QUEUEING OR WAITING LINES
ONE SINGLE SERVER
Example 1: Customers arrive at the Post Office at a rate of 8 per hour. There is one
postal clerk serving customers at a rate of 20 per hour.
a. What is the probability that there is no customer in the office?
b. What is the probability that there are more than 2 customers in the office?
c. What is the probability that there in no customer waiting to be served?
d. What is the probability that a customer is being served and nobody is
waiting?
e. Calculate Ls, Lq, Ws and Wq?
Solution:
With λ = 8 per hour and μ = 20 per hour, we get
ρ=λ/μ
= 8 / 20
ρ = 0.40
Pn = (1 – ρ) x ρn
= (1-0.40) x (0.40)n for n = 0, 1, 2,3
Therefore,
a. What is the probability that there is no customer in the office?
P (no customer in the office) = P0 = (1 -0.40) x (0.40)0 = 0.60
b. What is the probability that there are more than 2 customers in the office?
!
! Counter!
! C1! C2! C3!
!
P (more than 2 customer in the office)
= 1 – P (at most 2 customer in the office)
= 1 – (P0 + P1 + P2)
where: P0 = (1-0.40) = 0.6
P1 = (1-0.40) x (0.40)1 = 0.24
P2 = (1-0.40) x (0.40)2 = 0.096
= 1 – (0.60 + 0.24 + 0.096)
= 0.064
! 1!
c. What is the probability that there in no customer waiting to be served?
Counter! C1! C2!
P (no customer is waiting)
= P (at most one customer in the office)
= P0 + P1
= 0.60 + 0.24
= 0.84
d. What is the probability that a customer is being served and nobody is
waiting?
Counter! C1! C2!
P (a customer being served and nobody is waiting)
P1 = 0.24
e. Calculate Ls, Lq, Ws and Wq?
Ls = λ / ( μ - λ)
= 8 / (20 – 8)
= 0.667 (which is the average customer in the office)
Ws = Ls / λ
= 0.667 / 8
= 0.083375 hours or 5 minutes (which is the average
time a customer spends in the post office)
Wq = Ws – (1/ μ)
= 0.083375 hours – (1 / 20 hours)
= 0.033375 hours or 2 minutes (which is the average
time a customer is waiting in queue)
Lq = λ x Wq
= 8 x 0.033375
= 0.267 customer (which is the average number of
customer waiting to be served)
! 2!
MULTIPLE SERVER QUEUEING MODEL
Example:
To register at a University, students must report to the
cashier’s office to pay their fees. On the average, 5 students
arrive at the cashier’s office per minute. There are 2 cashiers
working fulltime and each of them, on the average, can serve 3
students per minute. The students form a single waiting line in
the office to pay their fees. Students at the front of the queue will
report to the first vacant cashier.
a. What is the probability that the system is idle?
b. What is the probability that at least one student is waiting to
be served?
c. What is the average number of students in the cashier’s
office?
d. What is the average waiting time for a student?
Solution:
With λ = 5 per minute, μ = 3 per minute and c = 2 servers, we see
that 5< 2 x 3, i.e λ < c x μ, = 3 per minute and c, ρ = λ / μ or 5/3
(1.67) . Therefore;
a. What is the probability that the system is idle?
1
P0 = _____________________
c-1
Σ ρ / i! + ρc
i=0 ____________________
c! x (1 – ρ/c)
we have c = 2 servers
1
P0 = _____________________
1 + 1.67 + 1.672
____________________
2! x (1 – 1.67/2)
P0 = 0.091, which is the probability of idle
! 3!
b. What is the probability that are not more than 2 student in
the cashier office?
P = 1 – (P0 + P1 + P2)
P0 = 0.091
P1 = P0 X (ρ1/1!)
= 0.091 x (1.67)
= 0.152
P2 = P0 X (ρ2/2!)
= 0.091 x (1.67/2)
= 0.076
P = 1 – (0.091 + 0.152 + 0.076)
= 0.681
c. What is the average number of students in the cashier’s
office?
