With the current system, some customers are complaining aboutthe wait times. To

Question

With the current system, some customers are complaining aboutthe wait times. To address this concern three options areunder consideration:

OptionA: Introduce a priority service policy to allow premiumcustomers to pre-empt regular customers (like preferred check-insystems at hotels, airlines, etc.)

OptionB: Create a 2nd server (working in parallel withthe 1st server) serving all customers.

OptionC: Create a 2nd server dedicated to serving onlypremium customers.

Assume that 20% of customers are considered premiumcustomers. Briefly discuss (onepage max.) the merits of each option in terms of customerwaiting (e.g. average length of queues and total time in thesystem).

Explanation / Answer

Queue length is the average number of customers in queue waitingto get service and total time in system is the average time acustomer spends in the system

(A) When a priority service policy is introduced, the total timein the system for premium customers will be less even when theaverage length of queue is more. But the customers other than thepremium customers will have large waiting time and total time inthe system when more number of premium customers are present in thequeue.

(B) When a 2nd server that is working inparallel with the first server is created, then the average timethe customer need to spend in a system(waiting and being served)will be more but the average time in the queue will be less becausethe two servers work at the original rate. They assume that thesetwo servers are fed from a single queue rather than each havingtheir own individual queue

(C) When a dedicated server serving only premium members iscreated, the total time in the system a customer spends will beless if the average length of queue is small. In this case theprocess will be fast. But once the average length of queue is morethe service time and waiting time increases.

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