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Waiting Line and Queuing Theory Models

14
C H A P T E R

TEACHING SUGGESTIONS ALTERNATIVE EXAMPLES

Teaching Suggestion 14.1: Topic of Queuing. Alternative Example 14.1: A new shopping mall is considering
Here is a chapter that all students can relate to. Ask about student setting up an information desk manned by one employee. Based
experiences in lines. Stress that queues are a part of our everyday on information obtained from similar information desks, it is be-
lives and how things have changed at banks, post offices, and air- lieved that people will arrive at the desk at the rate of 20 per hour.
ports in just the past decade. (We now wait in a common line for It takes an average of 2 minutes to answer a question. It is as-
the first available server.) sumed that arrivals are Poisson and answer times are exponen-
Teaching Suggestion 14.2: Cost of Waiting Time from an tially distributed.
Organizational Perspective. a. Find the probability that the employee is idle.
Students should realize that different organizations place different b. Find the proportion of the time that the employee is busy.
values on customer waiting time. Ask students to consider differ- c. Find the average number of people receiving and waiting
ent scenarios, from a drive-through restaurant to a doctors office to receive information.
to a registration line in their college or motor vehicle office. It be- d. Find the average number of people waiting in line to get
comes clear that organizations place different values on their cus- information.
tomers time (with most colleges and DMVs unfortunately placing e. Find the average time a person seeking information
minimal cost on waiting time). spends at the desk.
Teaching Suggestion 14.3: Use of Poisson and Exponential f. Find the expected time a person spends just waiting in
Probability Distributions to Describe Arrival and Service Rates. line to have a question answered.
These two distributions are very common in basic models, but stu- ANSWER:   20/hour   30/hour
dents should not take their appropriateness for granted. As a pro-  20
a. P0  1   1   .33  33%
ject, ask students to visit a bank or drive-through restaurant and  30
time arrivals to see if they indeed are Poisson distributed. Note 
that other distributions (such as exponential, normal, or Erlang) b.   0.66

are often more valid.
 20
Teaching Suggestion 14.4: Balking and Reneging Assumptions. c. L   2 people
   30  20
Note that most queuing models assume that balking and reneging
are not permitted. Since we know they do occur in supermarkets, 2 (20)2
what can be done? This is one of many places to prepare students d. Lq    1.33 people
(  ) 30(30  20)
for the need for simulation, the topic of the next chapter.
1 1
Teaching Suggestion 14.5: Use of Queuing Software. e. W   0.1 hour
   30  20
The Excel QM and QM for Windows queuing software modules
are among the easiest models in the program to use since there are l 20
f. Wq    0.0667 hours
so few inputs. Yet students should be reminded of how long it (  l ) 30(30  20)
would take to produce the programs in Chapter 14 by hand. Alternative Example 14.2: In Alternative Example 14.1, the in-
Teaching Suggestion 14.6: Importance of Lq and Wq in formation desk employee earns $5/hour. The cost of waiting time,
Economic Analysis. in terms of customer unhappiness with the mall, is $12/hour of
Although many parameters are computed for a queuing study, the time spent waiting in line. Find the total expected costs over an 8-
two most important ones are Lq and Wq when it comes to an actual hour day.
cost analysis. a. The average person waits 0.0667 hour and there are 160
Teaching Suggestion 14.7: Teaching the New England arrivals per day. So total waiting time  (160)(0.0667) 
Foundry Case. 10.67 hours @ $12/hour, implying a waiting cost of
Here is a tip for this very teachable case. About half the students $128/day.
who tackle the case forget that time walking to the counter must b. The salary cost is $40/day.
be noted and that the return time also needs to be added. c. Total costs are $128  $40  $168/day.

217
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218 CHAPTER 14 WAITING LINE AND QUEUING THEORY MODELS

Alternative Example 14.3: A new shopping mall is considering SOLUTIONS TO DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
setting up an information desk manned by two employees. Based
AND PROBLEMS
on information obtained from similar information desks, it is be-
lieved that people will arrive at the desk at the rate of 20 per hour. 14-1. The waiting line problem concerns the question of find-
It takes an average of 2 minutes to answer a question. It is as- ing the ideal level of service that an organization should provide.
sumed that arrivals are Poisson and answer times are exponen- The three components of a queuing system are arrivals, waiting
tially distributed. line, and service facility.
a. Find the proportion of the time that the employees are 14-2. The seven underlying assumptions are:
idle. 1. Arrivals are FIFO.
b. Find the average number of people waiting in the system. 2. There is no balking or reneging.
c. Find the expected time a person spends waiting in the
system. 3. Arrivals are independent.

