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Quantitative Techniques
for Home
Management LESSON
 Saved
9
 Bestsellers WAITING
AITING MODEL (QUEUING
(QUEUING THEORY)

 Books

CONTENTS
 Audiobooks
9.0 Aims
Aims and
and Obj
Objec
ecti
tive
vess
9.1 Intr
Introd
oduc
ucti
tion
on
 Magazines
9.2 Queu
Queuin
ing
g Syst
System
emss

 Podcasts 9.3 Charac

Character
terist
istics
ics of Queui
Queuing
ng System
System
9.3.
.3.1 The Arriva
Arrivall Patt
Pattern
ern
 Sheet Music 9.3.
.3.2 The Servic
Servicee Mecha
Mechanis
nism
m
9.3.
.3.3 The Queue
Queue Discip
Disciplin
linee
 Snapshots
9.3.
9.3.4
4 The Number
Number of Custom
Customers
ers allowe
allowed
d in the System
System
9.3.
9.3.5
5 The Number
Number of Service
Service Channels
Channels
 Documents
9.3.
.3.6 Attitu
Attitude
de of
of Custo
Customer
merss
9.4 Poisson
Poisson and Exponentia
Exponentiall Distribut
Distribution
ion
9.5 Symb
Symbol
olss and
and Nota
Notati
tion
onss
9.6 Single
Single Server
Server Queuin
Queuing
g Mode
Modell
9.7 Solving
Solving the
the Proble
Problem
m Using
Using Computer
Computer with
with TORA
9.8 Let
Let us
us Sum
Sum Up
9.9 Less
Lesson
on-e
-end
nd Acti
Activi
vity
ty
9.10 Keyword
Keywordss
9.11
9.11 Questions
Questions for Discuss
Discussion
ion
9.12
9.12 Terminal
erminal Questions
Questions
9.13
9.13 Model Answers
Answers to Questions
Questions for Discussion
9.14
9.14 Suggested
Suggested Readings
Readings

9.0
9.0 AIMS
AIMS AND
AND OB
OBJEC
JECTIV
TIVES
ES
In this lesson we are going to talk about the queuing theory which is also known as
waiting line. These queuing theory will facilitate in solving the queue related problem of 
the industry. The most important point will be taken into consideration in the designing
queue system which should balance service to customers.

Much more than 9.1

9.1 INTR
INTROD
ODUC
UCTI
TION
ON
documents.
Discover everything Scribd Queuing theory deals with problems that involve waiting (or queuing). It is quite common
that instances of queue occurs everyday in our daily life. Examples of queues or long
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 Waiting for checking out at the Supermarket. Waiting Model

 Home (Queuing Theory)
 Waiting at the telephone booth or a barber's saloon.

 Saved Whenever a customer arrives at a service facility, some of them usually have to wait
before they receive the desired service.
servic e. This forms a queue or waiting line and customers
feel discomfort either mentally or physically because of long waiting queue.

 BestsellersWe infer that queues form because the service facilities

facil ities are inadequate. If service facilities
facil ities
are increased, then the question arises how much to increase? For example, how many
buses would be needed to avoid queues? How many reservation counters would be
 Books needed to reduce the queue? Increase in number of buses and reservation counters
requires additional resource. At the same time, costs due to customer dissatisfaction
must also be considered.
 Audiobooks
In designing a queuing system, the system should balance service to customers (short
queue) and also the economic considerations (not too many servers). Queuing theory
 Magazines
explores and measures the performance in a queuing situation such as average number
of customers waiting in the queue, average waiting time of a customer and average
 Podcasts server utilization.

 9.2
9.2
Sheet Music QUEU
QUEUING
ING SYST
SYSTEM
EMS
S
The customers arrive at service counter (single or in groups) and are attended by one or
 Snapshots moreservers. A customer served leaves the system after getting the service. In general,
a queuing system comprises with two components, the queue and the service facility.
The queue is where the customers are waiting to be served. The service facility is
 Documents
customers being served and the individual service stations. A general queuing system
with parallel server is shown in Figure 9.1 below:

(x) Customers
S1
Customers Departure
S2 (x)
Arrival (x)
.
.
.
(x) Customers
Sn.
Departure

