Waiting Line Models

(Queuing Theory)

Examples of Lines in Operations Management

Assembly lines
Production lines Trucks waiting to unload or load Workers waiting for parts Customers waiting for products Broken equipment waiting to be fixed

Customers waiting for service

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Why We Analyze Waiting Lines

Lines cost a business money.
The resources in a line (people and/or material) are idle and thus unproductive. The resources needed to process/service a line (cashiers, dock workers, equipment, etc.) cost a business money. There is an ideal length for a line that minimizes the total cost of the line..
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Costs
The costs of waiting in line

Paying idle employees while they are in line waiting for something they need. (waiting for parts, supplies, deliveries, etc.)

Unusable (unproductive) equipment awaiting repairs

EG: Broken assembly line machinery.

Losing customers because of long lines

Reneging: Customers get tired of waiting and leave
Balking: Customers see a long line and dont get in line.

The cost of providing service to the line

Paying people to service the customers in line Customers can be people, machines, or other objects needing service.

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Cost of Providing Service

Paying repairmen to fix broken machines Paying dock workers to load and unload trucks Paying customer-service people Using extra production people to speed up a line Leasing service equipment and facilities Paying checkout cashiers
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Queuing System Costs

Costs

Costs of Waiting
Fewer servers often means longer waiting for customers.

goes down as service increases.

Optimal # of servers

Number of Servers

Many servers means little or no waiting, but higher service costs.

Note that the lowest cost system requires some customer waiting.
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 Average number of customers in line. Average time in line for a customer. Average number of customers in the system Average time in the system for a customer. Probability of n number of customers in the
system at any given time.

What Queuing Models Tell Us.

at any time. (In line and being served.)

NOTE: In The System includes customers who

are waiting plus and the customers being served.
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The Waiting Line System

ARRIVAL SYSTEM
(How customers arrive)

QUEUE
(The nature of the waiting line or lines of customers)

SERVICE FACILITY
(How customers progress through a service facility)
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Waiting Line Models

Customer population

Service System
Arrival System

Waiting line (Queue)

Priority rule

Service facilities

Served customers

The sequence in which customers are admitted into the service facility.

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Arrival System

Arrival Populations are either

Arrival Patterns are either Behavior of the Arrivals

Limited (EG: Only people age 21 or over.) Unlimited (EG: cars arriving at a toll booth) Random (Each arrival is independent) Scheduled (EG: Doctors office visits) Balking (Seeing a long line and avoiding it.) Reneging (Get tired of waiting and leave the line) Jockeying (Switching lines)

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The Queue (line)

Queue Length (line length) is either..

Queue Discipline (order of service)

FIFO (First-In, First-Out) LIFO (Last-In, First-Out) SIRO (Service In Random Order) Priority

Unlimited (EG: cars in line at a toll booth)

Limited (Finite) EG: # of e-mail messages allowed.

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The Service Facility

Channels are the paths (ways to get through the system) after getting in line?

EG: McDonalds drive-thru is one channel.

Phases are the number of stops a customer must make, after getting in line?
(Single-phase means only one stop for service.)

McDonalds drive-thru is a three-phase system:

Order
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Pay

Pick-up

Single-channel, Single-phase
One way through the system and one stop for service
Service Facility

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Multi-channel, Single-phase
Once in line, you have at least two choices of how to get through the system, but only one stop. Service Facility Service Facility

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Multi-channel, Multi-phase
Once in line, you have at least two choices (channels) of how to get through the system and at least two stops (phases).

Service Facility Service Facility

Service Facility Service Facility

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Four Single-channel, Single-phase Systems

(Once in line, you only have one channel and one stop.) Service Facility Service Facility Service Facility Service Facility
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One, Multi-channel, Single-Phase System

(Once in line you have four possible paths through the system, but only one stop.)

Service Facility
Service Facility Service Facility Service Facility
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Assumptions We Will Use

The Rate of Service must be faster than the Rate of

Arrivals. (It is unsolvable if customers arrive faster than they can be served.)

FIFO (First In, First Out) (Customers are served in the order they arrive.) Arrivals are unlimited (infinite) Arrivals are random rather than scheduled. Customers arrive independently of each other. Service times can vary from one customer to
another, and are independent of each other.
(Customers may have different service needs and times.)
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Always enter the service rate for 1 server. The model will compute the total service rate based on the number of servers.

Queuing Problem
At a large Naval Ship Repair Facility mechanics have to make frequent trips to the tool crib for parts and specialized equipment. Arrivals are infinite (unrestricted) since
mechanics can come as often as need, even though the population of customers is finite.)

Records indicate that the tool crib serves an average of 18 mechanics each hour, but one attendant is capable of serving 20 per hour. If mechanics are paid $30 per hour and the tool crib attendants make $9 per hour, would it be more cost effective to have one or two attendants in the tool crib?
The service rate is always the average number for one server, regardless of how many servers there are in the system. In this case the service rate of 20 is higher than the arrival rate of 18. If the service rate had been 10 customers per server, you would need to enter at least two servers.
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Which system is less expensive?

