Optimal Sizing of Sequential Parallel Servers with Finite Buffers

摘要

The paper investigates a method of optimizing the design of a service system composed of sequential parallel servers with finite buffers. The arrivals of customers to the system is assumed to be Poisson distributed. The service rate is assumed to be negative exponentially distributed and equal for all of the facilities in a parallel service channel. The design is optimized with respect to the cost of the facility, the cost of having a customer waiting and the cost of operating the facility. The design is constrained by the maximum time required by an average customer to pass through the system and the percentage of time blocking can occur if finite buffers are employed. The method will determine the number of servers required in each parallel service channel and the size of the buffer between parallel service channels. (Author)