Queue Service Facility

Queuing System

Figure 9.1: A typical queuing system

9.3 CHARACTE
CHARACTERIST
RISTICS
ICS OF
OF QUEUIN
QUEUING
G SYSTEM
SYSTEM
In designing a good queuing system, it is necessary
nece ssary to have a good information about the
model. The characteristics listed below would provide sufficient information.
1.
Much more than The ar
arrival pa
pattern.
documents.2. The se
service
ice me
mecha
chanism
ism.
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3. The queu
ueue disc
iscipli
iplin
ne
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Quantitative Techniques 9.3.1 The Arrival Pattern

for Home
Management
The arrival pattern describes how a customer may become a part of the queuing system.
The arrival time for any customer is unpredictable. Therefore, the arrival time and the
 Saved
number of customers arriving at any specified time intervals are usually random variables.
A Poisson distribution of arrivals correspond to arrivals at random. In Poisson distribution,
successive customers arrive after intervals which independently are and exponentially
 Bestsellers distributed. The Poisson distribution is important, as it is a suitable mathematical model
of many practical queuing systems as described by the parameter "the average arrival
rate".
 Books
9.3.2 The Service Mechanism
 Audiobooks
The service mechanism is a description of resources required for service. If there are
infinite number of servers, then there will be no queue. If the number of servers is finite,
 Magazines then the customers are served according to a specific order. The time taken to serve a
particular customer is called the service time. The service time is a statistical variable
and can be studied either as the number of services completed in a given period of time
 Podcasts or the completion period of a service.

9.3.3 The Queue Discipline

 Sheet Music
The most common queue discipline is the "First Come First Served" (FCFS) or
"First-in, First-out" (FIFO). Situations like waiting for a haircut, ticket-booking counters
 Snapshots
follow FCFS discipline. Other disciplines include "Last In First Out" (LIFO) where
last customer is serviced first, "Service In Random Order" (SIRO) in which the
 Documents customers are serviced randomly irrespective of their arrivals. "Priority service" is
when the customers are grouped in priority classes based on urgency. "Preemptive
Priority" is the highest priority given to the customer who enters into the service,
immediately, even if a customer with lower priority is in service. "Non-preemptive
priority" is where the customer goes ahead in the queue, but will be served only after
the completion of the current service.

9.3.4 The Number of Customers allowed in the System

Some of the queuing processes allow the limitation to the capacity or size of the waiting
room, so that the waiting line reaches a certain length, no additional customers is allowed
to enter until space becomes available by a service completion. This type of situation
means that there is a finite limit to the maximum queue size.

9.3.5 The Number of Service Channels

The more the number of service channels in the service facility, the greater the overall
service rate of the facility. The combination of arrival rate and service rate is critical for
determining the number of service channels. When there are a number of service channels
available for service, then the arrangement of service depends upon the design of the
system's service mechanism.
Parallel channels means, a number of channels providing identical service facilities so
that several customers may be served simultaneously. Series channel means a customer
go through successive ordered channels before service is completed. The arrangements
of service facilities are illustrated in Figure 45. A queuing system is called a one-server
model, i.e., when the system has only one server, and a multi-server model i.e., when
the system has a number of parallel channels, each with one server.
(a) Arrangement of service facilities in series
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(1) Single Queue Single Server Waiting Model

 Home (Queuing Theory)
Served Facility

 Saved

XXXX Served Customers

 Bestsellers

(2) Single Queue, Multiple Server

 Books (b) Arrangement of Service facilities in Parallel
Service Facility
 Audiobooks
Served Customers
Customers
 Magazines
XXXX
Service Facility

 Podcasts Served Customers

 Sheet Music
(c) Arrangement of Mixed Service facilities

 Snapshots
Customers

 Documents
XXXX
Served
Customer

Service Facilities

Figure 9.2: Arrangements of Service Facilities (a, b, c)

9.3.6 Attitude of Customers

 Patient Customer:  Customer arrives at the service system, stays in the queue until
served, no matter how much he has to wait for service.
 Impatient Customer: Customer arrives at the service system, waits for a certain time
in the queue and leaves the system without getting service due to some reasons like long
queue before him.
 Balking: Customer decides not to join the queue by seeing the number of customers
already in service system.
 Reneging: Customer after joining the queue, waits for some time and leaves the service
system due to delay in service.
 Jockeying: Customer moves from one queue to another thinking that he will get served
faster by doing so.
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documents.9.4 POISSON AND EXPONENTIAL DISTRIBUTIONS
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Quantitative Techniques i. Probability that an arrival is observed during a small time interval (say of length v)
for Home
Management is proportional to the length of interval. Let the proportionality constant be l, so that
the probability is lv.
 Saved ii. Probability of two or more arrivals in such a small interval is zero.
iii. Number of arrivals in any time interval is independent of the number in non-
overlapping time interval.
 Bestsellers
These assumptions may be combined to yield what probability distributions are likely to
be, under Poisson distribution with exactly n customers in the system.
 Books
Suppose function P is defined as follows:
P (n customers during period t) = the probability that n arrivals will be observed
 Audiobooks
in a time interval of length t

