QUEUING THEORY

UNIT-5
OPERATIONS RESEARCH
(A.Y. 2022-23)
 Intro to Q
• Queuing theory refers to the study
comprising a queue’s features, functions,
and imperfections. This mathematical
study is very relevant in operations
research since its appropriate application
helps in eliminating operational
bottlenecks and service failures.
 What Is Queuing Theory?

• The study of all the varied dynamics of lines

or queues, as well as how they might be
altered to run more efficiently, is the focus
of queuing theory.

• Queuing theory is an area of mathematics

that analyses and models the act of queuing.
 What Is Queuing Theory?...

• It is essentially the study of how people act

when they have to wait in line to make a
purchase or receive a service, as well as
what sorts of queue structure move people
through lines the most efficiently, and how
many people can a specific queuing
arrangement process through the line in a
particular time frame.
 Two aspects of Q Models…
• The customer, job, or request are all terms
used to describe someone or something who
demands a service.

• The server refers to the person or thing that

completes or provides the services.
 Queuing Theory in operation research…

• Example:
Consumers trying to deposit or withdraw money
are the customers, and bank tellers are the servers
in a bank queuing situation. The customers in a
printer's queue scenario are the requests that have
been made to the printer, and the server is the
printer.
• Example:
Queuing theory in operation research examines
the entire system of standing in line, including
factors such as customer arrival rate, number of
servers, number of customers, waiting room
capacity, average service completion time, and
queuing discipline. The rules of the queue, such
as whether it operates on a first-in-first-out, last-
in-first-out, prioritized, or serve-in-random-order
basis, are referred to as queuing discipline.
• Agner Krarup Erlang, a Danish mathematician
and engineer, was the first to establish queuing
theory in the early twentieth century.

• Queuing theory is primarily a tool for

calculating costs. Most firms would find it
excessively expensive, or symptomatic of a lack
of customers, to run in such a way that none of
their customers or clients ever had to wait in
line. strike a balance between the cost of
serving clients and the difficulty caused by
having to wait in line.
 Queuing theory problems…
• FOUR GROUPS:
1) Arrival: The procedure for getting customers
to the front of the line or a queue.

2) Queue: That is, the character or operation of

the queue itself. How does the line advance?
3) Service: The process of providing a customer
with the service they have requested. For example,
when being seated and then served in a restaurant,
the restaurant must consider the dynamics of two
independent queues: the line of people waiting to
be seated and the line of people who have already
been seated and are waiting to be served. The
latter can be divided into two lines: the line to have
your order taken and the line to have your food
delivered to your table.
4) Leaving: The act of departing from a queue
position. Businesses that provide a drive-
through service, for example, must consider
how customers exiting the drive-through may
affect customers entering the parking lot.
 Applications of Q Theory…
• Telecommunications
• Transportation
• Logistics
• Finance
• Emergency services
• Computing
• Industrial engineering
• Project management
 Queuing Systems
• It can be described as a system having a service
facility at which units of some kind (generically
called “customers”) arrive for service; whenever
there are more units in the system than the
service facility can handle simultaneously, a
queue (or waiting line) develops. The waiting
units take their turn for service according to a
reassigned rule, and after service they leave the
system. Thus, the input to the system consists of
the customers demanding service, and the output
is the serviced customers.
 Point of Importance…
• When there are limited resources, queues are a fair
and necessary manner of dealing with the flow of
clients.
• If there isn't a queuing process in place to deal with
overcapacity, bad things happen.
• Queuing theory is significant because it helps to
describe queue characteristics such as average wait
time and gives tools for queue optimization.
• Queuing theory influences the design of efficient and
cost-effective workflow systems from a commercial
standpoint.
•  
 Features…
• The population source of Queuing System
Each system has a definite source called its
population from which demand for its service is
created. The population source is unique for
each type of system. Source of the system can
be of two types: finite or infinite.
Probability of Arrival
• The arrival pattern of customers:
Arrival pattern is also an important issue to the
analysts. The arrival into a service system can
be scheduled or unscheduled. Arrivals can also
be controlled or uncontrolled Arrivals can also
be single or in batches. .
• The service pattern or number of servers:
The capacity of a service system is a function of
the capacity of each server and the number of
servers being used. The terms server and
channel are synonymous, and it is generally
assumed that each channel can handle one
customer at a time. The physical flow of
customers through the facility can be in single
line or in multiple line, or mixture of both.
• The queue discipline:
A queue discipline is a priority rule or set of
rules for determining the order of selection of
customer to receive services. The rules selected
have effect on the length and size of the line and
also the time spent in the line.
FCFS / LCFS / SIRO / Priority Service
Special Category Service / RCFS / Prior
Booked Service
• The queue behavior:
BALKING: Customers refuse to join a line when they see a very
long line and chances of getting quick service are very low.
RENEGING: Reneging mean leaving the queue before getting
served.

Jockeying: But patient customer, while waiting for service,

seeing a shorter line may switch between lines.

Recycling: Customers also recycle by returning to the queue

immediately after obtaining service. This phenomenon is
commonly observed when the authority restricts the number
of tickets that an individual