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486 CHAPTER 11 QUEUING MODELS

CASE PROBLEM 1 Regional Airlines

egional Airlines is establishing a new tele- blocked from the system. A representative from
R phone system for handling flight reservations. the telephone company suggested that Regional
During the 10:00 A.M.to 11:00 A.M.. time period, Airlines consider an expanded system that accom-
calls to the reservation agent occur randomly at modates waiting. In the expanded system, when a
an average of one call every 3.75 minutes. Histor- customer calls and all agents are busy, a recorded
ical service time data show that a reservation message tells the customer that the call is being
agent spends an average of three minutes with held in the order received and that an agent will be
each customer. The waiting line model assump- available shortly. The customer can stay on the line
tions of Poisson arrivals and exponential service and listen to background music while waiting for an
times appear reasonable for the telephone reser- agent. Regional’s management will need more
vation system. information before switching to the expanded
Regional Airlines’ management believes that system.
offering an efficient telephone reservation system is
an important part of establishing an image as a Managerial Report
service-oriented airline. If the system is properly
Prepare a managerial report for Regional Airlines
implemented, Regional Airlines will establish good
analyzing the telephone reservation system. Evalu-
customer relations, which in the long run will
ate both the system that does not allow waiting and
increase business. However, if the telephone reser-
the expanded system that allows waiting. Include the
vation system is frequently overloaded and custom-
following information in your report.
ers have difficulty contacting an agent, a negative
customer reaction may lead to an eventual loss of 1 A detailed analysis of the operating
business. The cost of a ticket reservation agent is characteristics of the reservation system with one
E20 per hour. Thus, management wants to provide agent as proposed by the vice president of
good service, but it does not want to incur the cost administration. What is your recommendation
of overstaffing the telephone reservation operation concerning a single-agent system?
by using more agents than necessary. 2 A detailed analysis of the operating
At a planning meeting, Regional’s management characteristics of the reservation system based
team agreed that an acceptable customer service on your recommendation regarding the number
goal is to answer at least 85 per cent of the incoming
of agents Regional should use.
calls immediately. During the planning meeting,
3 What appear to be the advantages or
Regional’s vice president of administration pointed
disadvantages of the expanded system? Discuss
out that the data show that the average service rate
the number of waiting callers the expanded
for an agent is faster than the average arrival rate of
system would need to accommodate.
the telephone calls. The vice president’s conclusion
was that personnel costs could be minimized by 4 The telephone arrival data presented are for the
using one agent and that the single agent should 10:00 A.M.to11:00 A.M. time period; however,
be able to handle the telephone reservations and still the arrival rate of incoming calls is expected to
have some idle time. The vice president of marketing change from hour to hour. Describe how your
restated the importance of customer service and waiting line analysis could be used to develop
expressed support for at least two reservation a ticket agent staffing plan that would enable
agents. the company to provide different levels of
The current telephone reservation system staffing for the ticket reservation system at
design does not allow callers to wait. Callers who different times during the day. Indicate the
attempt to reach a reservation agent when all information that you would need to develop this
agents are occupied receive a busy signal and are staffing plan.

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