OPERATIONS

RESEARCH

Dr. Vivekanand Pawar

 Queuing Theory

Dr. Vivekanand Pawar

What is queueing theory?
◼ Queuing Theory or Waiting Line Theory

◼ Queuing theory is the mathematical study of waiting lines (or

queues) that enables mathematical analysis of several related
processes, including arriving at the (back of the) queue,
waiting in the queue, and being served by the Service
Channels at the front of the queue.
◼ The waiting lines develop because the service to the customer
may not be rendered immediately as the customer reaches the
service facility.

Dr. Vivekanand Pawar

Queuing Theory
◼ Queuing theory is the mathematics of waiting lines.

◼ It is extremely useful in predicting and evaluating

system performance.

◼ Queuing theory has been used for operations

research, manufacturing and systems analysis.

◼ Traditional queuing theory problems refer to

customers visiting a store, analogous to requests
arriving at a device.
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Applications of Queuing Theory
◼ Telecommunications
◼ Traffic control
◼ Determining the sequence of computer
operations
◼ Predicting computer performance
◼ Health services (e.g.. control of hospital bed
assignments)
◼ Airport traffic, airline ticket sales
◼ Layout of manufacturing systems.
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 General Structure of Queuing System
◼ Model processes in which customers arrive.
◼ Wait their turn for service.
◼ Are serviced and then leave.

Input Queue
Population
output
Server

Arrival Queue Service

Process Structure System
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Queuing Examples
Situation Arriving Service Facility
Customers
Passage of customers Shoppers Checkout Counters
through a supermarket
checkout
Sale of Railway tickets Commuters, Ticket booking
at the ticket office Passengers windows
Landing or take-off of Airplanes Runway
airplanes at the airport
Patients waiting at the Patients Doctor
clinic
Banking transactions Customers Bank Tellers
Flow of computer Computer programmes Central Processing
programmes through a Unit (CPU)
computer system
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 Parts of a Waiting Line
Population of Arrivals Queue Service Exit the system
dirty cars from the (waiting line) facility
general
population … Car Wash

enter exit

Arrivals to the system In the system Exit the system

Arrival Waiting Line Service

Characteristics Characteristics Characteristics
•Size of the population •Limited vs. unlimited •Service design
•Behavior of arrivals •Queue discipline •Statistical
•Statistical distribution of
distribution of arrivals service
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Components/Elements of a Queuing System
Service Process

Servers
Queue or
Waiting Line

Arrival Process Exit

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Components/Elements of a Queuing System
◼ The following are the components or elements of a
queuing system:

◼ 1. Arrival Process

◼ 2. Service System

◼ 3. Queue Structure

Dr. Vivekanand Pawar

1. Arrival Process
◼ 1. Arrival Process
◼ The arrivals from the input population may be classified on
different bases as follows:

◼ (a) According to Source:

◼ The source of customers for a queuing system can be infinite
or finite.
◼ For example, all people of a city could be the potential
customers at a supermarket. The number of people being very
large, it can be taken to be infinite.
◼ For example, the ten machines in a factory requiring repairs
and maintenance by maintenance crew would be finite
population.
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1. Arrival Process
◼ (b) According to Numbers:
◼ The customers may arrive for service individually or in groups.
◼ Single arrivals are illustrated by customers visiting a doctor,
students reaching at aa library counter.
◼ Group arrivals are illustrated by families visiting restaurants.

◼ (c) According to Time:

◼ Customers may arrive in the system at known times.
◼ For example, patients visiting the dentist with prior
appointment may arrive at known times.
◼ Customers enter the system in a random way.
◼ For example, customers entering a bank.
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2. Service System
◼ There are two aspects of a service system:

◼ (a) Structure of the System and

◼ (b) The Speed of the Service.

◼ (a) Structure of the Service System:

◼ By structure of the service system we mean how the service
facilities exist.
◼ There are several possibilities.

