Question

Discuss the major trade-off that must be made in managing waiting lines for goods or services? What role does variability (of arrivals and of the service) play in this consideration? How does this variability impact resource utilization and then its impact on the waiting/queuing of the work units?

Answer 1

Major trade-off that must be made in managing waiting lines for goods or services is investing in better infrastructure and increase in costs. The waiting lines can be managed by skilled manpower and training of personnel for better speed and efficiency in managing the work. Variability of arrivals and of the service play a role in this consideration that queue management needs to be done to determine the service configuration. There can be single window or multiple windows based on arrivals and the service personnel available. In case of high variability the service companies can start automated counters to provide services to customers for basis functions like issue of tickets and coupons and a common customer service desk to address any issues or to provide support. This can help in controlling costs and avoiding theneed to increase the resources to handle the peak conditions. The aim in the dispensing of the service should be to improve the quality of service to reduce any chances for reservice and lessen the waiting times. This can be done with help of monitoring the systems for service delivery, training, use of technology and risk management. The use of technology, forecasting of the time and costs involved in handling waiting lines and queues based on prior appointments and trends can help in managing the variability.

This variability impacts resource utilization as depending on the arrivals, the resources may be under utilized or over utilized. It can be managed by increasing the number of working hours and scheduling shifts of the personnel providing the service in case of peak service hours. It is important to communicate with customers and explain them the need for rearrangement in case of variability. In case leisure and entertainment services like restaurants and movie theatres, the costs of the services can be classified based on volume of demand to manage the queues and resources. It can help in recovering the costs for over utilization of resources and provide incentives to customers to use in hours with lesser demand. Proper resource utilization is important for efficient processes, cost optimization and consistent performance of the business. Proper resource utilization can improve the waiting times and the costs by using resources and personnel which are flexible to use as per the variability in arrivals and service. The multi skilled personnel and multiple use of resources can help in managing the waiting/queuing of the work units with lesser stress on resources, better customer satisfaction and loyalty.