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Queuing Theory Articles

Queueing Theory is is the mathematical study of waiting lines, or queues. Queueing Theory enables mathematical analysis of several related processes, including the following:

On average, how many will arrive at the (back of the line) queue?
On average, how long will one wait in the queue?
On average, how long will one wait until being served at the front of the queue?

Below are several posts on Queueing Theory. I’ll be adding to this page periodically — applications, best practices, and general items:

Queueing Theory Books

by Pete Abilla on December 10, 2010

The books I list here are books focused on Queueing Theory or have a major component of Queueing Theory. For those interested in the Theory of Queues, the books listed here might be a bit advanced for the beginner; for those just starting out, I suggest you grab an introductory book on operations research or [...]

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CyberMonday: Avoid the Lines

by Pete Abilla on November 29, 2010

For those who study the theory of lines and queues, holiday shopping (next to airport dynamics) is a time full of learning opportunities: a real-world lab to study and learn how people respond and behave within the dynamics of lines. But, this Black Friday 2010 and CyberMonday 2010, consider avoiding the lines all-together and just [...]

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Black Friday After Thanksgiving Day Sale

by Pete Abilla on November 26, 2010

In the United States, Thanksgiving Holiday is always on the last Thursday of November. The Friday immediately after Thanksgiving is traditionally called Black Friday (I have no idea why they call this day “Black Friday”). Black Friday is usually the biggest shopping day of the year and there are very big discounts and sales and [...]

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Waiting Line Management: Costs and Service Level

by Pete Abilla on November 18, 2010

This article looks at the tradeoff between Service Level and Costs, within the context of Waiting Line Management. Before we begin, let me present two common assumptions: Quicker is always better Quicker service cost more than slow service But, are those assumptions true? In general, the answer to (1) is “yes”. But, with lean thinking [...]

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Crowd Control, Queueing, and Violence

by Pete Abilla on November 15, 2010

There are many crowd related disasters and crowd related violence throughout history. Here is just one story: Jan 14th 2010 – HARIDWAR, 6 dead, 12 injured. India: Hundreds of thousands of bathed in the icy waters of the Ganges river yesterday as a months-long Hindu festival expected to attract more than 10 million people kicked [...]

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Averages Do Not Describe Individual Experience

by Pete Abilla on October 13, 2010

Most organizations use the average or the mean for their metrics. This is common, convenient, and easy. But, the average doesn’t describe the experience of the individual customer. Suppose you run a call center or contact center. Assume the following measures for Average Speed of Answer (ASA), which is a common call center metric that [...]

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Back to School, Revenue Loss, Waiting Line Frustration

by Pete Abilla on September 16, 2010

My kids have been in school now for about a two weeks. So, the whole back-to-school shopping thing is still all-too fresh in my mind. Which is why this recent article on back-to-school and Queueing was so relevant. According to a recent study, back-to-school retailers are losing up to 39% of revenues due to long [...]

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The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, A Queueing Perspective

by Pete Abilla on July 8, 2010

Yes, I feel like a manchild as I write this post about a vampire love story, but there is some relevance to the long-time readers of shmula.com: why would people wait for 3 days to see The Twilight Saga Eclipse? The answer can be found in the Psychology of Queueing (Queing) or Psychology of Waiting [...]

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