UNIT – 4

UNIT – IV SYLLABUS

THEORY OF GAMES: Introduction – mini. max (max. mini) – criterion and optimal
strategy – solution of games with saddle points – rectangular games without saddle points – 2
x 2 games – dominance principle – m x 2 & 2 x n games -graphical method.
WAITING LINES: Introduction – single channel – poison arrivals – exponential service
times – with infinite population and finite population models– multichannel – poison arrivals
– exponential service times with infinite population single channel poison arrivals.

DAY – 26

Topics to be covered: Introduction to Game theory

1. What is game theory?

Ans: There are certain problems where two or more industrial units
are involved in decision making under conflict situation. This means
that decision-making is done to maximize the benefits and minimize
the losses. The decision making much depends on the decision made
or decision variables chosen by the opponent business organization.
Such situations are known as competitive strategies. Competitive
strategies are a type of business games. When we hear the word
game, we get to our mind like pleasure giving games like Football,
Badminton, Chess, etc., In these games we have two parties or
groups playing the game with definite well defined rules and
regulations. The outcome of the game as decided decides winning of
a group earlier. In our discussion in Theory of Games, we are not
concerned with pleasure giving games but we are concerned with
business games.
Game theory is a body of knowledge that deals with making
decisions when two or more intelligent and rational opponents are
involved under conditions of conflict or competition.
The competitors in the game are called players.

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2. What are assumptions in game theory?
Ans: Assumptions in game theory are:
1. The number of players (competitors) in finite.
2. All players act rationally and intelligently.
3. Each player has a definite course of action.
4. There is conflict of interest between the players.
5. The rules of play are known to all the players.

3. State some advantages and limitations of Game theory?

Ans:
Advantages:
The game theory can be applied to decide the best course in
conflicting situations. In business decisions it has wider possibilities.
With the help of computer large number of independent variables
can be considered with mathematical accuracy. The main advantages
of this theory are:
1. Game theory provides a systematic quantitative approach for
deciding the best strategy in competitive situations.
2. It provides a framework for competitor’s reactions to the firm
actions.
3. It is helpful in handling the situation of independence of firms.
4. Game theory is a management device which helps rational
decision-making.
Limitations:
1. As the number of players increases in the actual business the
game theory becomes more difficult.
2. It simply provides a general rule of logic not the winning strategy.
3. There is much uncertainty in actual field of business which cannot
be considered in game theory.
4. Businessmen do not have adequate knowledge for the game
theory.

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Important and previous year questions:
1. What are assumptions in game theory? [3M] April2016

DAY – 27

Topics to be covered: Maximin - Minimax criteria and optimal

strategy

1. Explain the maximin - minimax criteria.

(i) Maximin Criteria: The maximising player lists his minimum
gains from each strategy and selects the strategy which gives
the maximum out of these minimum gains.
(ii) Minimax Criteria A : The minimising player lists his maximum
loss from each strategy and selects the strategy which gives
him the minimum loss out of these maximum losses.
For Example Consider a two person zero sum game involving the
set of pure strategy for Maximising player A say Al A2 & As and for
player B, B1 & B2, with the following payoff Suppose that player A
starts the game knowing fully well that whatever strategy he
adopts B will select that particular counter strategy which will
minimise the payoff to A.

If A selects the strategy Al then B will select B2 so that A may get

minimum gain. Similarly if A chooses A2 than B will adopt the
strategy of B2. Naturally A would like to maximise his maximin
gain which is just the largest of row minima, this is called ‘maximin
strategy’. Similarly B will minimise his minimum loss which is

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 called 'minimax strategy'. We observe that in the above example,
the maximum if row minima and minimum of column maxima are
equal.
Maxi [Min.] = Mini [Max]
The strategies followed by both the players are called ‘optimum
strategy’.
2. Define Value of Game.

Ans: In game theory, the concept value of game is considered as

very important. The value of game is the maximum guaranted gain
to the maximising player if both the players use their best
strategy. It refers to the average payoff per play of the game over
a period of time. Consider the following the game.

In the first game player X wins 3 points and the value of the value
is three with positive sign and in the second game the player Y
wins 3 points and the value of the game is -ve which indicates that
Y is the Winner. The value is denoted by 'v.