Single Attendant

1st Attendant
2nd Attendant
(It depends on the relative cost of service versus cost of waiting.)

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Data-Entry Information for POM/QM

One attendant can serve 20 mechanics/customers per hr. and is paid $9 per hour.
$9/hr
$30/hr

Single Attendant 1st Attendant

Mechanics (customers) arrive at an average of 18 per hour and are paid $30 per hour.

2nd Attendant
I ran the POM-QM model using two servers, but I could have run it with any number of servers since you always enter the service rate for one server. The POM-QM model will do the computations for more than one server.
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Select the Module

Select the M/M/s Model

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Select Cost Analysis and Enter the Title

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Always enter the Service rate for 1 server!

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Make sure you use the M/M model.

Results for 2 servers

Average # customers in the system Average time spent in the system Average time spent in line Average # of customers in line
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Find the optimal # of servers

Lowest Cost is $51.86 using two servers.

In this problem, you would have gotten this screen regardless of how many servers you used for the input, because the service rate for one server exceeded the arrival rate. The single-server rate times the number of servers you enter must exceed the arrival rate. If the single-server rate in this problem had been six per hour instead of 20 per hour, you would have had to enter at least 4 servers. (Three servers would have served 18 per hour, which does not
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exceed the arrival rate of 18.)

Probability that the system is idle (no customers) is 38%

The probability that 4 or fewer mechanics are in the system is 97%

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What the Model Tells Us

Note: You need to run the model with 1 server if you want the info for 1 server, and run it using 2 servers to get the info for 2 servers.

# of Servers 1 2

Average # customers in the system 9 Average time in the system (min.) Average # customers in line Average time in line (min.)

1.13

30
8.1

3.76
0.23

27

0.76

Probability that the system is idle

10% 38%

Once you know the optimal # of servers, make sure you run it again for that many servers in order to get the right data. But always enter the service rate for one server, regardless of how many servers.
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POM/QM or Excel Solver?

POM/QM will do the cost analysis for you, so it is easier. (Select the M/M model.) You can use the Excel Solver, but it wont do the cost analysis, so you would need to do that manually. You also need to run the Excel solver once for each server number you use, and then do a manual cost analysis for each in order to see which number of servers has the lowest cost. In multiple server problems, you might have to run it for a half-dozen or more scenarios.
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Excel Solver: 1 Server

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 Mechanics get paid $30 per hour Attendants get paid $9 per hour

Manual cost computations for one server (9 customers in the system)

Cost of waiting is: $30 x 9 customers in system = $270

Total cost of one server is: $270 + $9 = $279

POM-QM model

Cost of service is thus 1 server x $9 = $9 per hour

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Excel Solver: Two Servers

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Manual cost computations for Two servers (9 customers in the system)

Mechanics get paid $30 per hour
Cost of waiting is: $30 x 1.28 customers in system = $33.84

Attendants get paid $9 per hour

Cost of service is: $9 x 2 servers = $18 per hour

Total cost of two servers is: $18 + $33.84 = $51.84

POM-QM model

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Homework Assignment
Due next Friday Problem 1: Auto Repair Center Problem 2: The Gravel Pit
Use POM/OM or Excel Solver software and submit printouts to support your decisions

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Auto Repair Center

In the service department of a repair shop, mechanics requiring parts for repair or service present their request forms at the parts department counter. The parts clerk fills a request while the mechanic waits. Mechanics arrive in a random fashion at the rate of 35 per hour, and a clerk can fill requests at the rate of 20 per hour. If the cost for a parts clerk is $12 per hour and the cost for a mechanic is $25 per hour, determine the optimum number of clerks to staff the counter. (Because of the high arrival rate, an infinite source may be assumed.)
Always enter the service rate for one server. The program will do the math once you enter the number of servers. If you enter fewer servers than can handle the arrival needs, the program will give you an error message because the computed service rate must be higher than the arrival rate.

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The Quarry (no cost analysis in model)

You are in charge of a quarry that supplies sand and stone aggregates to construction sites. Empty trucks arrive and wait in line for loading either sand or aggregate. At the loading station they are filled with material, weighted, checked out, and then proceed to a construction site.

Currently 9 empty trucks arrive each hour (on average). In addition to waiting in line, it takes 6 minutes for a truck to be filled, weighed and checked out.
Concerned that trucks are spending too much time waiting and being filled, you evaluate the current situation and compare it to the 2 alternatives below.

Alternative 1: Speed up the loading process and add side boards to the trucks so that more material can be loaded faster. This will improve the speed of loading, but cost $50,000. Since the trucks hold more, their arrival rate would be reduced to 6 per hour and the loading time would be reduced to 4 minutes each.
Alternative 2: Add a second loading station at a cost of $80,000. The trucks would arrive at the current rate of 9 per hour. They would then wait in a common line and the truck at the front of the line would move to the next available loading station. Loading time at each of the stations is 6 minutes. Which alternative do you recommend? (Select No Cost in the POM/QM waiting line model. You must decide which of the three situations would the most cost effective based on time in the system and upgrade costs.
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