OM 335 Burke Individual Homework-4

Name (First Last):___key________________________

1) A fast-food franchise is considering opening a drive-up window food service

operation. Assume that customer arrivals follow a Poisson distribution (= interarrival
times follow an exponential distribution), with a mean arrival rate of 24 cars per hour,
and that service times follow an exponential probability distribution. Arriving customers
place orders at an intercom station at the back of the parking lot and then drive up to the
service window to pay for and receive their order. The following four service
alternatives are being considered:

(A) A single channel operation where one employee fills the order and takes the
money from the customer. The average service time for this alternative is 2
minutes.
(1/a = 24/hour , 1/p = 30/hour , m = 1 , u = 0.8)

u = 0.4 min / [(1x1)/2] = 0.8

(B) A single-channel operation where two employees work as a team to serve each
customer. The average service time for this alternative is 1.25 minutes.
(1/a = 24/hour , 1/p = 48/hour , m = 1 , u = 0.5)

u = 0.4 min / [(1x1)/1.25] = 0.5

(C) A two-channel operation with two service windows and two employees. Newly
arriving customers join a queue, which feeds both service windows. The
employee stationed at each window fills the order and takes the money for
customers arriving at that window. The average service time for this alternative
is 2 minutes.
(1/a = 24/hour , 1/p = 30/hour , m=2 , u=0.4)

u = 0.4 min / [(2x1)/2] = 0.4

(D) There are two service windows and two employees. There is a separate queue
for each of the service windows. Newly arriving customers randomly choose one
of two queues. The employee stationed at each window fills the order and takes
the money for customers arriving at that window. The average service time for
this alternative is 2 minutes.
(1/a = 12/hour , 1/p = 30/hour , m =1 , u = 0.4)

u = 0.4 min / [(1x1)/2] = 0.4 for each of the 2 queues

 Compute the operating characteristics (Tq, Iq, T, I) for each of the service alternatives and
fill in the following table:

Service alternative
(A) (B) (C) (D)
Average waiting time (in minutes), Tq 8 1.25 0.4415 1.333
Average number of cars waiting for service, Iq 3.2 0.5 0.1766 0.533
= (2 * 0.2666)
Average time in the system (in minutes), T 10 2.5 2.4415 3.3333
Average number of cars in the system, I 4 1 0.9766 1.33 =
(2 x 0.6666)
Iq = R x Tq = Tq/a
Ip = R x p = p/a

R = 24 car/1 hour * 1 hour/60 min = 0.4 car/min

________________________________________________________________________

A. Tq = (2/1) * [(0.8/(1-0.8)] = 8

Iq = 0.4 x 8 = 3.2

T = 8 + 2 = 10

0.4 = 1/a
a = 2.5

I = 3.2 + (0.4 x 2) = 4
________________________________________________________________________

B. Tq = (1.25/1) * [(0.5/(1-0.5)] = 1.25

Iq = 0.4 x 1.25 = 0.5

T = 1.25 + 1.25= 2.5

0.4 = 1/a
a = 2.5

I = 0.5 + (0.4 x 1.25) = 1

________________________________________________________________________

C. Tq = (2/2) * [(0.4/(1-0.4)] = 0.4415

Iq = 0.4 x 0.4415 = 0.1766

T = 0.4415 + 2 = 2.4415

2
0.4 = 1/a
a = 2.5

I = 0.1766 + (0.4 x 0.4415) = 0.9766

________________________________________________________________________
D. Tq = (2/1) * [(0.4/(1-0.4)] = 1.333

Iq = 1.333 x 0.4 = 0.2666 x 2 = 0.533

T = 2 + 1.333 = 3.333

0.4 = 1/a
a = 2.5

I = 0.533 + (0.4 x 2) = 0.66 x 2 = 1.33

3
2) FestEvents is a concert organizer that is evaluating the installation of portable toilets at
an outdoor venue where a concert is going to take place. In particular, it is considering
an area of the venue that is far away from the existing restrooms. Assume there will be
one single queue to access all the portable toilets in this area and that only one person
uses a toilet at a time. FestEvents is concerned that if the line is too long, people will
find other ways and places to answer nature’s call.

FestEvents estimates that there will be 4 arrivals per minute on average to the toilets,
with a standard deviation of the time between arrivals of 15 seconds. The average time a
person spends using the toilet is 3.12 minutes with standard deviation of 2 minutes.

(A) Suppose FestEvents installs 20 portable toilets. On average, what fraction of the
toilets will be occupied during the event?

Utilization = p/(a x m) =3.12/(.25 x 20) = 3.12/5 = 0.624 = 62.4%

(B) What is the minimum number of portable toilets that FestEvents must install to
ensure that the queue length will not continue to grow without limit (i.e., so that
the queue will be stable)? Your answer should be an integer – they can install 2
toilets or 3 toilets but they cannot install 2.6 toilets.

To ensure that the queue will not without limit, the capacity should be greater than
demand, or implied utilization should be smaller than 1. So p/(a x m) < 1 or m > p/a =
3.12/.25 = 12.48

Round up so 13 toilets are needed.

4
3) Max Stamp approves study abroad documents for the University of Texas. Students
must wait in line with their forms outside Max's office. One student at a time is allowed
in his office and Max takes precisely 25 minutes to evaluate each student’s set of
documents. On average 2.2 students per hour go to his office and they spend on average
160 minutes trying to get their forms approved (time waiting in queue plus time in Max’s
office having him evaluate their documents).

(A) On average, how many students are waiting outside of Max’s office? (Ignore
start-of-the-day and end-of-the-day effects.)

P = 25
Demand(R) = 2.2 students/hour  2.2 students/hour / 60 minutes/hour = 0.036667
students/min

T = Tq + p = 160 minutes
Tq = T – p
Tq = 160-25 = 135 minutes

Iq = R x Tq = .036667 students/min x 135 minutes = 4.95 students