Important and Previous year questions:

1. Write a brief note on maximin–minimax principle. [4M]April2017

DAY – 28

Topics to be covered: Saddle point, Game with saddle point

1. Explain in brief about saddle point.

Ans:

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The Saddle point in a pay off matrix is one which is the smallest value
in its row and the largest value in its column. The saddle point is also
known as equilibrium point in the theory of games. An element of a
matrix that is simultaneously minimum of the row in which it occurs
and the maximum of the column in which it occurs is a saddle point
of the matrix game.
In a game having a saddle point optimum strategy for a player X is
always to play the row containing saddle point and for a player Y to
play the column that contains saddle point. The following steps are
required to find out Saddle point;
(i) Select the minimum value of each row & put a circle around it.
(ii) Select the maximum value of each column and put square around
it.
(iii) The value with both circle & square is the saddle point.

2. Explain in detail about game with saddle point?

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Ans: In a zero-sum game, the pure strategies of two players
constitute a saddle point if the corresponding entry of the payoff
matrixis simultaneously a maximum of row minima and a minimum
of column maxima. This decision-making is referred to as
the minimax-maximin principle to obtain the best possible selection
of a strategy for the players.
In a pay-off matrix, the minimum value in each row represents the
minimum gain for player A. Player A will select the strategy that gives
him the maximum gain among the row minimum values. The
selection of strategy by player A is based on maximin principle.
Similarly, the same pay-off is a loss for player B. The maximum value
in each column represents the maximum loss for Player B. Player B
will select the strategy that gives him the minimum loss among the
column maximum values.
The selection of strategy by player B is based on minimax principle. If
the maximin value is equal to minimax value, the game has a saddle
point (i.e., equilibrium point). Thus the strategy selected by player A
and player B are optimal.
Example: Consider the example to solve the game whose pay-off
matrix is given in the following table as follows:
Game Problem

The game is worked out using minimax procedure. Find the smallest
value in each row and select the largest value of these values. Next,

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find the largest value in each column and select the smallest of these
numbers. The procedure is shown in the following table.
Minimax Procedure

If Maximum value in row is equal to the minimum value in column,

then saddle point exists. Max Min = Min Max
1 =1
Therefore, there is a saddle point. The strategies are, Player A plays
Strategy A1, (A A1). Player B plays Strategy B1, (B B1). Value of game
= 1.
Important and previous year questions:
1. Define: (i) Pure Strategy; (ii) Mixed strategy; (iii) Zero sum Game;
(iv) NonZero sum Game; (v Pay-off; (vi) Saddle Point [6M]
April2017
DAY – 29

Topics to be covered: Game with no saddle point

1. Game without saddle point?

Ans: For any given pay off matrix without saddle point the optimum
mixed strategies are shown in Table

Mixed Strategies

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Let p1 and p2 be the probability for Player A. Let q1 and q2 be the
probability for Player B. Let the optimal strategy be SA for player A
and SB for player B. Then the optimal strategies are given in the
following tables.

Optimum Strategies

p1and p2 are determined by using the formulae,

  p1 =a22-a21(a11+a22)-(a12+a21)

and p2= 1-p1

 q1=a22-a21(a11+a22)-(a12+a21)

and q2= 1-q1

the value of the game w.r.t. player A is given by,

 Value of the game, v =a11 a22– a12 a21(a11+a22)-(a12+a21)

Example : Solve the pay-off given table matrix and determine the
optimal strategies and the value of game.

Game Problem

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Solution: Let the optimal strategies of SA and SB is as shown in
tables.

Optimal Strategies

The given pay-off matrix is shown below in Table.

Pay-off Matrix or Maximin Procedure

Therefore, there is no saddle point and hence it has a mixed strategy.

Applying the probability formula,

  p1 =a22-a21 (a11+a22)-(a12+a21 =4-3(5+4)-(2+3) =19-5 =14

and p2= 1-p1 = 1-1/4= 3/4

 q1=a22-a21 (a11+a22)-(a12+a214-2(5+4)-(2+3) =29-5 =12

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and q2= 1-q1

 Value of the game, v =a11 a22– a12 a21 (a11+a22)-(a12+a21

=14/4

The optimum mixed strategies are shown in table below.

