Waiting Line and

Queuing Theory
Kusdhianto Setiawan
Gadjah Mada University

Waiting Line Costs

All costs associated with and
consequences that come from
idleness or the unwillingness to
wait from customer can be
categorized as waiting cost,
inlcuding customer
dissatisfaction and lost goodwill

Objectives
Finding the best level of service
for an organization that
minimizes total expected cost
Total expected cost: the sum of
service plus waiting time

Trade-off: the cost of providing

good service and the cost of
customer waiting time (more
difficult to predict)

Example of Waiting Cost

Number of Team Working
1
A
B

C
D
E

F
G

Average number of
ships arriving per shift
Average time each
ship wait to be
unloaded (hours)
Total ship hours lost
per shift (AxB)
Estimated cost per
hour of idle ship time
Value of ships lost
time or waiting cost
(CxD)
Team Salary or
Service Cost
Total Expected Cost

35

20

15

10

1000

1000

1000

1000

35,000

20,000

15,000

10,000

6,000

12,000

18,000

24,000

41,000

32,000

33,000

34,000

Characteristic of A
Queuing System
Arrival Characteristics (calling
population)
The Queue or waiting line
The Service Facility
All of those must be determined
before we develop a model

Arrival Characteristics
Size of the Calling Population
Unlimited (infinite)
Limited (finite)

Pattern of Arrivals at the system

Scheduled
Random; when they are independent of
one another and cannot be predicted
exactly

The number of arrivals per unit of time can be

estimated by a probability distribution known
as the POISSON DISTRIBUTION

Poisson Distribution
(Discrete Arrival)

e
P( X )
X!

P(X)

= Probability of X Arrival

= number of arrivals per unit of time

= average arrival rate (2

customer/hour, four trucks/hour, etc.)

= 2,7183

Poisson Probability
P

Waiting Line
Characteristics
The length of line can be either
Limited (restaurant)
Unlimited (tollbooth)

Queue Dicipline (the rule by which

customers in the line are to receive
service
FIFO
Preempt FIFO (Emergency Unit in a
hospotal)
Highest Priority

Service Facility
Characteristics
Basic Queuing System Configuration
Number of channels/servers
Single-Channel System
Multi-Channel System

Number of phases/service stops

Single-Phase System
Multiphase System

Service Time Distribution

Constant (it takes the same amount of time to

take care of each customer)
Random (following negative exponential
probability distribution)

Service
Facility

Arrivals

Departure
After
Service

Single-Channel, Single-Phase System

Arrivals

Service
Facility

Single-Channel, Multiphase System

Service
Facility

Departure
After
Service

Arrivals

Multichannel, Single-Phase System

Service
Facility

Departure
After
Service

Service
Facility

Departure
After
Service

Service
Facility

Departure
After
Service

Service
Facility

Service
Facility

Departure
After
Service

Service
Facility

Service
Facility

Departure
After
Service

Arrivals

Multichannel, Multiphase System

Exponential Distribution
of Service Time

f(x)

f ( x) e x

for x 0
and 0
average number served per minute
Average Service Time of 20 Minutes

Average Service Time of 1 hour

Service Time (Minutes)

Identifying Model Using

Kendall Notation
KENDALL NOTATION
Arrival distribution/Service Time/Number of Service Channel open
M = Poisson distribution for number of occurences (or exponential
times)
D = Constant (deterministic) rate
G = General distribution with mean and variance known
Example:
Single-Channel Model = M/M/1
Two-Channel Model = M/M/2
Three-Channel, Poisson Arrival, Constant service time = M/D/3

M/M/1 : Single-Channel,
Poisson Arrivals,
Exponential
Service
Time
Asssumptions of the Model
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Arrivals are served as FIFO basis

Every arrival waits to be served regardless of the
length of the line (no balking or reneging)
Arrivals are independent of preceding arrivals, but
the average number of arrivals (the arrival rate)
doesnt change over time
Arrivals are describe by a poisson probability
distribution and come from an infinite or very large
population
Service time also vary from one customer to the
next and are independent of one another, but their
average rate is known
Service time occur according to the negative
exponential probability distribution
The average service rate is greater than the
average arrival rate

M/M/1 Continued
= mean number of arrivals per time period (ex: per hour)
= mean number of people or items served per time period
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