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2. Service System

(i) A single service facility

Queue Service facility Departures

Arrivals after Service

E.g. : Your family dentist’s office, Library counter

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 2. Service System
(ii) Multiple, parallel facilities with single queue
Service Stations

Queue
Arrivals Departures
after Service

There is more than one server and parallel implies that each server
provides the same type of facility.
E.g. : Booking at a service station that has several mechanics each
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handling one vehicle.
 2. Service System
(iii) Multiple, parallel facilities with multiple queues
Queue Service Stations
Arrivals

Departures
after Service

E.g. : Booking tickets at a railway station.

Dr. Vivekanand Pawar
 2. Service System

(iv) Service facilities in a series

Service Service
Queue Station 1 Queue Station 2
Arrivals
Phase 1 Phase 2

Departures
after Service

E.g. : Cutting, turning, knurling, drilling, grinding,

packaging operation of steel

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2. Service System
◼ (b) Speed of Service
◼ In a queuing system, the speed with which service is provided
can be expressed in either of two ways as :
◼ (i) Service rate and (ii) Service time
◼ (i) Service rate : The service rate describes the number of
customers serviced during a particular time period.
◼ (ii) Service time : The service time indicates the amount of
time needed to service a customer.

◼ Service rates and service times are reciprocals of each other

and either of them is sufficient to indicate the capacity of the
facility.
Dr. Vivekanand Pawar
2. Service System
◼ (b) Speed of Service

◼ For Example, if a cashier can attend, on the average, to 10

customers in an hour, the service rate would be expressed as 10
customers/hour and service time would be equal to 6
minutes/customer. Generally, we consider the service time only.
◼ If these service times are known exactly, the problem can be
handled easily.
◼ But, as it generally happens, if these are different and not known
with certainty, we have to consider the distribution of the service
times in order to analyse the queuing system.
◼ Generally, the queuing models are based on the assumption that the
service times are exponentially distributed about some average
service time.

Dr. Vivekanand Pawar

3. Queue Structure
◼ In the queue structure, the important thing to know is the
queue discipline which means the order by which
customers are picked up from the waiting line for service.
There are number of possibilities. They are:

◼ (a) First-come-first-served (FCFS)

◼ When the order of service of customers is in the order of
their arrival, the queue discipline is of the first-come-
first-served type.
◼ For example, with a queue for booking railway ticket,
the first person will get the ticket first.

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3. Queue Structure
◼ (b) Last-come-first-served (LCFS)
◼ Sometimes, the customers are serviced in an order reverse of
the order in which they enter so that the ones who join the last
are served first.
◼ For example, the people who join an elevator last are the first
ones to leave it.

◼ (c) Service-in-random-order (SIRO)

◼ Random order of service is defined as: whenever a customer is
chosen for service, the selection is made in a way that every
customer in the queue is equally likely to be selected.
◼ The time of arrival of the customer is, therefore, of no
consequence in such a case.
Dr. Vivekanand Pawar
3. Queue Structure
◼ (d) Priority Service

◼ The customers in a queue might be rendered service on

priority basis.
◼ Thus, the customers may be called according to some
identifiable characteristic (length of job, for example) for
service.
◼ For example, treatment of VIPs in preference to other patients
in a hospital.

Dr. Vivekanand Pawar

Operating Characteristics of Queueing System
◼ An analysis of a given queuing system involves a study of its
different operating characteristics. Some of them are as
follows:

◼ 1. Queue length: Queue length is the average number of

customers in the queue waiting to get service. Large queues
may indicate poor server performance, while small queues
may imply too much server capacity.

◼ 2. System length: System length refers to the number of

customers in the system, those waiting to be serviced and
those being serviced.