 Magazines (λ)  − λ
then, P (n, t) =  (n = 0, 1, 2,……………) ..................(1)


 Podcasts This is the Poisson probability distribution for the discrete random variabl e n, the number
of arrivals, where the length of time interval, t is assumed to be given. This situation in
queuing theory is called Poisson arrivals. Since the arrivals alone are considered (not
 Sheet Music
departures), it is called a pure birth process.
The time between successive arrivals is called inter-arrival time. In the case where
 Snapshots
the number of arrivals in a given time interval has Poisson distribution, inter-arrival times
can be shown to have the exponential distribution. If the inter-arrival times are independent
 Documents random variables, they must follow an exponential distribution with density f(t) where,
–lt
f (t) = le (t > 0) .................(2)
Thus for Poisson arrivals at the constant rate l per unit, the time between successive
arrivals (inter-arrival time) has the exponential distribution. The average Inter - arrival

time is denoted by  .


By integration, it can be shown that E(t) =   λ   .................(3)

If the arrival rate l = 30/hour, the average time between two successive arrivals are
1/30 hour or 2 minutes.
For example, in the following arrival situations, the average arrival rate per hour, l and
the average inter arrival time in hour, are determined.
(i) One arrival comes every 15 minutes.


Average arrival rate , l = = 4 arrivals per hour.


Average inter arrival time   = 15 minutes = ¼ or 0.25 hour.

(ii) Three arrivals occur every 6 minutes.

Average arrival rate, l = 30 arrivals per hour.

  
Average Inter-arrival time,  = = 2 minutes =  or 0.33 hr.
 
(iii) Average interval between successive intervals is 0.2 hour.
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
documents. Average arrival rate, l =  = 5 arrivals per hour.
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Quantitative Techniques 9.  Probability that there is at least one customer or queue is busy,
for Home
Management
 = − 
 Saved
10. Traffic intensity,

λ
ρ=
µ
 Bestsellers

 Example 4: Consider a situation where the mean arrival rate (l) is one customer every
 Books 4 minutes and the mean service time (m) is 2½ minutes. Calculate the average number
of customers in the system, the average queue length and the time taken by a customer
in the system and the average time a customer waits before being served.
 Audiobooks
Solution: Given, Average Arrival Rate l = 1 customer every 4 minutes or 15 customers
per hour
 Magazines
Average Service -Rate m = 1 customer every 2½ minutes or 24 customers per hour
(i) The average number of customers in the system,
 Podcasts
λ
 =
µ−λ
 Sheet Music


= =   customers
 Snapshots  − 
(ii) The average queue length,
 Documents
λ   λ 
 =    
µ  µ − λ 
 
= ×
  − 
= 1.04 customers
(iii) The average time a customer spends in the system,

 =
µ−λ

=
 − 
= 0.11 × 60 = 6.66 minutes
(iv) The average time a customer waits before being served,
λ
 =
λµ − λ

=
 − 
= 0.069 × 60
= 4.16 minutes
 Example 5: Trucks at a single platform weigh-bridge arrive according to Poisson
probability distribution. The time required to weigh the truck follows an exponential
probability distribution. The mean arrival rate is 12 trucks per day, and the mean service
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rate is 18 trucks per day. Determine the following:
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Solution: Given l = 12 trucks per days, m = 18 trucks per day. Waiting Model
 Home (Queuing Theory)
(a) Probability that no trucks are waiting for service,

 Saved
λ
 = −
µ

 Bestsellers
= −


 Books
= 0.3333 or 33.33%
(b) Average number of trucks waiting for service,
 Audiobooks
λ   λ 
 =    
 Magazines µ µ − λ 

=   
 Podcasts   
     −  
 Sheet Music = 1.33 trucks
(c) Average time a truck waits for weighing service to begin,
 Snapshots
λ
 =
 Documents µµ − λ


=
 − 
= 0.1111 days or 53.3 minutes.
(d) Probability that an arriving truck will have to wait for service,
P0 = 1 – P0
= 1 – 0.333
= 0.6667 or 66.67%

Check Your Progress 9.1

1 Explain Queuing Theory giving few examples.

2. “Both the Poisson and Exponential distributions play a prominent role in queuing
theory.” Jusify the statement.
 Notes: (a) Write your answer in the space given below.
(b) Please go through the lesson sub-head thoroughly you will get your
answers in it.
(c) This Chek Your Progress will help you to understand the lesson better.
Try to write answers for them, but do not submit your answers to the
university for assessment. These are for your practice only.
_____________________________________________________________________
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Quantitative Techniques
for Home
Management
9.7 SOLVING THE PROBLEM USING COMPUTER WITH
TORA
 Saved
Example 5 is solved using computer with TORA.
Enter the values l  = 12

 Bestsellers m = 18
No. of server = 1
 Books The input screen is shown in Figure 9.5.