ANSWER:   20/hour,   30/hour, M  2 open channels 4. Arrivals are Poisson.

(servers). 5. Service times are independent.
a. P  1 6. Service times are negative exponential.
0 0 1 2
1 20 1 20 1 20 2(30) 7. Average service rate exceeds average arrival rate.
 
0 ! 30 1 ! 30 2 ! 30 2(30) 20 14-3. The seven operating characteristics are:
1 1. Average number of customers in the system (L)

2 1 4 60 2. Average time spent in the system (W)
1 
3 2 9 (60  20) 3. Average number in the queue (Lq)
1 1 4. Average time in the queue (Wq)
   50%
2 1 2 5. Utilization factor ()
1 
3 3 6. Percent idle time (Po)

(20)(30)(20 / 30)2 1 20 7. Probability there are more than K customers in the


b. L system
(1)[(2)(30)  20]2 2 30
14-4. If the service rate is not greater than the arrival rate, an
( 800 / 3) 1 2 1 8 9 3 infinite queue will eventually build up.
      peopple
1, 600 2 3 12 12 12 4 14-5. First-in, first-out (FIFO) is often not applicable. Some ex-
amples are (1) hospital emergency rooms, (2) an elevator, (3) an
L 3/ 4 3 airplane trip, (4) a small store where the shopkeeper serves who-
c. W   hr.  0.0375
 20 80 ever can get his or her attention first, (5) a computer system set to
Alternative Example 14.4: Three students arrive per minute at accept priority runs, (6) a college registration system that allows
a coffee machine that dispenses exactly 4 cups/minute at a con- juniors and seniors to register ahead of freshmen and sophomores,
stant rate. Describe the operating system parameters. (7) a restaurant that may seat a party of 2 before a party of 4 even
though the latter group arrived earlier, (8) a garage that repairs
ANSWER:   3/minute   4/minute cars with minor problems before it works on major overhauls.
2 9
Lq   14-6. Examples of finite queuing situations include (1) a firm
2(  ) 2( 4)( 4  3) that has only 3 or 4 machines that need servicing, (2) a small air-
 1.125 people in queue on average port at which only 10 or 15 flights land each day, (3) a classroom
 3 that seats only 30 students for class, (4) a physician who has a lim-
Wq   ited number of patients, and (5) a hospital ward with only 20 pa-
2(  ) 2( 4)( 4  3)
tients who need care.
 0.375 minutes in the queue waiting
 3 14-7. a. Barbershop: usually a single-channel, multiple-
L  Lq   1.125  service system (if there is more than one barber).
 4
Arrivals  customers wanting haircuts
 1.87 people in the system
Waiting line  seated customers who informally recognize
1 1 who arrived first among them
W  Wq   .375 
 4 Service  haircut, style, shampoo, and so forth; if
 0.625 minutes in the system service involves barber, then shampooist, then
manicurist, it becomes a multiphase system
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CHAPTER 14 WAITING LINE AND QUEUING THEORY MODELS 219

b. Car wash: usually either a single-channel, single-server
system, or else a system with each service bay having its own
queue.
Arrivals  dirty cars or trucks
Waiting time  cars in one line (or more lines if there are
service parallel wash systems); always FIFO
Service  either multiphase (if car first vacuumed, then
soaped, then sent through automatic cleaner,
then dried by hand) or single-phase if all
automatic or performed by one person
c. Laundromat: basically a single-channel, multiserver,
two-phase system.
Arrivals  customers with dirty clothes
Waiting line  usually first-come, first-served in terms of
selecting an available machine
Service  first phase consists of washing clothes in
washing machines; second-phase is again
queuing for the first available drying machine
d. Small grocery store: usually a single-channel, single-
server system.
Arrivals  customers buying food items
Waiting line  customers with carts or baskets of groceries
who arrive first at the cash register;
sometimes not FIFO; grocer may care for
regular customers first or give priority to
person making a small, quick, purchase
Service  ringing up sale on cash register, collecting
money, and bagging groceries
14-8. The waiting time cost should be based on time in the
queue in situations where the customer does not mind how long it
takes to complete service once the service starts. The classic ex-
ample of this is waiting in line for an amusement park ride.
Waiting time cost should be based on the time in the system
when the entire time is important to the customer. When a com-
puter or an automobile is taken into the shop to be repaired, the
customer is without use of the item until the service is finished. In
such a situation, the time in the system is the relevant time.
14-9. The use of Poisson to describe arrivals:
a. Cafeteria: probably not. Most people arrive in groups and
eat at the same time.
b. Barbershop: probably acceptable, especially on a week-
end, in which case people arrive at the same rate all day long.
c. Hardware store: okay.
d. Dentists office: usually not. Patients are most likely
scheduled at 15- to 30-minute intervals and do not arrive
randomly.
e. College class: number of students come in groups at the
beginning of class period; very few arrive during the class or
very early before class.
f. Movie theater: probably not if only one movie is shown
(if there are four or more auditoriums each playing a different
movie simultaneously, it may be okay). Patrons all tend to ar-
rive in batches 5 to 20 minutes before a show.