ρ c+1
Ls = __________________ x P0 + ρ
(c – 1)! X (c – ρ)2
1.673
= _____________________________ x 0.091 + 1.67
1! X (2 – 1.67)2
= 5.56 students
e. What is the average waiting time for a student?
Ws = (Ls / λ) – (1 / μ)
= (5.56 / 5) – (1/3)
= 0.79 min or 47.4 seconds
! 4!
Economic Analysis of Waiting Lines – trade off in reduction of
waiting time cost againts the increased cost for obtaining new
server or system.
Example. The Recto Company receives an average 22 letters per
day for typing. The typist works for 8 hours a day and it takes on
the average 20 minutes to type a letter. The company has
determined that the cost of a letter waiting to be mailed is 80
cents per hour and additional costs to the company are $40 per
day (salary of the typist plus equipment cost).
a. What is the typist’s utilization rate?
b. What is the average number of letters waiting to be
typed?
c. What is the average time needed to have a letter typed?
d. What is the total daily cost of letters waiting to be typed?
Solution:
a. What is the typist’s utilization rate?
λ = 22 letters per day and
μ = (8 hours/day) x (60 min/20 min) = 24 letters/day
ρ = λ / μ;
ρ = 22/24
ρ = 0.917
b. What is the average number of letters waiting to be
typed?
Lq = ( λ / μ ) x ( λ / μ- λ )
= ( 22 / 24) x (22 / 24-22)
= 10.087 letters
c. What is the average time needed to have a letter typed?
Ws = 1 / μ- λ
= 1 / 24-22
= 0.5 day or 4 hours
d. What is the total daily cost of letters waiting to be typed?
Ls x (0.80 cents per day x 8 hours)
Total daily cost = (λ / μ- λ) x $6.40
= (22 / 24 -22) x $6.40
=$70.40
! 5!
Example 2. Same problem in 1 except that they were forced to
improve the letter typing service, the company can either hire an
additional typist, or it can lease an automated typewriter. There
are three models, the daily costs and resulting increases in the
efficiency are as follows:
Model Cost per day ($) Increase in efficiency
I 37 50%
II 39 75%
III 43 150%
What action should the company take to minimise total cost?
Solution:
There are four options:
1. Option 1
- Hire an additional typist,
λ = 22 letters per day
μ = 24 letters/day
c=2
1
P0 = _____________________
c-1
Σ ρ / i! + ρc
i=0 ____________________
c! x (1 – ρ/c)
we have c = 2 servers
1
P0 = __________________________________
1 + 0.917 + 0.9172
__________________________
2! x (1 – 0.917/2)
P0 = 0.33
! 6!
And the average number of letters to be mailed is:
ρ c+1
Ls = __________________ x P0 + ρ
(c – 1)! X (c – ρ)2
0.9173
= _____________________________ x 0.33 + 0.917
1! X (2 – 0.917)2
= 1.13 letters
The total cost per day is therefore,
Cost (Option 1) = 2 x $40 (Salary + equip cost) + $6.40
(daily cost) x 1.13 letters
= $87.23
2. Option 2
Single queue, single server model λ = 22 letters per day and
μ = 36 letters/day ( 24 + 50%, efficiency)
Ls = λ / μ - λ
= 22 / 36 – 22
= 1.57 letters
Cost = $40 (Salary) + $37 (lease) + $6.40 x 1.57 letters
= $87.05
3. Option 3
Single queue, single server model λ = 22 letters per day and
μ = 42 letters/day ( 24 + 75%, efficiency)
Ls = λ / μ - λ
= 22 / 42 – 22
= 1.1 letters
Cost = $40 (Salary) + $39 (lease) + $6.40 x 1.1 letters
= $86.04
! 7!
4. Option 4
Single queue, single server model λ = 22 letters per day and
μ = 60 letters/day ( 24 + 150%, efficiency)
Ls = λ / μ - λ
= 22 / 60 – 22
= 0.58 letters
Cost = $40 (Salary) + $43 (lease) + $6.40 x 0.58 letters
= $86.71
! 8!
