Quiz 5 – Queuing Theory - Solutions

1) Customers come to the counter in a bank at an average rate of 10 per hour. The
variance of the inter-arrival time for customers is 4 minutes. What is the coefficient
of variation of the arrival process in this bank?
A. 0.667
B. 4.0
C. 0.4
D. 0.333

Customers arrive at 10 per hour (average). Mean arrival time = 60/10 = 6 minutes/arrival.
Variance of arrival time = 4 mins; Standard Deviation = SQRT(variance) = SQRT(4) = 2
Coefficient of Variation = SQRT/Mean = 2/6 = 0.333

2) There is one teller on the counter in the above bank to serve customers. He can serve
one customer in 6 minutes. Is this service process stable?
A. Yes
B. No
C. Cannot determine
D. None of the above

Mean arrival rate of customers = 6; Mean service rate = 6

Utilization of server = p/(m x a) = 6/1x6 = 1
Intuition: If server is occupied 100% of the time, whenever a customer arrives, he/she
will find the server busy; chances are that the queue will grow in an unstable manner.
Math: Average Waiting time will go to infinity. So service process is not stable.

3) The airport branch of a car rental company maintains a fleet of 50 SUVs. The airport
branch is open 24 hours a day. The interarrival time between requests for an SUV is
2.4 hours, on average, with a standard deviation of 2.4 hours. Assume that demand
arrives in a similar pattern over the course of a 24 hour day.

If all SUVs are rented, customers are willing to wait until there is an SUV available.
An SUV is rented, on average, for 3 days with a standard deviation of 1 day.

A. What represents a ‘server’ in this example?

 The SUVs; there are 50 servers

B. What is the average Demand Rate (expressed in customers/day)?

 Customers arrive every 2.4 hours; this is equivalent to having
24/2.4 = 10 customers per day.

C. What is the average Capacity (expressed in customers/day)?

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  There are 50 SUVs and each are occupied for 3 days when customers
rent one
 Capacity = number of customers/day that the rental company can serve
 Capacity = 50/3 = 16.66… customers/day

D. What is the utilization of the process?

 Each SUV (server) is occupied for 3 days when rented. i.e. each SUV
has a service rate of 3 days or 72 hours; p = 72
 There are 50 SUVs (servers); m = 50
 Each customer’s inter-arrival time = 2.4 hours; a = 2.4
 HENCE utilization = p/(m x a) = 72/50x2.4 = 0.60

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