Waiting time, service industry. The registration advisors at a small Midwestern university (SMU) help 4,200 studentsdevelop their class schedules and register for classes each semester. Each advisor works for 10 hours a day during theregistration period. SMU currently has 10 advisors. While advising an individual student can take anywhere from 2 to 30minutes, it takes an average of 12 minutes per student. During the registration period, the 10 advisors see an average of300 students a day on a rst-come, rstserved basis. 1. Using the formula on page 747, calculate how long the average student will have to wait in the advisor’s office beforebeing advised. 2. The head of the registration advisors would like to increase the number of students seen each day because at 300students a day it would take 14 working days to see all of the students. This is a problem because the registration periodlasts for only 2 weeks (10 working days). If the advisors could advise 420 students a day, it would take only 2 weeks (10days). However, the head advisor wants to make sure that the waiting time is not excessive. What would be the averagewaiting time if 420 students were seen each day? 3. SMU wants to know the effect of reducing the average advising time on the average wait time. If SMU can reduce theaverage advising time to 10 minutes, what would be the average waiting time if 420 students were seen each day?
Waiting time, service industry. The registration advisors at a small Midwestern university (SMU) help 4,200 students
develop their class schedules and register for classes each semester. Each advisor works for 10 hours a day during the
registration period. SMU currently has 10 advisors. While advising an individual student can take anywhere from 2 to 30
minutes, it takes an average of 12 minutes per student. During the registration period, the 10 advisors see an average of
300 students a day on a rst-come, rstserved basis.
1. Using the formula on page 747, calculate how long the average student will have to wait in the advisor’s office before
being advised.
2. The head of the registration advisors would like to increase the number of students seen each day because at 300
students a day it would take 14 working days to see all of the students. This is a problem because the registration period
lasts for only 2 weeks (10 working days). If the advisors could advise 420 students a day, it would take only 2 weeks (10
days). However, the head advisor wants to make sure that the waiting time is not excessive. What would be the average
waiting time if 420 students were seen each day?
3. SMU wants to know the effect of reducing the average advising time on the average wait time. If SMU can reduce the
average advising time to 10 minutes, what would be the average waiting time if 420 students were seen each day?