Optimum Mixed Strategies

Important and Previous year questions:

1. Two players A and B match coins. If the coin matches, then A

wins one unit of value, if the coins do not match, then B wins
one unit of value. Determine optimum strategies for the
players and the value of the game. [8M] April2016

DAY – 30

Topics to be covered: Dominance principle

1. Explain about Dominance principle.

Ans: Principle of Dominance in Games:

In case there is no saddle point the given game matrix (m × n) may be

reduced to m × 2 or 2 × n or 2 × 2 matrix, which will help us to
proceed further to solve the game. The ultimate way is we haveto
reduce the given matrix to 2 × 2 to solve mathematically.

To discuss the principle of dominance, let us consider the matrix

given below:

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The row minimums and column maximums show that the problem is
not having saddle point.

Hence we have to use method of dominance to reduce the size of

the matrix. (i) Consider the first and second strategies of B. If B plays
the first strategy, he looses 2 units of money when A plays first
strategy and 4 units of money when A plays second strategy.

Similarly, let us consider B’s second strategy, B gains 4 units of

money when A plays his first strategy and gains 3 units of money
when A plays second strategy. Irrespective of A’s choice, B will gain
money. Hence for B his second strategy is superior to his
firststrategy. In other words, B's second strategy dominates B's first
strategy. Or B’s firststrategy is dominated by B's second strategy.
Hence we can remove the first strategy of B from the game. The
reduced matrix is:

The general rules of dominance:

1. If all the elements of a column (say ith column) are greater than
or equal to the corresponding elements of any other column
(say jth column), then ith column is dominated by jth column.

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 2. If all the elements of rth row are less than or equal to the
corresponding elements of any other row, say sth row, then rth
row is dominated by sth row.

A pure strategy of a player may also be dominated if it is inferior to

some convex combinations of two or more pure strategies, as a
particular case, inferior to the averages of two or more pure
strategies.

Important and Previous year questions:

1. Two competitors A and B are competing for the same product.

Their different strategies are given in the following payoff matrix:

Use dominance principle to find the the optimal strategies. [10M]

April2016
2. Using the principle of dominance, solve the following game,

[8M] April2017

DAY – 31 & 32

Topics to be covered: 2*n and m*2 games with graphical method

1. Explain the procedure of m*n game.

Ans:
When we can reduce the given payoff matrix to 2 × 3 or 3 × 2 we can
get the solution by method of sub games. If we can reduce the given

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matrix to 2 × n or m × 2 sizes, then we can get the solution by
graphical method. A game in which one of the players has two
strategies and other player has number of strategies is known as 2 ×
n or m × 2 games. If the game has saddle point it is solved. If no
saddle point, if it can be reduced to 2 × 2 by method of dominance, it
can be solved. When no more reduction by dominance is possible,
we can go for Method of Sub games or Graphical method. We have
to identify 2 × 2 sub games within 2 × n or m × 2 games and solve the
game.
2. Solve the game given below in Table after reducing it to 2 × 2
game:

Solution: Reduce the matrix by using the dominance property. In the

given matrix for player A, all the elements in Row 3 are less than the
adjacent elements of Row 2. Strategy 3 will not be selected by player
A, because it gives less profit for player A. Row 3 is dominated by
Row 2. Hence delete Row 3, as shown in table.
Reduced the Matrix by Using Dominance Property

For Player B, Column 3 is dominated by column 1 (Here the

dominance is opposite because Player B selects the minimum loss).

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Hence delete Column 3. We get the reduced 2 × 2 matrix as shown
below in table.
Reduced 2 × 2 Matrix

Now, solve the 2 × 2 matrix, using the maximin criteria as shown

below in table.
Maximin Procedure

Therefore, there is no saddle point and the game has a mixed

strategy. Applying the probability formula,
 p1   =2-6(1+2)-(7+6)     =-43-13      =410      =25 q1    =2-7(1+2)-(7+6)   
=-53-13      =510     =12q2    =1- q1   =1-12      =12 Value of the game, v
=(1*2)-(7*6)(1+2)-(7+6)      =2-423-13     =4010      = 4
 
The optimum strategies are shown in table
Optimum Strategies

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3. With an example give a detail explanation of m*2 or n*2 game
using Graphical Method.
Ans:
When am × n pay of matrix can be reduced to m × 2 or n × 2 pay off
matrix, we can apply the sub game method. But too many sub games
will be there it is time consuming. Hence, it is better to go for
Graphical method to solve the game when we have m × 2 or n × 2
matrixes.

