We consider a queueing network under very general settings. The network is related to tandem queues with blocking rather than queueing networks with product-form queue length distributions or insensitivity. Our queueing network in which each station has only finite buffer capacity and in which the processing (service) capacity as a whole depends on the total busy servers is of interest to practitioners working on the design or control of manufacturing systems and related systems. We focus on the throughput of the network. The main purpose of this paper is not to analyze the throughput but to present its properties which give a good insight into the problem. We derive two expressions of the throughput in terms of the corresponding regular queueing network. Based on the first expression, we show that a two-station tandem queue with changing-speed servers is reversible with respect to the throughput. A sensitivity analysis is given as an application of the second expression.
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