The Effect of Replication on Queueing Simulations

Many industrial systems may be characterized as an arrival of some type of unit (such as sales orders, batches of raw material to be transformed into parts or broken machines) to a system of servicing stations. In the service stations, the units are serviced in some manner. Thus, the sales order requires checking and preparation of additional paper work; the materials to be transformed require the machines upon which the production process takes place, and the broken machine requires the repair personnel. Waiting lines or queues may form due to lack of control over either the rate of arrival of the units or the amount of service time required per unit or both. In many cases, the time interval between the arrival of units and the time to service the arrivals are not constant, but involve distributions of times from which values randomly occur. (see more in text.