No saddle point. If sub game method is to be followed, there will be

many sub games. Hence, graphical method is used.
Let A play his first strategy with a probability of x, and then he has to
play his second strategy with a probability of (1 – x). Let us find the
payoffs of A when B plays his various strategies.
Step 1

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Find the payoffs of A when B plays his various strategies and A plays
his first strategy with a probability x and second strategy with a
probability (1 – x). Let pay off be represented by P. Then A’s payoffs,
when
B plays his first strategy: P1 = 1 x (x) + 2 (1 – x) = 1x + 2 – 2x= 2 – x.
B plays his second strategy: P2 = 4x+ 1 (1 – x) = 4x + 1 – x = 1 + 3x.
B plays his third strategy: P3 = –2x+ 4 (1 – x) = – 2x + 4 –4x = 4 – 6x.
B Plays his fourth strategy: P4 = -3x+ 5 (1 – x) = –3x + 5 – 5x = 5 – 8x.
Step 2
All the above payoff equations are in the form of y = mx + c. Hence
we can draw straight lines by giving various values to x. To do this let
us write two vertical lines, keeping the distance between lines at
least four centimeters. Then write a horizontal line to represent the
probabilities. Let the left side vertical line represents, A’s first
strategy and the probability of x = 1 and right side vertical line
represents
A’s second strategy and the probability of 1 – x. Mark points 1, 2, 3
etc on vertical lines above the horizontal line and –1, –2, –3 etc,
below the horizontal lines, to show the payoffs.
Step 3
By substituting x = 0 and x = 1 in payoff equations, mark the points
on the lines drawn in step 2 above and joining the points to get the
payoff lines.
Step 4
These lines intersect and form open polygon. These are known as
upper bound above the horizontal line drawn and the open polygon
below horizontal line is known as lower bound. The upper bound
(open polygon above the horizontal line is used to find the decision
of player B and the open polygon below the line is used to find the
decision of player A. This we can illustrate by solving the numerical
example given above.

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Step 5
Remember that the objective of graphical method is also to reduce
the given matrix to 2 × 2 matrix, so that we can apply the formula
directly to get the optimal strategies of the players.
For P1 = 2 – x, when × = 0, P1 = 2 and when × = 1, P1 = 1> Mark these
points on the graph and join the points to get the line P1. Similarly,
we can write other profit lines.
P2 = 1 + 3x, when x = 0, P2 = 1, x = 1, P2 = 4.
P3 = 4 – 6x. When x = 0, P3 = 4 and When x = 1, P3 = – 2.
P4 = 5 – 8x, When x = 0, P4 = 5 and When x = 1, P4 = –3.

After drawing the graph, the lower bound is marked, and the highest
point of the lower bound is point Q, lies on the lines P1 and P2.
Hence B plays the strategies II, and I so that he can minimize his
losses. Now the game is reduced to 2 × 2 matrix. For this payoff
matrix, we have to find optimal strategies of A and B. The reduced
game is:

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No saddle point. Hence we have to apply formula to get optimal
strategies.
x1 = (a22 – a21 ) / (a11 + a22) – (a12 + a21) or = 1 – x2 =
x1 = (1 – 2) / (1 + 1) – (4 + 2) = –1 / (2 – 6) = (–1 / –4) = 1 / 4. And
x2 = 1 – (1 / 4) = 3 / 4
y1 = (a22 – a12) / (a11 + a22) – (a12 + a21) or = 1 – y2
y1 = (1 – 4) / (– 4) = (3 / 4), y2 = 1 – (3 / 4) = (1 / 4)
Value of the game = v = (a11 a22 – a12 a21) / (a11 + a22) – (a12 +
a21) =
(1 × 1) – (4 × 2) / –4 = (1 – 8) / –4 = –4 / –4 = (7 / 4)

Answer: A (1 / 4, 3 / 4), B ( 3 / 4, 1 / 4, 0, 0) , v = 7 /4.

