probability that the shop is empty?

service rate per hour = 4 barbers x 4 customer/barbers = 16 customers

Po = 1- (arrival rate / service rate)

Po = 1-(12/16)
Po = 0.25

(b) What is the average number of customers in the barbershop?

L = arrival rate / (service rate - arrival rate)
L = 12/(16-12) = 3 customers

(c) What is the average time spent in the shop?

W = 1/(service rate - arrival rate)
W = 1/(16-12) hour = 0.25 hour = 15 minutes

(d) What is the average time that a customer spends waiting to be called to the barber
chair?
Wq = arrival rate/(service rate x (service rate - arrival rate))
Wq = 12/(16(16-12)) hour = 0.1875 hour = 11 minutes 15 second

(e) What is the average number waiting to be served?

Lq = (arrival rate)^2/service rate (service rate - arrival rate)
Lq = (12^2)/16(16-12)
Lq = 144/64 = 2.25 customers

(f) What is the shop’s utilization factor?

P = arrival rate/service rate
P = 12/16 = 0,75 = 75%

(g) Sal’s thinking of adding a fifth barber. How will this affect the utilization rate?
service rate if 5 barbers = 5 barbers x 4 customers/barbers = 20 customers
P = arrival rate/service rate
P = 12/20 = 0,6 = 60%

12-39. Customers arrive at a corner grocery store at a rate of 3 per minute and the Poisson
distribution accurately defines this rate. A single cashier works at the store, and the average
time to serve a customer is 15 seconds, and the exponential distribution may be used to
describe the distribution of service times.

a) What are λ and μ in this situation?

λ = 3 customer per minute

μ = 60 seconds / 15 seconds per customer = 4 customer per min

e) What is the average length of the line?

L = λ / (μ - λ )

L = 3/(4 - 1) = 3 customer in line

f) How many minutes does the average customer spend waiting in line?
W = 1 / (μ - λ)
W = 1 / (4 -1) = 1 minute
12-40. A second cashier is added to the grocery store in Problem 12-39, and this cashier
works at the same rate as the original one. Assume the arrival rate does not change.

a) What is the average length of the line?

b) How many minutes does the average customer spend waiting in line?

Answer

λ = average arrival rate = 3 per minute

μ = average service rate = 15 s = 4 per minute

m = number of channels open = 2 channel

P0 = The probability that there are zero customers in the system

1
P0 =
3 𝑛⎤ 3 2 2.4
⎡Σ 1
⎢ 𝑛!
⎣
( )⎦ ( )
4 ⎥+
1
2! 4 2.4−3

1
P0 =
⎡1
⎢
⎣
( ) ⎤⎥⎦+ ( )
3
4
1
2
9
16
8
5

1
P0 = 3 72
4
+ 160

1
P0 =
0,75+0,45

1
P0 = = 0,833
1,2

a) What is the average length of the line?

 2
3 . 4 (3/4) 3
L= 2 0,833 +
(2−1)! (2 . 4 − 3) 4

6,75
L= 0,833 + 0,75
25

6,75
L= 0,833 + 0,75
25

L = 0,975 customer in line

b) How many minutes does the average customer spend waiting in line?

0,975
W= = 0,325 minute
3