Dr. Vivekanand Pawar

Operating Characteristics of Queueing System
◼ 3. Waiting time in the queue: It is the average time that a
customer has to wait in the queue to get service. Long waiting
times are directly related to customer dissatisfaction and
potential loss of future revenues, while very small waiting
times may indicate too much service capacity.
◼ 4. Total time in the system: It is the average time that a
customer spends in the system, from entry in the queue to
completion of service. Large value of this statistics are
indicative of the need to make adjustment in the capacity.
◼ 5. Server idle time: It is the relative frequency with which the
service system is idle. Idle time is directly related to cost.
However, reducing idle time may have adverse effects on the
other characteristics mentioned above.
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Queuing Models
The queueing models can be categorized as:

1. Deterministic Queuing Model

2. Probabilistic Queuing Model

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Deterministic Queuing Model
◼ If each customer arrives at known intervals and the service
time is known with certainty, the queuing model shall be
deterministic in nature.
◼ For a deterministic queuing model, if
 = Mean number of arrivals per time period
µ = Mean number of units served per time period
◼ Then,
1. If  > µ, then waiting line shall be formed and increased
indefinitely and service system would fail ultimately

2. If  ≤ µ, there shall be no waiting line

Dr. Vivekanand Pawar
Deterministic Queuing Model
◼ The proportion of time the service facility would be idle is
𝝀
given as 𝟏 −
𝝁
◼ Where,
 = Mean number of arrivals per time period
µ = Mean number of units served per time period

The ratio  / µ = ρ (rho) is called the average utilization, or the

traffic intensity, or the clearing ratio.

If ρ > 1; the system would ultimately fail.

If ρ ≤ 1; the system works and ρ is the proportion of time it is
busy.
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Problem 1:
◼ In a bank, the customers come to the bank’s teller counter for
bank transactions. Determine for each of the following cases,
◼ (i) whether there would be waiting line or not;
◼ (ii) whether the service facility would remain idle or busy and
◼ (iii) find the traffic intensity for each case.
◼ Case 1: The customers come to bank’s teller counter every 5
minutes and the banker takes exactly 5 minutes to serve a
customer.
◼ Case 2: The customers come to bank’s teller counter every 5
minutes and the banker can serve 15 customers per hour.
◼ Case 3: The customers come to bank’s teller counter every 5
minutes and the banker can serve only 10 customers per hour.
Dr. Vivekanand Pawar
Solution:
◼ Case 1:
◼ Arrival rate =  = 12 customers/hour
◼ Service rate =  = 12 customers/hour
◼ As  = , there shall never be a queue or waiting
line and the banker shall always be busy with
work.
𝜆 12
◼ Also, the traffic intensity = 𝜌 = = = 1.
𝜇 12
◼ As ρ = 1, the system will work smoothly.

Dr. Vivekanand Pawar

Solution:
◼ Case 2:
◼ Arrival rate =  = 12 customers/hour
◼ Service rate =  = 15 customers/hour

◼ As  < , there shall be no waiting line.

◼ But the service facility would be idle for the time =
𝝀 𝟏𝟐 𝟒 𝟏
◼ 𝟏− =𝟏 − =𝟏− = .
𝝁 𝟏𝟓 𝟓 𝟓
◼ That is, the banker will be idle for 1/5th of his time.
𝜆 12 4
◼ Also, the traffic intensity = 𝜌 = = = .
𝜇 15 5
◼ As ρ < 1, the system will work and the banker shall be busy
for 4/5th of his time.
Dr. Vivekanand Pawar
Solution:
◼ Case 3:
◼ Arrival rate =  = 12 customers/hour
◼ Service rate =  = 10 customers/hour

◼ As  > , the waiting line shall be formed which will

increase indefinitely.
◼ But the service facility would be busy all the time.
𝜆 12 6
◼ Also, the traffic intensity = 𝜌 = = = .
𝜇 10 5
◼ As ρ > 1, the system would ultimately fail.

Dr. Vivekanand Pawar

Probabilistic Queuing Model
◼ The vast majority of the queueing models are based on the
assumption that one or more elements of the queueing system
can be expressed in probabilistic terms.

◼ For a probabilistic queuing model, the customer arrivals follow

Poisson distribution, while the service times are distributed
exponentially.

