Operations Research

MBA-024
UNIT IV

QUEUING (WAITING LINE) THEORY

 Basic Components of Queuing
Model
• The arrival pattern/arrival rate
• Service mechanism/service rate
• No. of service facilities
• Capacity of the system
• Queue discipline
Symbols
 Single Channel Queuing Model

• Arrival rates follow Poisson distribution

• Service time follows exponential distribution
• Single server
• Capacity of system is infinite
• Queue discipline: FIFO
Formulae
Formulae
Formulae
A TV repairman finds that the time spent on his
job has an exponential distribution with mean 30
minutes. If he repairs sets in the order in which
they come in and if the arrival of sets is
approximately a Poisson with an average rate of
10 in an 8 hour day, what is the repairman’s
expected idle time each day? How many jobs are
ahead of the average set just brought in?
Customers arrive at a box office window being
manned by a single individual according to a
Poisson input process with a mean rate of 30 per
hour. The time required to serve a customer has
an exponential distribution with a mean of 90
seconds. Find the average waiting time of the
customer.
Arrival of machinists at a tool crip is considered to be
Poisson distributed at an average rate of 6 per hour.
The length of the time the machinists must remain at
the tool crip is exponentially distributed with an
average time being 0.05 hours.
a.What is the probability that a machinist arriving at
the tool crip will have to wait?
b.What is the average no. of machinists at the tool
crip?
c.The co. will install a 2nd tool crip when convinced
that a machinist would have to spend 6 minutes
waiting and being served at the tool crip. By how
much the flow of machinists to the tool crip should
increase to justify the addition of a 2nd tool crip?
Customers arrive at a window drive in a bank
according to Poisson distribution with mean 10 per
hour. Service time per customer is exponential with
mean 5 minutes. The space in front of the window,
including that for the serviced car can accommodate a
maximum of 3 cars. Other cars can wait outside this
space.
a.What is the probability that an arriving customer car
drives directly to the space in front of the window?
b.What is the probability that an arriving customer car
will have to wait outside the indicated space?
A repairman is to be hired to repair machines
which break down at an average rate of 3 per
hour. The breakdown follows a Poisson
distribution. Non productive time of a machine is
considered to cost Rs. 10 per hour. Two repairmen
have been interviewed – one is slow but cheap
while the other is fast but expensive. The slow
repairman charges Rs. 5 per hour and he services
broken down machines at the rate of 4 per hour.
The fast repairman demands Rs. 7 per hour and he
services at an average rate of 6 per hour. Which
repairman should be hired?
 Applications of Queue Model
• Scheduling of aircraft at landing and takeoff
from busy airports.
• Scheduling of issue and return of tools by
workmen from tool cribs in factories.
• Scheduling of mechanical transport fleets.
• Scheduling distribution of scarce war material.
• Scheduling of work and jobs in production
control.
 Applications of Queue Model
• Minimisation of congestion due to traffic delay at
tool booths.
• Scheduling of parts and components to assembly
lines.
• Decisions regarding replacement of capital assets
taking into consideration mortality curves,
technological improvement and cost equations.
• Routing and scheduling of salesmen and sales
efforts.
 Other Benefits of Queuing Theory
• Attempts to formulate, interpret and predict
for purposes of better understanding the
queues and for the scope to introduce
remedies such as adequate service with
tolerable waiting time.
• Provides models that are capable of
influencing arrival pattern of customers.
 Other Benefits of Queuing Theory
• Determines the most appropriate amount of
service or number of service stations.
• Studies behaviours of waiting lines via
mathematical techniques utilising concept of
stochastic process.