18-1 Waiting Lines

CHAPTER
18

Waiting Lines

Operations Management, Eighth Edition, by William J. Stevenson

McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights
18-2 Waiting Lines

Disney World

• Waiting in lines does not add enjoyment

• Waiting in lines does not generate revenue

Waiting lines are non-value added occurrences

18-3 Waiting Lines

Waiting Lines
• Queuing theory: Mathematical approach to the
analysis of waiting lines.
• Goal of queuing analysis is to minimize the sum of
two costs
• Customer waiting costs
• Service capacity costs
• Waiting lines are non-value added occurrences
18-4 Waiting Lines

Implications of Waiting Lines

• Cost to provide waiting space

• Loss of business
• Customers leaving
• Customers refusing to wait

• Loss of goodwill
• Reduction in customer satisfaction

• Congestion may disrupt other business

operations
18-5 Waiting Lines

Queuing Analysis
Figure 18.1

Total Customer Capacity

cost = waiting cost + cost
Cost

Total cost
Cost of
service
capacity

Cost of
customers
waiting

Service capacity Optimum

18-6 Waiting Lines

System Characteristics

• Population Source
• Infinite source: customer arrivals are
unrestricted
• Finite source: number of potential customers
is limited
• Number of observers (channels)
• Arrival and service patterns
• Queue discipline (order of service)
18-7 Waiting Lines

Elements of Queuing System

Figure 18.2

Processing
order

Arrivals Waiting Service Exit

line
System
18-8 Waiting Lines

Queuing Systems
Figure 18.3

Multiple channel

Multiple phase
Channel: A server in
a service system
18-9 Waiting Lines

Poisson Distribution
Figure 18.4

0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
18-10 Waiting Lines

Waiting line Models

• Patient
• Customers enter the waiting line and remain until
served
• Reneging
• Waiting customers grow impatient and leave the line
• Jockeying
• Customers may switch to another line
• Balking
• Upon arriving, decide the line is too long and decide
not to enter the line
18-11 Waiting Lines

Waiting Time vs. Utilization

Figure 18.6
Average number on
time waiting in line

0 100%
System Utilization
18-12 Waiting Lines

System Performance

Measured by:
1. Average number of customers waiting
2. Average time customers wait
3. System utilization
4. Implied cost
5. Probability that an arrival will have to wait
18-13 Waiting Lines

Queuing Models: Infinite-Source

1. Single channel, exponential service time

2. Single channel, constant service time
3. Multiple channel, exponential service time
4. Multiple priority service, exponential service
time
18-14 Waiting Lines

Priority Model

Processing
order

1 3 2 1 1

Arrivals Waiting Service Exit

line
Arrivals are assigned
a priority as they arrive System
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Finite-Source Formulas
Table 18.6
T
Service factor X=
T+U
Average number waiting L = N (1 − F )
L( T + U ) T (1 − F )
Average waiting time W= =
N−L XF
Average number running J = N F(1 − X )
Average number being served H = FNX
Number in population N = J + L+ H
18-16 Waiting Lines

Finite-Source Queuing

Not waiting or Being

Waiting
being served served

J L H

U W T

J+H
F=
J + L+ H
18-17 Waiting Lines

Other Approaches
• Reduce perceived waiting time
• Magazines in waiting rooms
• Radio/television
• In-flight movies
• Filling out forms
• Derive benefits from waiting
• Place impulse items near checkout
• Advertise other goods/services