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338<br />

Part Three<br />

Planning and control<br />

For G/G/m systems<br />

The same modification applies to queuing systems using general equations and m servers.<br />

The formula for waiting time in the queue is now as follows.<br />

W q =<br />

c 2 2<br />

A a + c e D<br />

C 2 F<br />

A u 2(m+1)−1 D<br />

Cm(1 − u) F<br />

t e<br />

Worked example 1<br />

‘I can’t understand it. We have worked out our capacity figures and I am sure that one<br />

member of staff should be able to cope with the demand. We know that customers arrive<br />

at a rate of around 6 per hour and we also know that any trained member of staff can<br />

process them at a rate of 8 per hour. So why is the queue so large and the wait so long?<br />

Have at look at what is going on there please.’<br />

Sarah knew that it was probably the variation, both in customers arriving and in how<br />

long it took each of them to be processed, that was causing the problem. Over a two-day<br />

period when she was told that demand was more or less normal, she timed the exact<br />

arrival times and processing times of every customer. Her results were as follows.<br />

The coefficient of variation, c a of customer arrivals = 1<br />

The coefficient of variation, c e of processing time = 3.5<br />

The average arrival rate of customers, r a = 6 per hour<br />

therefore, the average inter-arrival time = 10 minutes<br />

The average processing rate, r e<br />

= 8 per hour<br />

therefore, the average processing time<br />

= 7.5 minutes<br />

Therefore the utilization of the single server, u = 6/8 = 0.75<br />

Using the waiting time formula for a G/G/1 queuing system<br />

Also because,<br />

A 1 + 12.25D<br />

A 0.75 D<br />

W q = 7.5<br />

C 2 F C 1 − 0.75F<br />

= 6.625 × 3 × 7.5 = 149.06 mins<br />

= 2.48 hours<br />

WIP q = cycle time × throughput time<br />

WIP q = 6 × 2.48 = 14.68<br />

So, Sarah had found out that the average wait that customers could expect was 2.48 hours<br />

and that there would be an average of 14.68 people in the queue.<br />

‘Ok, so I see that it’s the very high variation in the processing time that is causing the queue<br />

to build up. How about investing in a new computer system that would standardize<br />

processing time to a greater degree? I have been talking with our technical people and<br />

they reckon that, if we invested in a new system, we could cut the coefficient of variation<br />

of processing time down to 1.5. What kind of a different would this make?’<br />

Under these conditions with c e = 1.5<br />

A 1 + 2.25D<br />

A 0.75 D<br />

W q = 7.5<br />

C 2 F C 1 − 0.75F<br />

= 1.625 × 3 × 7.5 = 36.56 mins<br />

= 0.61 hour

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