14-10.

NUMBER OF CHECKOUT CLERKS

1 2 3 4
Number of customers 300 300 300 300
Average waiting time 16 hour 1
10
hour 1
15
hour 1 hour
20
per customer (10 minutes) (6 minutes) (4 minutes) (3 minutes)
Total customer waiting time 50 hours 30 hours 20 hours 15 hours
Cost per waiting hour $10 $10 $10 $10
Total waiting costs $500 $300 $200 $150
Checkout clerk hourly salary $8 $8 $8 $8
Total pay of clerks for $64 $128 $192 $256
8-hour shift
Total expected cost $564 $428 $392 $406
Optimal number of a
checkout clerks on duty  3
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220 CHAPTER 14 WAITING LINE AND QUEUING THEORY MODELS

14-11. a. The utilization rate, , is given by d. The utilization rate, , is given by

  10
=     0.8333
  12
3 e. The probability that no cars are in the system, P0, is
 given by:
8 
 0.375 P0  1   1    1  0.8333  0.1667

b. The average down time, W, is the time the machine
14-13.   210 patrons/hour,   280 patrons/hour.
waits to be serviced plus the time taken to perform the
service. a. The average number of patrons waiting in line, Lq, is
given by
1
W 2 2102 44, 100
  Lq   
1 (  ) 280(280  210) 280(70)

83 44, 100
 2.25 patrons in line
19, 600
 0.2 day, or 1.6 hours
b. The average fraction of time the cashier is busy, , is
c. The number of machines waiting to be served, Lq, is, given by
on average,
 210
2    0.75
Lq   280
(  ) c. The average time a customer spends in the ticket-
32 dispensing system, W, is given by

8(8  3) 1 1 1
W  
 0.225 machine waiting    280  210 70
d. Probability that more than one machine is in the  0.0143 hour in the line
system  0.857 minute  51.4 seconds
k 1
 d. The average time spent by a patron waiting to get a
Pn  k 
 ticket, Wq, is given by
 210 210
3
2
9 Wq   
Pn  1    0.141 (  ) 280(280  210) 280(70)
8 64 210
  0.011 hour 0.64 minute
Probability that more than two machines are in the 19, 600
system:  38.6 seconds
3
3 27 e. The probability that there are more than two people in
Pn  2    0.053
8 512 the system, Pn2, is given by
k 1
3
4
81 
Pn  3    0.020 Pn  k 
8 4, 096 
3
5 210
3 243 Pn  2   0.422
Pn  4    0.007 280
8 32 , 768
The probability that there are more than three people in the sys-
14-12.   10 cars/hour,   12 cars/hour. tem, Pn  3, is given by
4
a. The average number of cars in line, Lq, is given by 210
Pn  3   0.316
2 102 102 280
Lq    The probability that there are more than four people in the system,
(  ) 12(12  10) (12)(2)
Pn  4, is given by
 4.167 cars 5
210
Pn  4   0.237
280
b. The average time a car waits before it is washed, Wq, is
given by
14-14.   4 students/minute,   6 q 0 w  5 students/minute
 10 10
Wq    a. The probability of more than two students in the system,
(  ) 12(12  10) (12)(2)
Pn  2, is given by
 0.4167 hours k 1

c. The average time a car spends in the service system, W, Pn  k 
is given by 
3
W
1

1 1
  0.5 hour 4
Pn  2   0.512
   12  10 2 5
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CHAPTER 14 WAITING LINE AND QUEUING THEORY MODELS 221

The probability of more than three students in the system, Pn3, is f (part c). The average waiting time, Wq, for the two-
given by channel system is given by
4
4 1
Pn  3   0.410 Wq  W 
5 
The probability of more than four students in the system, Pn4, is where
m
given by 