A always wins 7/4 units of money.
Important and Previous year questions:

1. Solve the following (2 x 4) game.

B
I II III IV
A I 2 2 3 -1
II 4 3 2 6
[10M] April2016
2. Use dominance principle to simplify the rectangular game with
the following payoff matrix and then solve graphically.

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 [10M] April2016
3. Solve the following game 2 × 3 game graphically [8M] April2017
DAY – 33

Topics to be covered: Introduction of queuing theory

1. What is Queuing System or Process?

Ans: One thing we have to remember is that when we speak of
queue, we have to deal with two elements,
i.e. Arrivals and Service facility. Entire queuing system can be
completely described by:
(a) The input (Arrival pattern)
(b) The service mechanism or service pattern,
(c) The queue discipline and
(d) Customer behaviour.
Components of the queuing system are arrivals, the element waiting
in the queue, the unit being served, the service facility and the unit
leaving the queue after service

2. Explain briefly about Input process.

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Ans: Input Process: The input describes the way in which the
customers arrive and join the system. In generalcustomer arrival will
be in random fashion, which cannot be predicted, because the
customer is anindependent individual and the service organization
has no control over the customer.

Input to the queuing system refers to the pattern of arrival of

customers at the service facility. We can see at ticket counters or
near petrol bunks or any such service facility that the customer
arrives randomly individually or in batches. The input process is
described by the following characteristics (as shown in the figure 9.4)
nature of arrivals, capacity of the system and behavior of the
customers.

(a) Size of arrivals:The size of arrivals to the service system is

greatly depends on the nature of size of the population, which
may be infinite or finite. The arrival pattern can be more clearly
described in terms of probabilities and consequently the
probability distribution for inter- arrival times i.e. the time
between two successive arrivals or the distribution of number
of customers arriving in unit time must be defined. In our
discussion in this chapter, it is dealt with those queuing system

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 in which the customers arrive in Poisson or Completelyrandom
fashion. In fact there are many more arrival patterns are
available but for simplicity, only Poisson arrivals are considered.

(b) Inter-arrival time:The period between the arrival of

individual customers may be constant or may be scattered in
some distribution fashion. Most queuing models assume that
the some inter-arrival time distraction applies for all customers
throughout the period of study. It is true that in most situations
that service time is a random variable with the same
distribution for all arrivals, but cases occur where there are
clearly two or more classes of customers such as a machine
waiting for repair with a different service time distribution.
Service time may be constant or random variable. In this
chapter mostly distribution of service time, which are
important, are considered and they are Negative exponential
distribution and Erlang or Gamma distribution. The most
convenient way is to designate some random variables
corresponding to the time between arrivals. In general the
arrivals follow Poisson distribution when the total number of
arrivals during any given time interval of the number of arrivals
that have already occurred prior to the beginning of time
interval.

(c)Capacity of the service system: In queuing context the capacity

refers to the space available for the arrivals to wait before
taken to service. The space available may be limited or
unlimited. When the space is limited, length of waiting line
crosses a certain limit; no further units or arrivals are permitted
to enter the system till some waiting space becomes vacant.
This type of system is known as systemwith finite capacity and
it has its effect on the arrival pattern of the system, for example

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 a doctor giving tokens for some customers to arrive at certain
time and the present system of allowing the devotees for
darshan at Tirupathi by using the token belt system.

(d) Customer behaviour: The length of the queue or the

waiting time of a customer or the idle time of the service
facility mostly depends on the behaviour of the customer. Here
the behaviour refers to the impatience of a customer during
the stay in the line. Customer behaviour can be classifiedas:

Balking: This behaviour signifies that the customer does not like to
join the queue seeing the long length of it. This behaviour may effect
in losing a customer by the organization. Always a lengthy queue
indicates insufficient service facility and customer may not turn out
next time. For example, a customer who wants to go by train to his
destination goes to railway station and after seeing the long queue in
front of the ticket counter, may not like to join the queue and seek
other type of transport to reach his destination.

Reneging: In this case the customer joins the queue and after waiting
for certain timeloses his patience and leaves the queue. This
behaviour of the customer may also cause loss of customer to the
organization.

Collusion: In this case several customers may collaborate and only

one of them may stand in the queue. One customer represents a
group of customer. Here the queue length may be small but service
time for an individual will be more. This may break the patience of
the other customers in the waiting line and situation may lead to any
type of worst episode.

