Week 2 - Queueing

Question 1

What is the main problem of queueing?

Answer 1

Time wasted

Question 2

What is the implication of time wasted with queueing problems? (2)

Answer 2

• That time cannot be returned or regained
• For a business they can lose revenue and lead to an increase in the costs

Question 3

Causes of time being wasted (3)

Answer 3

• Competition
• Weather
• Bad mood

Question 4

What are the three basic elements of queueing systems?

Answer 4

• Queue
• Customer
• Server

Question 5

What are the attitudes of basic elements towards queueing systems characterised by? (4)

Answer 5

• Queue is characterised by the attitude of the customer towards the queue
• Customer is characterised by their attitude towards the server (in terms of the way they interact) and the queue (e.g how you feel when a train is running late)
• Customers sharing their experience with other customers
• Server to other servers - so the attitude between different departments such as what is their working relationship

Question 6

What is the queueing system analysis process? (6)

Answer 6

• Formulate the problem
• Model the problematic segment of queueing systems
• Evaluate the queueing systems performance
• Decide on the best way to operate the queueing systems being studied, evaluated, analysed
• Justify the decision
• Draw a convincing conclusion

Question 7

What are the characteristics of a queue?(3)

Answer 7

• By it’s length
• The number of customers in the queue
• The environment (such as the waiting room at the GP)

Question 8

What are the characteristics of a customer? (2)

Answer 8

• Different types such as priority customer on public transport
• serving patterns such first come first served

Question 9

What are the characteristics of the server?

Answer 9

Could a single or multiple server queuing system e.g checkouts at supermarkets