A steady-state analysis of a hair salon as a single-queue, multi-server system to optimize the waiting time in a queue

Abstract

The waiting lines and service systems are crucial parts of our daily life. Services like hospitals and clinics, banks, salons, restaurants, et cetera have a high influx of people during the working hours. Every system likes to avoid losing their desired customers due to a long wait in the queue. Increasing the number of servers obviously reduces waiting time, but is not the best solution since it adds expenses because the employees should be paid. On the other hand, not concerning about waiting time will result in customer dissatisfaction and ultimately the loss of valued customers. This article presents the analytical study of the overall time that a customer needs to spend on a hair salon for the current number of hairdressers as well as the impact of adding servers (hairdressers) on waiting time. It models the queuing system of the hair salon to optimize the waiting time for a customer who arrives at the salon. Further, it provides a basis to make a wise decision on adding servers. The system is modelled as a steady-state single queue, multi-server configuration system.