Examples and Management of Waiting Line System - Essay Sample

Introduction

A waiting line system is an arrangement where a person or an object takes time in a queue for a transaction or an activity to be completed. This paper seeks to outline examples of waiting lines that people encounter in their daily life and the types of decisions considered by managers to ensure the smooth running of such systems.

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Examples of Waiting Lines in Everyday Life

Waiting in queues to get services in different industries forms part of people's daily lives (Jacobs, Chase, & Lummus, 2014). The queues are formed as a result of objects or people arriving at the service function faster than they can be served. Example of objects and products that people encounter in everyday life include planes at the airport; the queuing system applies in the airport especially on the runways where planes wait to take off or land in a specific order to ensure smooth operations at the airport and to avoid possible accidents as well. At the shipping terminal, trucks queue to be loaded or offloaded based on specific criteria be it expected delivery time, date of importation or perishability of the contents to ensure achievement of aims and objectives of the business. In a bottling plant and a packaging firm, finished products are queued in a systematic manner waiting for packaging and branding to ensure a smooth process during the operations.

Examples of waiting line systems experienced by people include the banks be it at the banking halls to deposit cheques, cash, and transfers or at the automatic teller machines to withdraw money. Queuing system is also experienced at the groceries and hypermarkets where customers queue when waiting to make payments for whatever purchases they have made. Fast food shops, movie theatres, bus and trail terminuses are also some of the places where the lining system is applied in everyday life.

Decisions that Must be Considered by Managers in a Waiting Line System

According to Stevenson (2014), the manager in charge of the waiting line system plays a vital role in the service industry. Critical decisions on the effectiveness of the system are made by the manager especially in cases where customers' arrival and services rendered are both random. For a waiting line system to work effectively and successfully, the managers have to make some decisions on cost and time. Addition of counter, capacity or machinery will lead to additional cost to the company's operation. It is upon the managers to decide whether or not to add capacity so that service time is reduced and eventually customers' satisfaction is achieved. This decision is however based on the company's aims on profitability and analysis of the effects of increased capacity and machinery on profits. Thus the manager will decide on formulae that will reduce waiting time and delight customers without the company incurring additional cost.

For the system in the service industry to stay organized and effectively operate, the managers have to decide on their priorities while considering certain factors. They will do segmentation by finding out if all the customers are the same and deciding on whom to give priority. For instance, it is upon the manager to determine whether to prioritize the elderly, the sick or the pregnant against other customers. The manager will also decide to give priority to customers depending on how long the customer has been waiting for a service.

References

Jacobs, F. R., Chase, R. B., & Lummus, R. R. (2014). Operations and supply chain management (pp. 533-535). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Stevenson, W. (2014). Operations management. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.