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Running Head:: Describe The Uses of Waiting Line Analyses

Waiting line analyses help service organizations reduce wait times and ensure customer satisfaction. Such analyses examine factors like arrival rates, service times, number of servers, and queue lengths. They also consider the tradeoff between costs of waiting and costs of service. Well-designed waiting line systems have arrival rates lower than service rates to prevent queues from persisting indefinitely. Priority rules and single versus multiple service lines further impact efficiency. Overall, waiting line analysis is a tool for improving management decisions and enhancing business performance.

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210 views6 pages

Running Head:: Describe The Uses of Waiting Line Analyses

Waiting line analyses help service organizations reduce wait times and ensure customer satisfaction. Such analyses examine factors like arrival rates, service times, number of servers, and queue lengths. They also consider the tradeoff between costs of waiting and costs of service. Well-designed waiting line systems have arrival rates lower than service rates to prevent queues from persisting indefinitely. Priority rules and single versus multiple service lines further impact efficiency. Overall, waiting line analysis is a tool for improving management decisions and enhancing business performance.

Uploaded by

Henry Anubi
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Running Head: Describe the uses of waiting line analyses

Students Name: Course Code:

Instructors Name: Date:

Describe the uses of waiting line analyses: Outline I. Introduction


A. An overview of uses of waiting line analyses

II. Discussion A. The trade-off curves for cost of waiting time and cost of service. B. Analysis of a variety of operating characteristics of waiting lines(limited & unlimited queue lengths, First-In-First-Out-Rule, etc) III. Conclusion A. This part of the report will cover a summary of the findings

Waiting line analyses assist service organizations to ensure customers are content by reducing wait time. We encounter waiting lines almost about everywhere we go. Waiting lines are caused by overfilling spaces, congestion or overcrowding for services provided. Waiting lines are common in banks, schools or at shopping malls. The time one spends on the line is dependent on the number of servers, speed at which service is offered by server/teller also the number of people that are before you in line. Waiting lines cater to the customer who may either be humans or an object like a customer order requiring processing or a machine awaiting repair. The waiting line system is defined by two paramount elements. This is the source of the customer population and the process of service system. Customer population may be considered as finite or infinite. A finite population, describes a situation where the customer population already in line affects the potential for new customers either significantly or insignificantly. In an infinite population, it is believed that the number of customers already waiting in line does not affect the rate of generation of new customers. Speed of service is gaining praise as a tool used by consumers to evaluate service quality among other criteria. The second parameter that defines a waiting line system is the process of service system which encompasses the arrival rate and service time. Arrival rate is basically the frequency at which customers come to be served while the service time is period taken for a customers queries to be fully answered or taken care of. For a good waiting line system, the arrival rate should be less than the service time or the system will never clear out. The waiting lines are characterized by number of servers, arrangement of servers, arrival and service patterns, and the service priority rules characterize the service system. The waiting line system may have channels or multiple lines. Multiple lines are usually faster than

single lines whereas single lines are more efficient than the multiple lines. Single line examples are like banks and multiple line examples are like petrol stations. Trade off costs is a tricky decision made by the management. The relationship between cost of waiting in line and cost of service can be described by the following curve.

Source: Richard B. Chase and Nicholas J. Aquilano, Production and Operations Management, 1973, page 131. Initially, cost of waiting in line is at an extreme when the organization is at its least service capacity. As the capacity of the service increases, there is a drop in the number of customers in the line and in their wait times, which reduces queuing cost. The optimal total cost is found at the connection between the service capacity and the point of waiting line curves.

In the waiting line system, there are a few rules to follow including priority rules which are set to organize or to determine the order of service. Usually used is first come first served which describes an orderly queue another can be where reservations are made like in hospitals this is a priority queue. There are also a serve in random order and last come first

served which is a stack. Others are complex methods including shuffling in customers in a line. In conclusion, waiting line analyses should not just be treated as obscure operation research but as a tool of improving management and enhancing staff ethics or boosting morale. One can understand queues and learn how to manage them based upon simple models or equations. Waiting line analyses changes the way businesses is run enhancing profitability due to increased efficiency.

Reference
Ray, A., Dennis, J.S., & Thomas, A.W. (2008) An introduction to management science: quantitative approaches to decision making. Mason, OH : Thomson/South-Western, Cengage Learning Publishers

Dennis, J.S., David, R.A., & Thomas A.W.(2009) Quantitative Methods for Business Mason, OH : Thomson/South-Western, Cengage Learning Publishers

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