4
5
 1
Pn  4   0.328 W P0 
5 (m  1)!(m  )2 
b. The probability that the system is empty, P0, is given by Then
2
 4 4
P0  1   1   1  0.8  0.2 5
 5 5
Wq  (0.429)
c. The average waiting time, Wq, is given by (2  1)[2(5)  4]2
 4 5(0.64)
Wq    0.8 minute  (0.429)
(  ) 5(5  4)
1(10  4)2
d. The expected number of students in the queue, Lq, is 1.373
given by   0.038 minute 2.3 sec onds
1(36)
2 42
Lq    3.2 students f (part d). The average number of students in the queue for
(  ) 5(5  4) the two-channel system, Lq, is given by
e. The average number of students in the system, L, is given 
as Lq  L 

 4 where
L   4 students m
  5  4 

f. Adding a second channel, we have  
  4 students/minute L P 
(m  1)!(m  ) 2 0 
60
   5 students/minute Then
12 2
4
m2 4(5)
5
f (part b). The probability that the two-channel system is Lq  (0.429)
(2  1)![2(5)  4]2
empty, P0, is given by
1 4(5)(0.64) 5.492
P0   (0.429) 
n  m  1 1  1  m m
n 1(10  4) 2 1(36)
  0.15 student
n  0 n !  m !  m  
f (part e). The average number of students in the two-
1 channel system, L, is given by
 0 1 2 m
1 4 1 4 1 4 2(5) 
  
0! 5 1 5 1(2) 5 2(5) 4  
L P0 
1 (m  1)!(m  )2 
 2
4 1 4 2(5)  4
1   Lq   0.153   0.95 student
5 2 5 10  4  5
14-15.   30 trucks/hour,   35 trucks/hour.
1
 a. The average number of trucks in the system, L, is given
4 1 16 10 by
1 
5 2 25 6 
L

1  
4 160
1  30 30
5 300    6trucks in the system
35  30 5
or
b. The average time spent by a truck in the system, W, is
1 1
P0    0.429 given by
1  0.8  0.53 2.33 1
Thus the probability of an empty system when using the second W
 
channel is 0.429. 1 1
   0.2 hour 12 minutes
35  30 5
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222 CHAPTER 14 WAITING LINE AND QUEUING THEORY MODELS

c. The utilization rate for the bin area, , is given by To determine total cost using the second clerk (a second channel):
 1
 P0 
 n  m  1 1  n 1  m m

n  0 n !  m !  m  
30 6
   0.857
35 7
d. The probability that there are more than three trucks in 1
the system, Pn  3, is given by  0 1 2
k 1 1 12 1 12 1 12 2(15)
  
Pn  k  0 ! 15 1 15 1(2) 15 2(15) 12
 1
4 
30 4 1 4 2(15)
2
Pn  3   0.540 1 
35 5 2 5 30  12
Thus the probability that there are more than three trucks in the 1
system is 0.540. 
4 1 16 30
e. Unloading cost: 1 
5 2 25 18
hours trucks hours dollars 1
CM 16 30 0.2 18 
day hour truck hour 4 480
1 
5 900
16(30)(0.2)(18)
or
 $1,728/day or $12,096 per week.
1
f. Enlarging the bin will cut waiting costs by 50% next P0 
1  0.8  0.53
year. First, we must compute annual waiting costs:
1
  0.429
annual weeks days dollars 2.33
2 7 1, 728
year week day
m
waiting cost 

 $24,192 
Wq  P0
Enlarging the bin will cut waiting costs by 50% next year, result- (m  1)!(m  )2
ing in a savings of $12,096. Since the cost of enlarging the bin is Then
only $9,000, the cooperative should proceed to enlarge the bin. 2
12
The net savings is $3,096 ($12,096  $9,000). 15
15
14-16.   12 calls/hour,   6 0r  15 calls/hour. Wq  (0.429)
(2  1)[2(15)  12]2
a. The average time the catalog customer must wait, Wq, is
given by 15(0.64)
 (0.429)
 1(30  12)2
Wq 
(  ) 
4.12
 0.0127 hour  0.763 seconds
12 12 12 1(324)
    0.267 Cost with two clerks:
15(15  12) 15(3) 45
 16 minutes Ct/hour  service cost  waiting cost
b. The average number of callers waiting to place an order, calls hours dollars
 20  12 0.0127 50
Lq, is given by hour call hour
2  20  12(0.0127)(50)  20  7.62
Lq   $27.62/hour
(  )
There is a savings of 170.20  27.62  142.5/hour. Thus a second
12 2 144 144
    3.2 customers clerk should certainly be added!
15(15  12) 15(3) 45
14-17. This is an M/M/1 system with   24 per hour and  
c. To decide whether or not to add the second clerk, we must 30 per hour.
(a) compute present total cost, (b) compute total cost with the a. W  0.167 hours
second clerk, and (c) compare the two. Present total cost:
b. L4
Ct/hour  service cost  waiting cost
c. Wq  0.133
calls hours dollars d. Lq  3.2
 10  12 0.267 50
hour call hour e. P0  0.2
 10  12(0.267)(50)  10  160.2 f.   0.8
 $170.20/hour g. P(n  2)  Pn  1  Pn  2  0.640  0.512  0.128
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CHAPTER 14 WAITING LINE AND QUEUING THEORY MODELS 223