 Audiobooks

 Magazines

 Podcasts

 Sheet Music

 Snapshots

 Documents

Figure 9.5: Queuing Analysis Using TORA (Input Screen)

Press Solve to get the output screen and select scenario 1 option in the select output
option menu. The output screen for the problem is displayed as shown in Figure 9.6.

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(a) What is the average waiting time of an incoming caller? Waiting Model
 Home (Queuing Theory)
(b) What is the probability that a caller gets connected immediately?

 Saved (c) If the restaurant manager feels that average waiting time of a caller is more
than 5 minutes, will lead to customer loss and the restaurant will have to go in
for a second toll free facility, what should be the new arrival rate in order to
 justify another facility?
 Bestsellers
6. From historical data, a two-wheeler service station observe that bikes arrive only
for water wash is at the rate of 7 per hour per 8 hour shift. The manager has a
 Books
record that it takes 5 minutes for water service and another 2 minutes for greasing
and general check. Assuming that one bike is washed at a time, find the following:
 Audiobooks
(a) Average number of bikes in line.
(b) Average time a bike waits before it is washed.
 Magazines
(c) Average time a bike spends in the system.
 Podcasts (d) Utilization rate of the bike wash.
(e) Probability that no bikes are in the system.
 Sheet Music
7. In a department at store, an automated coffee vending machine is installed.
Customers arrive at a rate of 3 per minute and it takes average time of 10 seconds
 Snapshots to dispense a cup of coffee:
(a) Determine the number of customers in the queue.
 Documents
(b) Determine the waiting time of a customer.
(c) Find the probability that there are exactly 10 customers in the system.
8. In a toll gate, vehicles arrive at a rate of 120 per hour. An average time for a
vehicle to get a pass is 25 seconds. The arrivals follow a Poisson distribution and
service times follow an exponential distribution. (a) Find the average number of 
vehicles waiting and the idle time of the check-post. (b) If the idle time of the
check post is less than 10%, the check-post authorities will install a second gate.
Suggest whether a second gate is necessary ?
9. A hospital has an X-ray lab where patients (both in-patient and out-patient) arrive
at a rate of 5 per minute. Due to variation in requirement, the time taken for one
patient is 3 minutes and follows an exponential distribution. (a) What is the probability
that the system is busy? and (b) What is the probability that nobody is in the system?
10. In the production shop of a company breakdown of the machine is found to be
Poisson with an average rate of 3 machines per hour. Breakdown time at one
machine costs Rs. 40 per hour to the company. There are two choices before the
company for hiring the repairmen, one of the repairmen is slow but cheap, the
other is fast but expensive. The slow-cheap repairman demands Rs. 20 per hour
and will repair the breakdown machine exponentially at the rate of 4 per hour. The
fast expensive repairman demands Rs. 30 per hour and will repair exponentially on
an average rate of Rs.6 per hour. Which repairman should be hired?

9.13 MODEL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS FOR

DISCUSSION
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documents.1. (a) True (b) True (c) False
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(d) True (e) False
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Quantitative Techniques
for Home
Management
9.14 SUGGESTED READINGS
T.L. Satty,  Elements of Queuing, New York McGraw Hill Theory.
 Saved
A.M. Lee,  Applied Queuing thoery.
Cooper, R.B.,  Introduction to Queuing theory, New York MacMillan Co.
 Bestsellers
Morse, Philip M.Ques,  Inventories & maintenance, New York John Wiley & Sons.
Panieo, J.A., Queuing Theory: A Study of Waiting Line of Business, Economics,
 Books
Science, Englewood, No. 3, Prentice-Hall.
Bhat, U.N. “ The Value of Queuing Theory –  A Rejoinder Interface, Vol. 8, No. 3
 Audiobooks
pp. 27-78.
Byrd. J., The value of queuing & Interfaces, Vol. 8, No. 3, pp. 22-26.
 Magazines
Render, B & Stain R.M., Cases & readings in quantitative analysis, Boston: Allyn &
 Podcasts Bacon, 1982.
Graff G, “Simple Queuing thoery saves Unneccessary Equipment ” , Industrial
 Sheet Music Engineering, Vol. 3.
Paul R.I., Stevens R.E. , Staffing service activities with waiting the models decision,
 Snapshots Science, Vol. 2

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