International University – VNUHCM Simulation Models in Industrial Engineering

School of Industrial Engineering and Management Semester: Spring - 2024

HOMEWORK 1
SIMULATION EXAMPLES IN A SPREADSHEET
Problem: Simulation of a Single-Channel Queuing System
Given a library has a self-service printing section which can only be used by one student at a
time to print documents, please answer the following questions:
(a) Describe the system process via a flowchart.
(b) Given the distributions of time between arrival and service time are given in Table 1
and Table 2, respectively. Complete Table 1 and 2
(c) Table 3 and Table 4 display the determination of time between arrivals and service
time.
Complete Table 3 and 4
(d) Analyze the system by simulating the arrival and service of 20 customers in Table 5.
Explain your steps in detail.
(e) Compute the following indicators of the system’s performance. Explain your
calculations in detail.
o Average waiting time,
o Probability of wait,
o Probability of idle server,
o Average service time,
o Average time between arrivals,
o Average waiting time of those who wait,
o Average time customer spends in the system.
(f) Provide your comments on the system and suggestions for system improvement.

Table 1. Distribution of Time Arrivals

Time between arrivals Cumulative Random digit
Probability
(minutes) probability assignment
3 0.138
5 0.065
8 0.163
10 0.152
12 0.131
15 0.081

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 International University – VNUHCM Simulation Models in Industrial Engineering
School of Industrial Engineering and Management Semester: Spring - 2024

18 0.165
20 0.105

Table 2. Distribution of Service time

Service time (minutes) Probability Cumulative probability Random digit assignment
2 0.089
3 0.205
4 0.158
5 0.143
6 0.103
7 0.075
8 0.172
9 0.055

Table 3. Determination of Time between Arrivals

Customer Random digits Time between arrivals (minutes)
1 -
2 136
3 411
4 100
5 194
6 647
7 865
8 236
9 53
10 250
11 153
12 418
13 897
14 499
15 640
16 791

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 International University – VNUHCM Simulation Models in Industrial Engineering
School of Industrial Engineering and Management Semester: Spring - 2024

17 76
18 765
19 22
20 276

Table 4. Determination of Service time

Customer Random digits Service time (minutes)
1 51
2 751
3 566
4 532
5 245
6 42
7 467
8 952
9 856
10 692
11 512
12 876
13 509
14 699
15 809
16 755
17 376
18 231
19 484
20 125

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 International University – VNUHCM Simulation Models in Industrial Engineering
School of Industrial Engineering and Management Semester: Spring - 2024

Table 5. Simulation table for Queuing problem

Customer Time since Arrival time Service time Time service Time Time service Time Idle time of
last arrival (clock time) (minutes) begins customer ends customer server
(minutes) (clock time) waits in (clock time) spends in (minutes)
queue system
(minutes) (minutes)
1 - 0
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

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