Queueing Theory

Syed Zafar Ali

Lecture 9
Queueing Theory
 Recall the last time that you had to wait

 At a supermarket checkout counter

 For a teller at your local bank
 Or to be served at a fast-food restaurant.

 In these and many other waiting line situations, the time spent waiting is
undesirable.

 Adding more checkout clerks, bank tellers, or servers is not always the most
economical strategy for improving service, so businesses need to determine ways
to keep waiting times within tolerable limits.
Queueing Theory

 Models have been developed to help managers understand and

make better decisions concerning the operation of waiting lines.

 In management science terminology, a waiting line is also known as

a queue, and the body of knowledge dealing with waiting lines is
known as queueing theory.
Queueing Theory
 Waiting line models consist of mathematical formulas and
relationships that can be used to determine the operating
characteristics (performance measures) for a waiting line.

 Operating characteristics of interest include these

1. The probability that no units are in the system (i.e., the system is
idle)
2. The average number of units in the waiting line
3. The average number of units in the system (the number of units in the
waiting line plus the number of units being served)
Queueing Theory

4. The average time a unit spends in the waiting line

5. The average time a unit spends in the system (the waiting time
plus the service time)
6. The probability that an arriving unit has to wait for service

 Managers who have such information are better able to make

decisions that balance desirable service levels against the cost of
providing the service.
Structure of a Waiting Line System
 To illustrate the basic features of a waiting line model, we consider the
waiting line at the Burger Dome fast-food restaurant.

 Burger Dome sells hamburgers, cheeseburgers, French fries, soft drinks, and milk
shakes, as well as a limited number of specialty items and dessert selections.

 Although Burger Dome would like to serve each customer immediately, at

times more customers arrive than can be handled by the Burger Dome
food service staff.

 Thus, customers wait in line to place and receive their orders.

Structure of a Waiting Line System

 Burger Dome is concerned that the methods currently used to serve

customers are resulting in excessive waiting times and a possible
loss of sales.

 Management wants to conduct a waiting line study to help

determine the best approach to reduce waiting times and improve
service
Structure of a Waiting Line System

 Single-Server Waiting Line

 In the current Burger Dome operation, an employee takes a

customer’s order, determines the total cost of the order, receives
payment from the customer, and then fills the order.

 Once the first customer’s order is filled, the employee takes the
order of the next customer waiting for service. This operation is an
example of a single-server waiting line.
Structure of a Waiting Line System

Each customer entering the Burger Dome restaurant is served by a

single order-filling station that handles order placement, bill payment,
and food delivery. When more customers arrive than can be served
immediately, they form a waiting line and wait for the order-filling
station to become available. A diagram of the Burger Dome single-
server waiting line is shown in Figure 15.1
Structure of a Waiting Line System
Single-Server Waiting Line Continue

 Each customer entering the Burger Dome restaurant is served by a

single order-filling station that handles order placement, bill
payment, and food delivery.
 When more customers arrive than can be served immediately, they
form a waiting line and wait for the order-filling station to become
available.
A diagram of the Burger Dome single-server waiting line is shown in Figure
15.1
Structure of a Waiting Line System
Structure of a Waiting Line System

 Distribution of Arrivals
 Defining the arrival process for a waiting line involves determining
the probability distribution for the number of arrivals.

 The arrivals occur randomly and independently of other arrivals, and

we cannot predict when an arrival will occur.
 In such cases, analysts have found that the Poisson probability
distribution provides a good description of the arrival pattern.
Structure of a Waiting Line System

Distribution of Arrivals Continue…..

