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Concepts in
Discrete-Event Simulation
(using AnyLogic)

MIT Center for

Transportation & Logistics ctl.mit.edu
Multiple sources, and
multiple resources
Problem: Patches Beauty Salon
Patches Beauty Salon offers two different services to dogs
and cats in the Boston area: beauty baths and nail polishing.
Every hour, ~20 dogs arrive to the salon: 70% come for
baths, and the other 30% for nails. Likewise, ~20 cats arrive
every hour: only 10% for baths, and the other 90% for nails.
The salon has 7 members in its staff, 4 tubs and 3 tables.
A beauty bath requires one available member of the staff
and one available tub. It takes on average 10 minutes, with
a minimum of 5 minutes and a maximum of 15 minutes.
Polishing nails requires one available member of the staff
and one available table. It takes on average 5 minutes, with
a minimum of 3 minutes and a maximum of 7 minutes.
Assuming exponential distributions for the arrivals and
triangular distributions for the delays, build a simulation
that runs for 70000 minutes, and answer these questions:

Q1) What is the utilization of:

a) the staff?
b) the tubs?
c) the tables?

Q2) What is the average time required for a beauty bath

(including waiting in line)?

Q3) What is the average time required for having your nails
polished (including waiting in line)?
Assuming exponential distributions for the arrivals and
triangular distributions for the delays, build a simulation
that runs for 70000 minutes, and answer these questions:

Q1) What is the utilization of:

a) the staff? Answer: ~66%
b) the tubs? Answer: ~66%
c) the tables? Answer: ~66%

Q2) What is the average time required for a beauty bath

(including waiting in line)? Answer: ~12.2 minutes

Q3) What is the average time required for having your nails
polished (including waiting in line)? Answer: ~7.1 minutes
Other distributions

6
Many distributions are available
Dozens of different probability distributions are available in
most simulation software packages.

Lets try these different distributions in a delay:

triangular(min, avg, max )
normal(stdev, avg)
uniform(min, max)

7
triangular(4, 10, 16 )

8
normal(2, 10)

9
uniform(8, 12)

10
Patches Beauty Salon, Revisited
The managers of Patches Beauty Salon have realized that
the delays in their services are better described using
distributions other than the triangular. They think that:
A beauty bath is best described by a normal distribution,
with an average of 10 minutes, and a standard deviation
of 3 minutes, and
A nail polishing is best described by a uniform distribution
with a minimum of 3 minutes and a maximum of 7
minutes.
Repeat the simulation using these distributions.
Using those distributions, and assuming exponential
distributions for the arrivals, build a simulation that runs for
70000 minutes, and answer the following questions:

Q1) What is the utilization of:

a) the staff? Answer: ~66%
b) the tubs? Answer: ~66%
c) the tables? Answer: ~67%

Q2) What is the average time required for a beauty bath

(including waiting in line)? Answer: ~12.1 minutes

Q3) What is the average time required for having your nails
polished (including waiting in line)? Answer: ~7.1 minutes