Service Management, Student Workbook: An Integrated Approach to Supply Chain Management and Operations

11. Supplement Queuing and Simulation

S11.9 Summary of the Chapter

Two management science tools were examined, queuing theory and simulation, which are often useful in scheduling capacity. They can both provide information about the capacity needed so that customers are not forced to wait an unreasonable length of time. When certain mathematical conditions can be met, a series of queuing formulas may describe the parameters of the wait. When the situation at hand does not fit the assumptions of queuing theory, Monte Carlo simulation can be employed as a scheduling tool.

Problems

S11.1. The Tengler Electronics Corporation retains a service crew to repair machine breakdowns that occur on an average of λ = 3 per day (approximately Poisson in ...