 The Poisson probability function provides the probability of x arrivals
in a specific time period. The probability function is as follows
Distribution of Arrivals Continue…..
 The mean number of arrivals per time period , λ , is called the arrival
rate. Values of can be found using a calculator or by using
Appendix E.
 Suppose that Burger Dome analyzed data on customer arrivals and
concluded that the arrival rate is 45 customers per hour.
For a one-minute period, the arrival rate would be λ = 45
customers/60 minutes = 0.75 customers per minute.
Distribution of Arrivals Continue…..
 Distribution of Service Times
 The service time is the time a customer spends at the service facility
once the service has started.
 At Burger Dome, the service time starts when a customer begins to
place the order with the employee and continues until the customer
receives the order.
 Service times are rarely constant.
Distribution of Service Times Continu….
 If the probability distribution for the service time can be assumed to
follow an exponential probability distribution, formulas are available
for providing useful information about the operation of the waiting
line.
 Using an exponential probability distribution, the probability that the
service time will be less than or equal to a time of length t is

Where
μ = the mean number of units that can be served per time period
e = 2.71828
Distribution of Service Times Continu….
 The mean number of units that can be served per time period, μ , is
called the service rate.
 Suppose that Burger Dome studied the order-filling process and
found that a single employee can process an average of 60 customer
orders per hour.
 On a one-minute basis, the service rate would be 60 customers/60
minutes 1 customer per minute.
Distribution of Service Times Continu….

 Thus, we would conclude that there is a 0.3935 probability that an

order can be processed in 1 /2 minute or less, a 0.6321 probability
that it can be processed in 1 minute or less, and a 0.8647
probability that it can be processed in 2 minutes or less.
 Queue Discipline
 In describing a waiting line system, we must define the manner in
which the waiting units are arranged for service.
 For the Burger Dome waiting line, and in general for most customer
-oriented waiting lines, the units waiting for service are arranged on
a first-come, first-served basis; this approach is referred to as an
FCFS queue discipline.
 However, some situations call for different queue disciplines.
For example, when people board an airplane, the last passengers to
board are typically the first to deplane since many airlines have the
passengers with seat assignments in the back of the plane board
first.
 For hospital emergency rooms to operate under either of these
queue disciplines, and so we have other types of queue disciplines
that assign priorities to the waiting units and then serve the unit with
the highest priority first.
 Steady-State Operation
 No customer in the morning (transient period)
 Gradually activity builds up to normal (Steady state)
 Waiting line fluctuate depending arrival and service rate.
 Waiting line models describe the steady state operating
characteristics of a waiting line.
Formulas for Single-Server Waiting Line Model
with Poisson Arrivals and Exponential Service
Times
Multiple-Server Waiting Line Model with
Poisson Arrivals and Exponential Service
Times
 A multiple-server waiting line consists of two or more servers that
are assumed to be identical in terms of service capability.

 For multiple-server systems, there are two typical queueing

possibilities:
(1) arriving customers wait in a single waiting line (called a
“pooled” or “shared” queue) and then move to the first available
server for processing, or
(2) each server has a “dedicated” queue and an arriving customer
selects one of these lines to join (and typically is not allowed to switch
lines
Multiple-Server Waiting Line Model with
Poisson Arrivals and Exponential Service
Times
Multiple-Server Waiting Line Model with
Poisson Arrivals and Exponential Service
Times
 Operating characteristics for a multiple-server system are typically
better when a single shared queue, rather than multiple dedicated
waiting lines, is used.

1. The arrivals follow a Poisson probability distribution.

2. The service time for each server follows an exponential probability
distribution.
3. The service rate is the same for each server.
4. The arrivals wait in a single waiting line and then move to the first open
server for service.
Multiple-Server Waiting Line Model with
Poisson Arrivals and Exponential Service
Times
 Operating Characteristics of multiple server waiting line

 The following formulas can be used to compute the steady-state

operating characteristics for multiple-server waiting lines,

Where λ = the arrival rate for the system

μ = the service rate for each server
е к = the number of servers
 Because μ is the service rate for each server, k is the service rate for the
multiple-server system.
 As was true for the single-server waiting line model, the formulas for the
operating characteristics of multiple-server waiting lines can be applied only in
situations where the service rate for the system exceeds the arrival rate for the
system; in other words, the formulas are applicable only if kμ is greater than λ .
 We use equations (15.11) through (15.18) for the k = 2-server system.
For an arrival rate of λ = 0.75 customers per minute and a service rate of
μ = 1 customer per minute for each server, we obtain the operating
characteristics:
Multiple-Server Waiting Line Model with
Poisson Arrivals and Exponential Service
Times
We can now compare the steady-state operating characteristics of
the two-server system to the operating characteristics of the original
single-server system discussed in Section 15.2.