14-18. This is an M/M/2 system with   24 per hour and   3

2

30 per hour. Using QM for Windows we get the following: 3( 4)

4 3
a. W  0.0397 hours L (0.4545)   0.873
(1)!(8  3)2 4
b. L  0.9524
0.873
c. Wq  0.0063 W  0.291 hour
3
d. Lq  0.1524 3
Lq  0.873   0.123
e. P0  0.4286 4
f.   0.4 0.123
Wq   0.041 hour
g. P(n  2)  0.1371  Pn  1  Pn  2  0.2286  0.0914 3
14-19 and 14-20. By looking back to Problems 14-19 and 14-20, we see that al-
though length of the queue and average time in the queue are low-
NUMBER OF FRUIT
est by opening the second platform, the average number of trucks
LOADERS
in the system and average time spent waiting in the system are
1 2 smallest when two workers are employed loading at a single plat-
Truck arrival rate () 3/hour 3/hour form. Hence we would probably recommend not building a second
Loading rate () 4/hour 8/hour gate.
Average number in system (L) 3 trucks 0.6 truck 14-23. The queuing systems in this problem are the M/M/2,
Average time in system (W) 1 hour 0.2 hour
M/M/3, and the M/M/4 systems.
Average number in queue (Lq) 2.25 trucks 0.225 truck
Average time in queue (Wq) 34 hour 0.075 hour a. Wq  0.0643 for 2 channels; Wq  0.0079 for 3 channels;
Utilization rate () 0.75 0.375 Wq  0.0015 for 4 channels;
Probability system 0.25 0.625 b. The total time spent waiting is Wq(10 hours per day).
empty (P0) This is 19.29 hours with 2 channels, 2.37 hours with 3 chan-
Probability of more K nels, and 0.45 hours with 4 channels.
than K trucks in
0 0.75 0.375 c. The total daily waiting time cost is given in the table
system
1 0.56 0.141 below:
2 0.42 0.053
3 0.32 0.020 Service Service Total Total
# cost per cost per waiting time waiting Total
These results indicate that when only one loader is employed, the Channels hour day  Wq(10hr.) cost cost
average truck must wait 3 r hour before it is loaded. Furthermore, 2 $20 $200 19.29 $1929 $2129
there are an average of 2.25 trucks waiting in line to be loaded. 3 $30 $300 2.37 237 $537
This situation may be unacceptable to management. Note the de- 4 $40 $400 0.45 45 $445
cline in the queue when a second loader is employed. The minimum daily cost is $445 with 4 channels.
14-21. Referring to the data in Problems 14-19 and 14-20, we 14-24. This is an M/M/1 system with   10 per hour and  
note that the average number of trucks in the system is 3 when 15 per hour.
there is only one loader and 0.6 when two loaders are employed.
a. Wq  0.1333 hours
NUMBER OF b. Lq  1.333
LOADERS
c. W  0.2 hours
1 2
d. L2
Truck driver idle time costs
( average number e. P0  0.333
trucks hourly 14-25. This is an M/M/2 system with   10 per hour and  
rate) (3)($10)  $30 $6  (0.6)($10) 15 per hour.
Loading costs 36 12  (2)($6)
a. Wq  0.0083 hours
Total expected cost per hour $36 $18
b. Lq  0.083
c. W  0.075
The firm will save $18/hour by adding the second loader.
d. L  0.75
1 P0  0.5
14-22. P0  e.
1 1 3 n 1 3 2 2( 4) 14-26. a. (8 hours per day)  10(8)  80 customers per day

n  0 n ! 4 2 ! 4 2( 4)  3 b. Total time spent waiting  Wq(number of customers) 

0.1333(80)  10.66 hours.
1 Total waiting time cost  $25(10.66)  $266.5
  0.454
2 c. With 2 tellers, total time spent waiting  0.0083(80) 
3 1 3 8
1  0.664 hours.
4 2 4 8  3
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224 CHAPTER 14 WAITING LINE AND QUEUING THEORY MODELS