Jockeying: If there are number of waiting lines depending on the

number of service stations, for example Petrol bunks, Cinema

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theaters, etc. A customer in one of the queue after seeing the other
queue length, which is shorter, with a hope of getting the service,
may leave the present queue and join the shorter queue. Perhaps
the situation may be that other queue which is shorter may be
having more number of Collaborated customers. In such case the
probability of getting service to the customer who has changed the
queue may be very less. Because of this character of the customer,
the queue lengths may goes on changing from time to time.

3. What is a queuing theory problem?

Ans: The most important information required to solve a waiting line

problem is the nature and probability distribution of arrivals and
service pattern. The answer to any waiting line problem depending
on finding:
(a) Queue length: The probability distribution of queue length or the
number of persons in the system at any point of time. Further we
can estimate the probability that there is no queue.
(b) Waiting time: This is probability distribution of waiting time of
customers in the queue. That is we have to find the time spent by a
customer in the queue before the commencement of his service,
which is called his waiting time in the queue. The total time spent in
the system is the waiting time in the queue plus the service time. The
waiting time depends on various factors, such as:
(i) The number of units already waiting in the system,
(ii) The number of service stations in the system,
(iii) The schedule in which units are selected for service,
(iv) The nature and magnitude of service being given to the element
being served.
(c) Service time: It is the time taken for serving a particular arrival.
(d) Average idle time or Busy time distribution: The average time for
which the system remains idle. We can estimate the probability

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 distribution of busy periods. If we suppose that the server is idle
initially and the customer arrives, he will be provided service
immediately.
During his service time some more customers will arrive and will be
served in their turn according to the system discipline. This process
will continue in this way until no customer is left unserved and the
server becomes free again after serving all the customers. At this
stage we can conclude, that the busy period is over. On the other
hand, during the idle periods no customer is present in the system. A
busy period and the idle period following it together constitute a
busy cycle. The study of busy period is of great interest in cases
where technical features of the server and its capacity for continuous
operation must be taken into account.
Important and previous year questions:
1. What do you understand by a queue? Give some important
applications of queuing theory. [3M] April2016
2. What do you understand by queue discipline, arrival process and
service process? [4M] April2017
DAY – 34 & 35

Topics to be covered: single channel queuing model

1. What are conditions for single channel queuing model?

Ans: The single channel queuing model can be fitted in situations

where the following seven conditions are fulfilled:

1. The number of arrivals per unit of time is described by poisson

distribution. The mean arrival rate is denoted by λ.
2. The service time has exponential distribution. The average service
rate is denoted by μ.
3. Arrivals are from infinite population.
4. The queue discipline is FIFO, that is, the customers are served on
a first come first serve basis.

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5. There is only a single service station.
6. The mean arrival rate is less than the mean service rate i.e. λ <
μ.
7. The waiting space available for customers in the queue is
infinite.
2. What are assumptions of single-server model?

Ans: In the basic single-server model we assume the following:

 Poisson arrival rate

 Exponential service times
 First-come, first-served queue discipline
 Infinite queue length
 Infinite calling population

3. What are operating characteristics of single-server model?

Ans: The basic operating characteristics of this single-server model

are computed using the following formulas, where l = mean arrival
rate, m = mean service rate, and n = the number of customers in the
waiting line system.

The probability that no customers are in the queuing system (either

in the queue or being served) is

The probability of exactly n customers in the queuing system is

The average number of customers in the queuing system (i.e., the

customers being serviced and in the waiting line) is

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The average number of customers in the waiting line is

The average time a customer spends in the queuing system (i.e.,

waiting and being served) is

The average time a customer spends waiting in line to be served is

The probability that the server is busy and a customer has to wait,
known as the utilization factor is

The probability that the server is idle and a customer can be served is

4. The Fast Shop Drive-In Market has one checkout counter where
one employee operates the cash register. The combination of
the cash register and the operator is the server (or service
facility) in this queuing system; the customers who line up at the
counter to pay for their selections form the waiting line.
Customers arrive at a rate of 24 per hour according to a Poisson
distribution (l = 24), and service times are exponentially
distributed with a mean rate of 30 customers per hour (m = 30).

