Example1forSection17.

6
JerryJansen,MaterialsHandlingManagerattheCasperEdisonCorporationsnew
factory,needstomakeapurchasingdecision.Heneedstochoosebetweentwotypesof
materialshandlingequipment,asmalltractortrailertrainandaheavydutyforklifttruck,
fortransportingheavygoodsbetweencertainproducingcentersinthefactory.Callsfor
thematerialshandlingunittomovealoadoccuraccordingtoaPoissonprocessata
meanrateof4perhour.Thetotaltimerequiredtomovealoadhasanexponential
distribution,wheretheexpectedtimewouldbe12minutesforthetractortrailertrainand
9minutesfortheforklifttruck.Thetotalequivalentuniformhourlycost(capitalrecovery
costplusoperatingcost)wouldbe$50forthetractortrailertrainand$150fortheforklift
truck.Theestimatedcostofidlegoods(waitingtobemovedorintransit)becauseof
increasedinprocessinventoryis$20perloadperhour.
Jerryalsohasestablishedcertaincriteriathathewouldlikethematerialshandling
unittosatisfyinordertokeepproductionflowingonscheduleasmuchaspossible.He
wouldliketoaveragenomorethanhalfanhourforcompletingthemoveofaloadafter
receivingthecallrequestingthemove.Healsowouldlikethetimeforcompletingthe
movetobenomorethan1hour80percentofthetime.Finally,hewouldliketohaveno
morethanthreeloadswaitingtostarttheirmoveatleast80percentofthetime.

(a)Obtainthevariousmeasuresofperformanceifthetractortrailertrainwereto
bechosen.Evaluatehowwellthesemeasuresmeettheabovecriteria.

Ifthetractortrailertrainweretobechosen,then

meanarrivalrate,=4,
meanservicerate,=60/12=5.

WeusetheExceltemplatefortheM/M/smodelwiths=1toobtaintheexpectedwaiting
time,

W=1hr0.5hr.

Thepercentageoftimeforcompletingthemovewithinonehouris

Pr(W1)=1Pr(W>1)=10.3678=0.632280%.

Thepercentageoftimethatnomorethanthreeloadsarewaitingtostarttheirmove(plus
onecurrentlybeingmoved)is

P0+P1+P2+P3+P4=0.2+0.16+0.128+0.1024+0.08192=0.672380%.

Therefore,thetractortrailertraindoesnotmeetanyofthecriteria.
(b)Repeatpart(a)iftheforklifttruckweretobechosen.

Iftheforklifttruckweretobechosen,then

meanarrivalrate,=4,
meanservicerate,=60/9=6.67.

WeusetheExceltemplatefortheM/M/smodelwiths=1toobtain
theexpectedwaitingtime,

W=0.37hr0.5hr.

Thepercentageoftimeforcompletingthemovewithinonehouris

Pr(W1)=1Pr(W>1)=10.069=0.93180%.

Thepercentageoftimethatnomorethanthreeloadsarewaitingtostarttheirmove(plus
onecurrentlybeingmoved)is

P0+P1+P2+P3+P4=0.400+0.240+0.144+0.086+0.052=0.92280%.

Therefore,theforklifttruckmeetsallthecriteria.
(c)Comparethetwoalternativesintermsoftheirexpectedtotalcostperhour
(includingthecostofidlegoods).

Forthetractortrailertrain,wecalculate

expectedtotalcostperhour=$20L+$50=$20(4)+$50=$130.

Fortheforklifttruck,weobtain

expectedtotalcostperhour=$20L+$150=$20(1.5)+$150=$180.

(d)WhichalternativedoyouthinkJerryshouldchoose?