Total waiting time cost  $25(0.664)  $16.60 1 1

 
d. Total cost with 1 teller  $266.5  $96  $362.5 1  0.88  0.62  0.30  0.12  0.02 2.944
Total cost with 2 tellers  $16.60  2($96)  $208.60
 0.34
14-27. a. Average number in line  0.666
a. Average number waiting  Lq
b. Average number in system  1.333  
N  (1  P0 )
c. Average wait in line  0.1666 minute  10 seconds 
14-28. For M  1: 4.706
 5  (0.66)  5  4.4  0.6
 0.706

  2  b. Average number broken  L
L  2 0
P   P 
1(  )  (  )2 0   Lq  (1  P0)

 0.576  (1  0.34)  1.24
But c. P0  0.34, as seen above.
1 1   Lq
P0   
    d. Average time in queue  Wq 
1 1 ( N  L)
      0.576

Thus (5  1.24)(0.706)
2    2  0.576
L 2 
   = = 0.217 hour
(  )  (  )( )  2.65
2  (  )   1
   e. Average time in system  W  Wq 
(  )( ) (  )( )   
This is the same formula.  0.217  0.25
14-29.   0.1667 / day  61 / day  0.467 hour
14-31. a. Entering:   84/minute,   30/minute,   2.8
  1/day
Exiting:   48/minute,   30/minute,   1.6
N  5, n  1
1 The manager desires that Wq
0.1 minute  6 seconds and that
P0 
1  5( 61 )  20( 61 )2  60( 61 )3  120( 61 ) 4  120( 61 )5 Lq
8 customers in queue.
Entering:
 0.36
If M  3, Lq  12.27 and Wq  0.14 minute (too high)
a. Number in queue 
  If M  4, Lq  1.00 and Wq  0.01 minute (this is okay)
Lq  N  (1  P0 )  5  7(1  0.36)
 If M  5, Lq  0.24 and Wq  0.003 minute (this is also
 5  4.48  0.52 unit okay)

b. Number in the system  So the manager must open M  4 or more entrances.

L  Lq  (1  P0)  0.52  (1  0.36) Exiting:

 0.52  0.64  1.16 in system If M  2, Lq  2.8, Wq  0.06 minute (this is okay)

c. Number running ok  N  L  5  1.16 If M  3, Lq  0.31, Wq  0.006 minute (also okay)

 3.84 So the manager must open M  2 or more exits. Since there are
only 6 turnstiles, 4 must be used as entrances and 2 as exits.
d. Average time in queue 
Lq b. The students should recognize and question all the limiting
0.52
Wq    0.817 days queuing assumptions that have been applied in solving the
( N  L) (5  1.16)(0.1667 ) case. For example, it may be reasonable to assume that arrivals
1 at the entrance turnstiles are independent and Poisson. But are
e. Average wait in system  W  Wq  exiting passengers independent? More realistically, they arrive

in batches (as a train arrives), and unless trains unload every
 0.817  1 minute or two, this assumption may be unreasonable.
 1.817 days
Other problems arise as well. If an exiting passengers card
60 
14-30.    0.706/hour ,  0.1765 does not have the correct fare, the card is rejected and the passen-
85  ger must leave the line, go to an add fare machine to correct the
  4/hour, N  5, n  1 deficiency, and enter the queue again. This resembles the reneging
1 customer.
P0  Note: In the real-world subway station in Washington, D.C.,
1  5(0.1765)  20(0.1765)2 common queues are not formed at turnstiles and the problem be-
 60(0.1765)3  120(0.1765)4  120(0.1765)5 comes a series of single channel queues.
 REVISED
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CHAPTER 14 WAITING LINE AND QUEUING THEORY MODELS 225

