Mumbai University > MECH > Sem 7 > Operations Research

Marks: 5 M

Year: May 2013

A queue is basically a line of entities (people, machines etc.) that are waiting to receive a particular service.

Queueing theory is the mathematical study of waiting lines, or queues. In queuing theory a model is constructed so that queue lengths and waiting times can be predicted. Queuing theory is generally considered a branch of operations research because the results are often used when making business decisions about the resources needed to provide a service.

Applications of queuing theory:

• Commercial Queuing Systems

  – Commercial organizations serving external customers

  – Ex. Dentist, bank, ATM, gas stations, plumber, garage

• Transportation service systems

  – Vehicles are customers or servers

  – Ex. Vehicles waiting at toll stations and traffic lights, trucks or ships waiting to be loaded, taxi cabs, fire engines, buses

• Business-internal service systems

  – Customers receiving service are internal to the organization providing the service

  – Ex. Inspection stations, conveyor belts, computer support

• Social service systems

  – Ex. Judicial process, hospital, waiting lists for organ transplants or student dorm rooms