Optimal balking strategies in single-server queues with erlangian service and setup times

Abstract

In many service systems arising in OR/MS applications, the server needs a setup time when it is turned on and the service time may be non-Markovian as usually assumed. In the present paper, we study the balking behavior of customers in the single-server queue with two-phase Erlangian service time and setup times. Arriving customers decide whether to enter the system or balk, based on a linear reward-cost structure. We identify equilibrium threshold balking strategies under two distinct information assumptions, i.e. fully observable case and almost observable case. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013.