Scheduling customer arrivals to a stochastic service system

✍ Scribed by Peter M. Vanden Bosch; Dennis C. Dietz; John R. Simeoni

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 91 KB
• Volume: 46
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0894-069X
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1520-6750(199908)46:5<549::aid-nav6>3.0.co;2-y

✦ Synopsis

An efficient algorithm for determining the optimal arrival schedule for customers in a stochastic service system is developed. All customers arrive exactly when scheduled, and service times are modeled as iid Erlang random variables. Costs are incurred at a fixed rate per unit of time each customer waits for service, and an additional cost is incurred for every unit of time the server operates beyond a scheduled closing time. The objective is to minimize total operating cost. This type of problem arises in many operational contexts including transportation, manufacturing, and appointment-based services.