Deck 24: Waiting Line Analysis

Question 1

Gas stations,loading docks and parking lots have infinite potential length of lines for their respective queuing systems.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Ideally in waiting line or queuing analysis we want to balance the cost of service capacity with the cost of waiting.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Longest waiting time in line is a queue discipline discussed in the textbook.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

The customer arrivals in a queuing system come almost exclusively from finite populations.

Question 5

A car wash is an example of a single channel,multiphase queuing system.

Question 6

Best customer last is a queue discipline discussed in the textbook.

Question 7

An infinite population in waiting line management refers to a population that is large enough in relation to the service system so that the population size caused by subtraction or additions to the population does not significantly affect the system probabilities.

Question 8

The demand on a hospital's emergency medical services is considered an uncontrollable arrival pattern of the calling population.

Question 9

There are different queuing models to fit different queuing situations.

Question 10

The admissions system in a hospital for patients is an example of a single channel,single phase queuing system.

Question 11

A finite population in waiting line management refers to a population that is large enough in relation to the service system so that the population size caused by subtraction or additions to the population does not significantly affect the system probabilities.

Question 12

Highest-profit customer first is a queue discipline discussed in the textbook.

Question 13

The central problem in virtually every waiting line situation is a trade-off decision balancing the costs of adding services with the costs of waiting.

Question 14

A variable arrival rate is more common in waiting line management than a constant arrival rate.

Question 15

The demand on a hospital's emergency medical services is considered a controllable arrival pattern of the calling population.

Question 16

Arrival characteristics in a queuing problem include the length of the queue.

Question 17

A tellers' window in a bank is an example of a single channel,multiphase queuing system.

Question 18

The Poisson probability distribution is used in waiting line management when we are interested in the number of arrivals to a queue during some fixed time period.

Question 19

A constant arrival rate is more common in waiting line management than a variable arrival rate.

Question 20

The customer arrivals in a queuing system come almost exclusively from infinite populations.

Question 21

Which of the following is not a suggestion for managing queues presented in the textbook?

A)Try to divert your customer's attention when waiting
B)Segment the customers
C)Encourage customers to come during the slack periods
D)Train your people to be friendly
E)Periodically close the service channel to temporarily disperse the line

Question 22

In a practical sense,a finite line is one that is potentially very long in terms of the capacity of the serving system.

Question 23

Getting an autograph from a famous person might involve standing in which type of queuing line structure?

A)Single channel,single phase
B)Single channel,multiphase
C)Multichannel,single phase
D)Multichannel,multiphase
E)None of the above

Question 24

Which of the following is a suggestion for managing queues that is mentioned in the textbook?

A)Put up a serpentine lane to keep people from jumping ahead in line
B)Use humor to defuse a potentially irritating situation
C)Segment the customers
D)Assure customers that the wait is fair and inform them of the queue discipline
E)Tell people in the queue that each will be served as soon as possible

Question 25

Buying food at a large food store with multiple checkout counters features which type of queuing system line structure?

A)Single channel,single phase
B)Single channel,multiphase
C)Multichannel,single phase
D)Multichannel,multiphase
E)None of the above

Question 26

Which of the following is not a suggestion for managing queues presented in the textbook?

A)Train your servers to be friendly
B)Segment the customers
C)Determine an acceptable waiting time for your customers
D)Inform your customers of what to expect
E)Encourage customers to come during slack periods

Question 27

Which of the following is an example of a finite population in a queuing system?

A)People waiting to purchase fuel at a service station
B)Machines which have randomly spaced service requirements
C)People waiting in line at a tellers' window in a bank
D)Patients seeking help from a doctor in a private practice
E)Taxpayers calling for assistance from the IRS

Question 28

Which of the following is not a queue discipline discussed in the textbook?

A)First come,first served
B)Last in,first out
C)Limited needs
D)Shortest processing time
E)Best customer first

Question 29

Which of the following are the three major components of a queuing system?

A)The source population,how customers exit the system and the queuing discipline
B)The number of servers,the service speed and the waiting line
C)The source population,how the customer exits the system and the queue discipline
D)The source population and the way customers arrive at the system,the serving systems and how customers exit the system
E)The service speed,the queue discipline and the waiting line

Question 30

Which following queue discipline is discussed in the textbook?

A)Emergencies first
B)Garner-Whitten formula
C)Newest customer first
D)Patient customers last
E)None of the above

Question 31

In a practical sense,an infinite queue is one that includes every possible member of the served population.

Question 32

Which of the following is a suggestion for managing queues that is mentioned in the textbook?

A)Put up a serpentine lane to keep people from jumping ahead in line
B)Use humor to defuse a potentially irritating situation
C)Train your servers to be friendly
D)Assure customers that the wait is fair and inform them of the queue discipline
E)Tell people in the queue that each will be served as soon as possible

Question 33

In a waiting line situation,multiple lines occur only when there are multiple servers.

Question 34

A department of 25 machines is kept running by three operators who respond to randomly occurring equipment problems.An analyst who wanted to know how much production was being lost by machines waiting for service could use queuing theory analysis to find out.