14-32. This is an M/M/1 system with  = 12 per hour and  = 15 f. Wq  0.5 minute
per hour.
g. W  1 minute
a. Wq = 0.27 hours
14-37. a.   3 per minute and   4 per minute
b. Lq = 3.2
b. M/M/1
c. L = 4
c.   3/4  0.75
d. W = 0.33 hours
d. P0  1  3/4  0.25. The cashier is idle 25% of the time.
e. Pn3 = (12/15)3+1 = 0.4096
e. Lq  2.25
14-33. This is an M/M/2 system with  = 12 per hour and  = 15
f. Wq  0.75 minute
per hour.
g. W  1 minute
a. Wq = 0.013 hours
h. P(n  1)  0.188
b. Lq = 0.152
P(n  2)  0.141
c. L = 0.952
P(n  3)  0.106
d. W = 0.079 hours
14-38. This is an M/M/2 system with   3 per minute and   4
per minute. Solving with QM for Windows we obtain the following:
SOLUTIONS TO INTERNET HOMEWORK PROBLEMS
a. Lq  0.1227
14-34.   12/hour;   4/hour/barber; M  4 channels
b. Wq  0.0409 minute
a. P0  0.0377  3.8% (from formula)
b. L 4.528 c. W  0.2909 minutes
c. W 0.377 hour  22.6 minutes d. P(n  1)  0.3409, P(n  2)  0.1278, P(n  3)  0.0479.
d. Wq  0.127 hour  7.6 minutes
e. Lq  1.5282 (from formula) SOLUTION TO NEW ENGLAND FOUNDRY CASE
f.   0.75  75%
1. To determine how much time the new layout would save, the
g.  with m  5 barbers drops to 60%
present system must be compared to the new system. The amount
14-35. a. 9 A.M.3 P.M.;   6 patients/hour;   5 patients/ of time that an employee spends traveling to the maintenance de-
hour/doctor partment added to the time that he or she spends in the system
 6 being serviced and waiting for service presently, compared to this
    1.20
 5 value under the proposed system, will give the savings in time.
Want Wq to be
5 minutes  0.0833 hour. Wq
0.0833 implies Under the present system, there are two service channels with a
that single line (M  2). The number of arrivals per hour is 7 (  7). The
Lq number of employees that can be serviced in an hour by each channel
Wq   0.0833 or Lq
0.0833 or Lq
0.50 is 5 (  5). The average time that a person spends in the system is

( /  ) M 1
Thus m  3 channels or doctors are needed (with m  2, Lq  W P0 
0.6748; with m  3, Lq  0.0904). ( M  1)!( M  ) 2 
where
b. 3 P.M.8 P.M.;   4 patients/hour;   5 1
patients/hour/doctor P0 
M  1 1  n 1 
M
M
4 
   0.80
5 n  0 n !  M !  M  

Lq
Wq
0.0833 hour implies that  0.0833 or Lq
0.0833 or In this case

1
Lq
0.03333. This means m  2 doctors. P0   0.18
1 1 7
12
1 7 2(5)
(1)  
c. 8 P.M.midnight;   12 patients/hour;   5 patients/ 1 1 5 2 5 5(2)  7

hour/doctor
Therefore,
12
   2.4 5(7 / 5)2
5 W (0.18)  1 / 5
Lq 1(10  7 )2
Want Wq
0.0833 hour or  0.0833 or Lq
0.0833 or Lq
 0.396 hour, or 23 minutes and 45 seconds

1.00. m  4 doctors are needed. Added to the travel times involved (6 minutes total for main-
tenance personnel and 2 minutes total for molding personnel), the
14-36. a.   1 per minute and   2 per minute
total trip takes:
b. M/M/1
For maintenance29 minutes and 45 seconds
c.   1 w  0.5 For molding25 minutes and 45 seconds
d. P0  1  1 w  0.5. The cashier is idle 50% of the time. Under the new system, waiting lines are converted to single-
e. Lq  0.5 channel, single-line operations. Bob will serve the maintenance
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226 CHAPTER 14 WAITING LINE AND QUEUING THEORY MODELS

