A Survey on Queueing Systems with Mathematical Models and Applications
Read this paper on waiting line analysis and queues. It provides a good survey of the theory and uses of this type of analysis. Pay particular attention to sections 1 through 3. How might these models be used to balance firm costs with different levels of customer satisfaction?
3. Components of Queueing System
If any customer is willing to get a service, s/he should check whether a server is idle or not. If the server is vacant, customer gets the service immediately. However, if at least one customer is waiting for the service in front of each of the servers, then the new arrival should line up. Figure 1 represents the basic queueing model where the procedure of a simple queueing system is shown.
From the time someone starts standing in a queue until getting served, there are certain steps to follow. These steps are called the components of a queue which are characterized by the arrival process of customers, behaviour of customers, service times, service discipline, and service capacity. These components are briefly described in the followings.