Question 35

A department of 25 machines is kept running by three operators who respond to randomly occurring equipment problems.When an operator is absent,the amount of production being lost by machines waiting for service increases.The analyst can use queuing theory analysis to determine whether to pay overtime to an operator from a different shift or not.

Question 36

In essence,a queuing system includes several major components.Which of the following is not one of them?

A)Source population
B)Servicing system
C)How the customer exits the system
D)The queue discipline
E)None of the above

Question 37

The term "queue discipline" involves the art of controlling surly and unruly customers who have become irritated by waiting.

Question 38

Buying a ticket for a college football game where there are multiple windows to buy the ticket at features which type of queuing system line structure?

A)Single channel,single phase
B)Single channel,multiphase
C)Multichannel,single phase
D)Multichannel,multiphase
E)None of the above

Question 39

Which of the following is a suggestion for managing queues presented in the textbook?

A)Train your servers to be friendly
B)Tell customers that the line should encourage them to come during slack periods
C)Give each customer a number
D)Periodically close the service channel to temporarily disperse the line
E)Use humor to defuse a potentially irritating situation

Question 40

A department of 25 machines is kept running by three operators who respond to randomly occurring equipment problems.An analyst wanting to know whether to add a fourth operator or downsize to two operators would be helped by using queuing theory analysis.

Question 41

In getting your first driver's license,several steps had to be taken.First,you took the written test.Then you took the driving test.Then your photograph was taken and the license made.What was the queuing system line structure in the Department of Motor Vehicles?

Question 42

Standing in line to buy a ticket for a movie where there are multiple windows to buy tickets is which type of queuing system Line Structure?

A)Single channel,single phase
B)Single channel,multiphase
C)Multichannel,single phase
D)Multichannel,multiphase
E)None of the above

Question 43

If the arrival rate for loading trucks is 5 trucks per hour,what is the mean time between arrivals?

A)5 hours
B)2.5 hours
C)0.2 hours
D)0.1 hours
E)None of the above

Question 44

A single toll booth on a one-lane bridge is which type of queuing system line structure?

Question 45

A roller coaster ride in an amusement park employs which type of queuing system line structure?

A)Single channel,single phase
B)Single channel,multiphase
C)Multichannel,single phase
D)Multichannel,multiphase
E)None of the above

Question 46

When arrivals occur in a purely random fashion at a service facility,the distribution of the number of arrivals per unit of time forms which kind of distribution?

Question 47

A company is concerned about the number of customers that have to wait for service in their customer service department.Assume the rate at which customers are serviced is 12 per hour.Using the infinite queuing notion for the models presented in the textbook which of the following is the mean time between arrivals?

A)12 minutes
B)6 minutes
C)2 minutes
D)1 minutes
E)None of the above

Question 48

Machine breakdown and repair in a twelve machine factory having one repair mechanic would develop which type of queuing system line structure concerning machine breakdowns?

A)Single channel,single phase
B)Single channel,multiphase
C)Multichannel,single phase
D)Multichannel,multiphase
E)None of the above

Question 49

Machine breakdown and repair in a twelve machine factory having three repair mechanics would develop which type of queuing system line structure concerning machine breakdowns?

A)Single channel,single phase
B)Single channel,multiphase
C)Multichannel,single phase
D)Multichannel,multiphase
E)None of the above

Question 50

Are customer arrivals drawn from finite and infinite populations analyzed differently? Why or why not?

Question 51

In finite queuing theory,the average waiting time in line is denoted by what symbol?

Question 52

Assume the service rate for a queue in a truck-loading operation is 2 trucks per hour.Using the infinite queuing notion for the models presented in the textbook which of the following is the average service time?

A)2 hours
B)1 hour
C)0.5 hours
D)0.25 hours
E)None of the above

Question 53

Buying items at a department store where there are a large number of checkout counters features which type of queuing system line structure?

Question 54

Getting a flu shot from the one campus nurse that is on duty might involve standing in which type of queuing line structure?

Question 55

When arrivals occur in a purely random fashion at a service facility,what kind of distribution does a plot of interarrival times yield?

Question 56

Joining a line at an airport shoeshine stand where there are five people shining shoes puts you in which type of queuing system line structure?

Question 57

In chapter 6,Process Analysis,the role of buffering inventories was discussed,mainly in the context manufacturing operations.How are people waiting in queues in service operations similar to buffering inventories in manufacturing and in what ways are they different?

Question 58

Standing in line to buy tickets for a basketball game where there are multiple windows to buy tickets involves which type of queuing system Line Structure?

Question 59

In finite queuing theory,the average number in the waiting line divided by the average arrival rate yields what measure of waiting line performance?

Question 60

In a college registration process,several department heads have to approve an individual student's semester course load.What is the queuing system line structure?

A)Single channel,single phase
B)Single channel,multiphase
C)Multichannel,single phase
D)Multichannel,multiphase
E)None of the above

Question 61

In what ways can management influence the arrival patterns of waiting lines?