Title
Compensating for Failures with Flexible Servers
Abstract
We consider the problem of maximizing capacity in a queueing network with flexible servers, where the classes and servers are subject to failure. We assume that the interarrival and service times are independent and identically distributed, that routing is probabilistic, and that the failure state of the system can be described by a Markov process that is independent of the other system dynamics. We find that the maximal capacity is tightly bounded by the solution of a linear programming problem and that the solution of this problem can be used to construct timed, generalized round-robin policies that approach the maximal capacity arbitrarily closely. We then give a series of structural results for our policies, including identifying when server flexibility can completely compensate for failures and when the implementation of our policies can be simplified. We conclude with a numerical example that illustrates some of the developed insights.
Year
DOI
Venue
2007
10.1287/opre.1070.0437
Operations Research
Keywords
Field
DocType
markov process,flexible server,developed insight,flexible servers,system dynamic,linear programming problem,queueing network,generalized round-robin policy,numerical example,failure state,maximal capacity,manufacturing,productivity,queues,production scheduling,networks,optimization,performance
Mathematical optimization,Markov process,Server,Queue,Queueing theory,Linear programming,Independent and identically distributed random variables,Flexible manufacturing system,Probabilistic logic,Operations management,Mathematics
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
55
4
0030-364X
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
7
0.49
12
Authors
3
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Sigrún Andradóttir154855.09
Hayriye Ayhan221726.52
Douglas G. Down337037.04