Essays on Stochastic Service Systems

Abstract

This dissertation consists of three chapters, each of which describes research projects related to service systems. A common feature of this research is the delay experienced by customers who arrive dynamically over time to receive service. In Chapter 2, we present a completed work that develops a methodology to evaluate the performance of an appointment-driven queueing system with non-punctual customers. In Chapter 3, we present another completed work that addresses the server assignment problem in a two-station tandem queueing system with a finite number of heterogeneous jobs and finite buffers. In Chapter 4, we describe an on-going project that addresses the problem of optimal batching in a medical testing facility.