A supermarket is trying to decide how many cash registers to keep open. Suppose an average of 18 customers arrive each hour, and the average checkout time for a customer is four minutes. Interarrival times and servicetimes are exponentially distributed, and the system can be modeled as an M/M/s system. (In contrast to the situation at most supermarkets, we assume that all customers wait in a single line.) It costs $20 per hour tooperate a cash register, and a cost of $0.25 is assessed for each minute the customer spends in the cash register area (in line or being served). How many registers should the store open to minimize the expected hourly cost?

Practical Management Science
6th Edition
ISBN:9781337406659
Author:WINSTON, Wayne L.
Publisher:WINSTON, Wayne L.
Chapter12: Queueing Models
Section12.5: Analytic Steady-state Queueing Models
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A supermarket is trying to decide how many cash registers to keep open. Suppose an average of 18 customers arrive each hour, and the average checkout time for a customer is four minutes. Interarrival times and service
times are exponentially distributed, and the system can be modeled as an M/M/s system. (In contrast to the situation at most supermarkets, we assume that all customers wait in a single line.) It costs $20 per hour to
operate a cash register, and a cost of $0.25 is assessed for each minute the customer spends in the cash register area (in line or being served). How many registers should the store open to minimize the expected hourly cost?

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ISBN:
9781337406659
Author:
WINSTON, Wayne L.
Publisher:
Cengage,