◼ If the arrivals are independent, with the average arrival rate

equal to λ per period of time, then, according to Poisson
probability distribution, the probability that n customers will
arrive in the system during a given interval, T, is given as
follows:

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Probabilistic Queuing Model
◼ The probability that n customers will arrive in the
system during a given interval, T, is given as

𝒎𝒏
◼ 𝑷 𝒏 𝒄𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒅𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒅 𝑻 = 𝒆−𝒎
𝒏!

◼ Where,

◼ m = λT and e = 2.7183

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 Probabilistic Queuing Model
◼ Similarly, when the times taken to serve different customers are independent,
the probability that no more than T periods would be required to serve a
customer is given by exponential distribution as follows:

◼ 𝑷 𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝑻 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒅 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒄𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒓

◼ = 𝟏 − 𝒆−𝝁𝑻

◼ 𝑷 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝑻 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒅 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒄𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒓

◼ = 𝒆−𝝁𝑻

◼ Where,
◼ 𝝁 = the average service rate and e = 2.7183

Dr. Vivekanand Pawar

Problem 2:
◼ On an average, 5 customers reach a barber’s
shop every hour.
◼ Determine the probability that exactly 2
customers will reach in a 30-minute period,
assuming that the arrivals follow Poisson
distribution.

Dr. Vivekanand Pawar

Solution:
◼ Arrival rate = λ = 5 customers/hour
◼ Time period = T = 30 minutes = 0.5 hour
◼ m = λT = 5 x 0.5 = 2.5 customers
◼ n = 2 customers
◼ Thus,
𝒎 𝒏
◼ P (2 customers) = 𝒆 −𝒎
𝒏!
𝟐
−𝟐.𝟓 (𝟐.𝟓) −𝟐.𝟓 𝟔.𝟐𝟓
◼ P (2 customers) = 𝒆 = 𝟐. 𝟕𝟏𝟖𝟑 ×
𝟐! 𝟐
= 𝟎. 𝟎𝟖𝟐 × 𝟑. 𝟏𝟐𝟓 = 𝟎. 𝟐𝟓𝟔𝟐𝟓
◼ Thus, the probability that exactly 2 customers will reach in a
30-minute period is 0.256.
Dr. Vivekanand Pawar
Problem 3:
◼ The manager of a bank observes that, on an
average, 18 customers are served by a cashier
in an hour.
◼ Assuming that the service time has an
exponential distribution, what is the
probability that ….
◼ (a) a customer shall be free within 3 minutes,
◼ (b) a customer shall be serviced in more than
12 minutes?

Dr. Vivekanand Pawar

Solution:
◼ (a)
◼ Service rate =  = 18 customers/hour
◼ Time Period = T = 3 minutes = 0.05 hour
◼  P (less than 3 minutes) = 𝟏 − 𝒆−𝝁𝑻
◼  P (less than 3 minutes) = 𝟏 − 𝟐. 𝟕𝟏𝟖𝟑−𝟏𝟖∗𝟎.𝟎𝟓
◼ = 𝟏 − 𝟐. 𝟕𝟏𝟖𝟑−𝟎.𝟗
◼ = 𝟏 − 𝟎. 𝟒𝟎𝟔 = 𝟎. 𝟓𝟗𝟒
◼  P (less than 3 minutes) = 0.594

Dr. Vivekanand Pawar

Solution:
◼ (b)
◼ Service rate =  = 18 customers/hour
◼ Time Period = T = 12 minutes = 0.20 hour
◼  P (more than 12 minutes) = 𝒆−𝝁𝑻
◼  P (more than 12 minutes) = 𝟐. 𝟕𝟏𝟖𝟑−𝟏𝟖∗𝟎.𝟐𝟎
◼ = 𝟐. 𝟕𝟏𝟖𝟑−𝟑.𝟔
◼ = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟐𝟕𝟑
◼  P (more than 12 minutes) = 0.0273

Dr. Vivekanand Pawar

THANK YOU !!!!

Dr. Vivekanand Pawar