Thisisajudgmentdecision,dependingonwhetheryouthinkitismoreimportanttomeet
thecriteria(whichfavorstheforklifttruck)ortominimizewhathasbeenquantifiedas
theexpectedtotalcostperhour(whichdoesnotincludetheextracostofproduction
facilitieshavingtowaitforanexcessivenumberofloadsneedingtobemoved).
Example2forSection17.6

Gregismakingplanstoopenanewfastfoodrestaurantsoon.Heisestimatingthat
customerswillarriverandomly(aPoissonprocess)atameanrateof150perhourduring
thebusiesttimesoftheday.Heisplanningtohavethreeemployeesdirectlyservingthe
customers.Henowneedstomakeadecisionabouthowtoorganizetheseemployees.
Option1istohavethreecashregisterswithoneemployeeateachtotakethe
ordersandgetthefoodanddrinks.Inthiscase,itisestimatedthattheaveragetimeto
serveeachcustomerwouldbe1minute,andthedistributionofservicetimesisassumed
tobeexponential.
Option2istohaveonecashregisterwiththethreeemployeesworkingtogetherto
serveeachcustomer.Onewouldtaketheorder,asecondwouldgetthefood,andthe
thirdwouldgetthedrinks.Gregestimatesthatthiswouldreducetheaveragetimeto
serveeachcustomerdownto20seconds,withthesameassumptionofexponential
servicetimes.
Gregwantstochoosetheoptionthatwouldprovidethebestservicetohis
customers.However,sinceOption1hasthreecashregisters,bothoptionswouldserve
thecustomersatameanrateof3perminutewheneverybodyisbusyservingcustomers,
soitisnotclearwhichoptionisbetter.

(a)UsethemainmeasuresofperformanceL,Lq,W,Wqtocomparethetwo
options.

Themeanarrivalrateis=150.
ForOption1,themeanservicerateforeachserveris=60/1=60/hrands=3.
ForOption2,themeanservicerateis=60mins/20secs=180/hrands=1.

WeusetheExceltemplatefortheM/M/smodeltocalculateL,Lq,W,Wqfor
eachofthetwooptions.Thesemeasuresaregiveninthefiguresbelow.

Option1:
Option2:

(bExplainwhythesecomparisonsmakesenseintuitively.

WandLaresmallerforOption2becauseitisamoreefficientsystem.Thisistrue
becausewhenthereareonly1or2customersinthesystem,Option2isoperatingatfull
efficiency,whileOption1willhaveidleservers.WqandLqarelargerforOption2
becausetherearefewerpeopleinservice(only1register)and,therefore,morepeoplein
thequeue.

(c)WhichmeasuredoyouthinkwouldbemostimportanttoGregscustomers?
Why?Whichoptionisbetterwithrespecttothismeasure?

Wshouldbethemostimportantmeasuretocustomersbecausetheyshouldbemost
concernedwiththetotaltimespentinthequeueingsystem,sincethisisthetotaltimethat
customersmustwaitintherestaurantbeforereceivingtheirfood.Giventhis,Option2is
better.

Example3forSection17.6
ThereservationofficeforCentralAirlineshastwoagentsansweringincomingphone
callsforflightreservations.Inaddition,onecallercanbeputonholduntiloneofthe
agentsisavailabletotakethecall.Ifallthreephonelines(bothagentlinesandthehold
line)arebusy,apotentialcustomergetsabusysignal,inwhichcasethecallmaygoto
anotherairline.Thecallsandattemptedcallsoccurrandomly(i.e.,accordingtoaPoisson
process)atameanrateof15perhour.Thelengthofatelephoneconversationhasan
exponentialdistributionwithameanof4minutes.

(a)Constructtheratediagramforthisqueueingsystem.

Sincethisqueueingsystemhastwoservers(theagents)andthemaximumnumberof
customers(theincomingcalls)allowedinthesystemis3,theapplicablemodelisthe
finitequeuevariationoftheM/M/smodelwith

K=3,=15,and=60/4=15.

Theratediagramisshownbelow:
(b)Findthesteadystateprobabilitythat
(i)Acallerwillgettotalktoanagentimmediately,
(ii)Thecallerwillbeputonhold,and
(iii)Thecallerwillgetabusysignal.

WeusetheExceltemplateforthefinitequeuevariationoftheM/M/smodeltocalculate
thesteadystateprobabilitiesandobtain

P0=0.36364,P1=0.36364,P2=0.18182,P3=0.09091.

Hence,

(i)thesteadystateprobabilitythatacallerwillgettotalktoanagentimmediately
=P0+P1=0.727.

(ii)thesteadystateprobabilitythatacallerwillbeputonhold=P2=0.182.

(iii)thesteadystateprobabilitythatacallerwillgetabusysignal=P3=0.091.