Raghu Engineering College Dept. Of Mech. Operations Research

 The market manager wants to determine the operating
characteristics for this waiting line system.

Ans: The operating characteristics are computed using the queuing

formulas for the single-server model as follows:

Raghu Engineering College Dept. Of Mech. Operations Research

Important and Previous year questions:

1. On an average 96 patients per 24-hour day require the service of

an emergency clinic. Also on average, a patient requires 10
minutes of active attention. Assume that the facility can handle
only one emergency at a time. Suppose that it costs the clinic Rs.
100 per patient treated to obtain an average servicing time of 10
minutes, and that each minute of decrease in this average time
would cost Rs. 10 per patient treated How much would have to be
budgeted by the clinic to reduce the average size of the queue
from 1⅓ to ½ patient. [6M] April2016

DAY – 35 & 36

Topics to be covered: multi channel queuing model

Raghu Engineering College Dept. Of Mech. Operations Research

2. Explain about multi channel queuing model.

Ans: A larger number of operational waiting line systems include

multiple servers. These models can be very complex, so in this
section we present only the most basic multiple-server (or channel)
waiting line structure. This system includes a single waiting line and a
service facility with several independent servers in parallel, as shown
in Figure 16.2. An example of a multiple-server system is an airline
ticket and check-in counter, where passengers line up in a roped-off
single line waiting for one of several agents for service. The same
waiting line structure is frequently found at the post office, where
customers in a single line wait for service from several postal clerks.

3. What are operating characteristics for multiple-server model? 

Ans: The formulas for determining the operating characteristics for

the multiple-server model are based on the same assumptions as the
single-server model--Poisson arrival rate, exponential service times,
infinite calling population and queue length, and FIFO queue
discipline. Also, recall that in the single-server model, m > l; however,
in the multiple-server model, sm > l, where s is the number of
servers. The operating characteristics formulas are as follows.

 The probability that there are no customers in the system (all

servers are idle) is

 The probability of n customers in the queuing system is

 The probability that a customer arriving in the system must

wait for service (i.e., the probability that all the servers are
busy) is

Raghu Engineering College Dept. Of Mech. Operations Research

3. The customer service department of the Biggs Department Store
has a waiting room in which chairs are placed along a wall, forming
a single waiting line. Customers come with questions or complaints
or matters regarding credit-card bills. The customers are served by
three store representatives, each located in a partitioned stall.
Customers are treated on a first-come, first-served basis.
The store management wants to analyze this queuing system
because excessive waiting times can make customers angry enough
to shop at other stores. Typically, customers who come to this area
have some problem and thus are impatient anyway. Waiting
increases their impatience.
A study of the customer service department for a 6-month period
shows that an average of 10 customers arrive per hour (according
to a Poisson distribution), and an average of 4 customers can be
served per hour by a customer service representative (Poisson
distributed).
Ans:

Raghu Engineering College Dept. Of Mech. Operations Research

Using the multiple-server model formulas, we can compute the
following operating characteristics for the service department:

Notice that this value could have been estimated from Table 16.2
using r = 0.833 (i.e., r = l/sm = 10/12 = 0.833) and s = 3, r is read from
the left-hand column and s across the top.

Raghu Engineering College Dept. Of Mech. Operations Research

The department store's management has observed that customers
are frustrated by the waiting time of 21 minutes and the 0.703
probability of waiting. To try to improve matters, management is
considering an extra service representative. The operating
characteristics for this system must be recomputed with s = 4 service
representatives.

Substituting s = 4 along with l and m in the queuing formulas results

in the following operating characteristics:

Raghu Engineering College Dept. Of Mech. Operations Research

These results are significantly better; waiting time is reduced from 21
minutes to 3 minutes. This improvement in the quality of the service
would have to be compared to the cost of adding an extra service
representative to make a decision.

Important and Previous year questions:

1. The XYZ company’s quality control dept is managed by a single

clerk, who takes on an average 5 minutes in checking parts of each
of the machine coming for inspection. The machines arrive once in
every 8 minutes on the average. One hour of the machine is
valued at Rs15 and a clerk’s time is valued at Rs.4 per hour. What
are the average hourly queuing system costs associated with the
quality control department? [6M] April2016

Raghu Engineering College Dept. Of Mech. Operations Research