Single server queuing calculations

Tom Jones, the mechanic at Golden Muffler Shop, is able to install new mufflers at an average
rate of 3 per hour (or about 1 every 20 minutes), according to a negative exponential
distribution. Customers seeking this service arrive at the shop on the average of 2 per hour,
following a Poisson distribution. They are served on a first-in, first-out basis and come from a
very large (almost infinite) population of possible buyers.

λ = 2 cars arriving per hour

μ = 3 cars serviced per hour

Ls = 2 cars in the system, on average

Ws = 1-hour average waiting time in the system
Lq = 1.33 cars waiting in line, on average
Wq = 40-minute average waiting time per car
ρ = 66.6% of time mechanic is busy
P0 = .33 probability there are 0 cars in the system

Probability of More than k Cars in the System

Implies that there is a 29.6% chance that more than 2 cars are in the system
Economic analysis

The owner of the Golden Muffler Shop estimates that the cost of customer waiting time, in
terms of customer dissatisfaction and lost goodwill, is $10 per hour of time spent waiting in
line. Because the average car has a 2/3-hour wait (Wq) and because there are approximately 16
cars serviced per day (2 arrivals per hour times 8 working hours per day), the total number of
hours that customers spend waiting each day for mufflers to be installed is

2 32 2
(16)   10 hours
3 3 3

Hence, in this case

 2
Customer waiting time cost = $10 10  =106.67 per day
 3

The only other major cost that Golden’s owner can identify in the queuing situation is the salary
of Jones, the mechanic, who earns $7 per hour, or $56 per day. Thus:

Total expected costs = $106.67 + $56 = $162.67 per day

Multiple server queuing calculations

The Golden Muffler Shop has decided to open a second garage bay and hire a second mechanic
to handle installations. Customers, who arrive at the rate of about λ = 2 per hour, will wait in a
single line until 1 of the 2 mechanics is free. Each mechanic installs mufflers at the rate of about
μ = 3 per hour

Ls = .75 average number of cars in the system

Ws = 22.5 minutes average time a car spends in the system
Lq = .083 average number of cars in the queue (waiting)
Wq = 2.5 minutes average time a car spends in the queue (waiting)
Problem 1

Sid Das Brick Distributors currently employs 1 worker whose job is to load bricks on outgoing
company trucks. An average of 24 trucks per day, or 3 per hour, arrive at the loading platform,
according to a Poisson distribution. The worker loads them at a rate of 4 trucks per hour,
following approximately the exponential distribution in his service times.

Das believes that adding a second brick loader will substantially improve the firm’s productivity.
He estimates that a two-person crew at the loading gate will double the loading rate from 4
trucks per hour to 8 trucks per hour. Analyze the effect on the queue of such a change and
compare the results to those achieved with one worker. What is the probability that there will
be more than 3 trucks either being loaded or waiting?

Number of brick loaders

1 2
Truck arrival rate (λ) 3/hr. 3/hr.
Loading rate (μ) 4/hr. 8/hr.
Average number in system (Ls) 3 trucks .6 truck
Average time in system (Ws) 1 hr. .2 hr.
Average number in queue (Lq) 2.25 trucks .225 truck
Average time in queue (Wq) .75 hr. .075 hr.
Utilization rate (ρ) .75 .375
Probability system empty (P0) .25 .625

Probability of more than k trucks in the system

P(n > k)
k One loader Two loaders
0 .75 .375
1 .56 .141
2 .42 .053
3 .32 .020

These results indicate that when only one loader is employed, the average truck must wait
three quarters of an hour before it is loaded. Furthermore, there is an average of 2.25 trucks
waiting in line to be loaded. This situation may be unacceptable to management. Note also the
decline in queue size after the addition of a second loader.
Problem 2

Truck drivers working for Sid Das (see previous problem) earn an average of $10 per hour. Brick
loaders receive about $6 per hour. Truck drivers waiting in the queue or at the loading platform
are drawing a salary but are productively idle and unable to generate revenue during that time.
What would be the hourly cost savings to the firm if it employed 2 loaders instead of 1?

Referring to the data in the previous problem, we note that the average number of trucks in the
system is 3 when there is only 1 loader and .6 when there are 2 loaders.

Number of loaders
1 2
Truck driver idle time costs = $30 = (3)($10) $6 = (.6)($10)
(Average number of trucks) × (Hourly rate)
Loading costs $6 $12 = (2)($6)
Total expected cost per hour $36 $18

The firm will save $18 per hour by adding a second loader.
Problem 3

Sid Das is considering building a second platform or gate to speed the process of loading trucks.
This system, he thinks, will be even more efficient than simply hiring another loader to help out
on the first platform (as in the first problem). Assume that workers at each platform will be able
to load 4 trucks per hour each and that trucks will continue to arrive at the rate of 3 per hour.
Then apply the appropriate equations to find the waiting line’s new operating conditions. Is this
new approach indeed speedier than the other two that Das has considered?

Looking back at the first problem, we see that although length of the queue and average time in
the queue are lowest when a second platform is open, the average number of trucks in the
system and average time spent waiting in the system are smallest when two workers are
employed at a single platform. Thus, we would probably recommend not building a second
platform.