Pooling in tandem queueing networks with non-collaborative servers

Nilay Tanık Argon () and Sigrún Andradóttir
Additional contact information
Nilay Tanık Argon: University of North Carolina
Sigrún Andradóttir: Georgia Institute of Technology

Queueing Systems: Theory and Applications, 2017, vol. 87, issue 3, No 7, 345-377

Abstract: Abstract This paper considers pooling several adjacent stations in a tandem network of single-server stations with finite buffers. When stations are pooled, we assume that the tasks at those stations are pooled but the servers are not. More specifically, each server at the pooled station picks a job from the incoming buffer of the pooled station and conducts all tasks required for that job at the pooled station before that job is placed in the outgoing buffer. For such a system, we provide sufficient conditions on the buffer capacities and service times under which pooling increases the system throughput by means of sample-path comparisons. Our numerical results suggest that pooling in a tandem line generally improves the system throughput—substantially in many cases. Finally, our analytical and numerical results suggest that pooling servers in addition to tasks results in even larger throughput when service rates are additive and the two systems have the same total number of storage spaces.

Keywords: Tandem queues; Finite buffers; Production blocking; Throughput; Work-in-process inventory (WIP); Sample-path analysis; Stochastic orders; 90B22; 60K25 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11134-017-9543-0 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:queues:v:87:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s11134-017-9543-0

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/journal/11134/

DOI: 10.1007/s11134-017-9543-0

Access Statistics for this article

Queueing Systems: Theory and Applications is currently edited by Sergey Foss

More articles in Queueing Systems: Theory and Applications from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().