personnel and Pete will serve the molding personnel.
Bob can now service 6 people per hour (  6). Four people
arrive from the maintenance department every hour (  4). The
time spent in Bobs department is
1 1 1 same average time for these guests as the current systems30
W   hour, or 30 minutes
  6  4 2
The reduced travel time is equal to 2 minutes, making the
total trip time equal to 32 minutes. This is an increase in time of 2
minutes and 15 seconds for the maintenance personnel.
Pete can now service 7 people per hour (  7). Three peo-
ple arrive from the molding department every hour (  3). The
time in Petes department is
1 1
W  hour, or 15 minutes
7 3 4
The travel time is equal to 2 minutes, making the total trip
time equal to 17 minutes. This is a decrease in time of 8 minutes
and 45 seconds per trip for the molding personnel.
2. To evaluate systemwide savings, the times must be mone-
tized. For the maintenance personnel who are paid $9.50 per hour,
the 2Z\v minutes lost per trip costs the company 36 cents per trip
average time in the system gives W  7.6 minutes. This plan is
clearly faster.
Use of an ATM with the same service rate as the clerks (20
per hour) by 20 percent of the arrivals (18 per hour) gives the
minutes. The remaining   72 per hour form an M/M/4 or M/M/5
queuing system. With four servers, the average time in the system
is 8.9 minutes, resulting in an overall average of:
0.2 30  0.8 8.9  13.1 minutes
With five servers, the average time is 3.9 minutes resulting in an
overall average of:
0.2 30  0.8 3.9  9.1 minutes
INTERNET CASE STUDY
Pantry Shopper
Beth wants to get a general idea of the system behavior. She first
will need to decide whether she is interested in time waiting or
time in system. Some students may use system time, but since
most shoppers are relieved when it is their turn, we use waiting
[2Z\v  60  0.0375 of an hour; 0.0375(9.50)  $0.36]. For the
molding personnel who are paid $11.75 per hour, the 8 minutes
and 45 seconds per trip saved saves in monetary terms $1.71 per
trip. The net savings is $1.71  0.36  $1.35 per trip. (Students
may also find the cost savings on an hourly or daily basis.)
Because the net savings for the new layout is small, other fac-
tors should be considered before a final decision is made. For ex-
ample, the cost of changing from the old layout to the new layout
could completely eliminate the advantages of operating the new
layout. In addition, there may be other factors, some noneco-
nomic, that were not discussed in the case that could cause you to
want to stay with the old layout. In general, when the cost savings
of a new approach (a new layout in this case) is small, careful
analysis should be made of other factors.
SOLUTION TO WINTER PARK HOTEL CASE
1. Which of the two plans appears to be better? The current sys-
tem has five clerks each with his or her own waiting line. This can
be treated as five independent queues each with an arrival time of
  90/5  18 per hour. The service rate is one every 3 minutes,
or   20 per hour. Assuming Poisson arrivals and exponential
service times, the average amount of time that a guest spends wait-
ing and checking in is given by
1 packages get into a ten-items-or-less line).
Ws 
 
1
  0.5 hour, or 30 minutes
20  18
If 30% of the arrivals [that is,   0.3(90)  27 per hour] are
diverted to a quick-serve clerk who can register them in an aver-
age of 2 minutes (  30 per hour) their average time in the sys-
tem will be 20 minutes. The remaining 63 arrivals per hour would
distribute themselves equally among the four remaining clerks
(  63/4  15.75 per hour), each of whose mean service time is
3.4 minutes (or 0.5667 hour), so that   1/0.5667  17.65 per
hour. The average time in the system for these guests will be 0.53
hour or 31.8 minutes. The average time for all arrivals would be
0.3(20)  0.7(31.8)  28.3 minutes.
A single waiting line for the five clerks yields an M/M/5
queue with   90 per hour,   20 per hour. The calculation of
time as our measure. For all of our analyses, we use current ser-
vice times, even though a UPC reader is going to be installed. This
means that our waiting times are an upper bound for the new, bet-
ter system (the M/M/s model).
We begin with a rough analysis (one that is going to have a
very interesting feature, by the way). We assume that there are no
express lanes. Then, we want to find the average service time and
rate. The time is given by
t  .2(2 min.)  .8(4 min.)
 .4  3.2
 3.6 min.
This means that the average service rate is 60/3.6  16.67 cus-
tomers per hour. Notice that this is not the same as taking 20 per-
cent of the rate of 30 and 80 percent of the rate of 15, which would
equal 18 and would be wrong.
Using an arrival rate of 100 and a service rate of 16.67, the min-
imum number of servers is 6. (This is due to round off.) In reality,
the minimum number is 7, and the average waiting time is 2.2 min-
utes. Trying one more server leads to a waiting time of .64 minutes.
Now we separate the express and regular. Assume that all ex-
press customers go into the express (even though they can go into
any lane) and assume that all non-express customers go into the
proper lanes (even though we all have seen people with twenty
For the express lane, with an arrival rate of 20 and a service
rate of 30, one server yields an average wait of 4 minutes, while
two servers yield an average wait of .25 minutes.
For the regular lane, with an arrival rate of 80 and a service
rate of 15, 6 servers yield an average wait of 4.28 minutes and 7
servers yield an average wait of .98 minutes.
If Beth uses 7 servers, they will be split this way: 6 in regular
lanes and 1 in an express lane. If Beth uses 8 severs, a 62 split be-
tween regular lanes and express lanes yields an average wait of
(.2)(.25)  (.8)(4.28)  .05  3.424  3.47 min.
A 71 split yields an average of
(.2)(4)  (.8)(.98)  .8  .784  1.584 min.,
which is better. However, the express lane would be slower than
the regular lanes!