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A drive-through at a Fast Food serves 300 customers over a 10-hour day. On average, a customer spends 2 minutes waiting in line, 3 minutes placing the order, and 5 minutes completing the order before leaving the drive-through. How many customers on average are “in” the drive-through (i.e., from the time they enter to the time they exit the drive-through) on a typical day?
a. 30 b.10 c.300 d.5
Expert Answer
This problem will be solved using Little’s Law which states:
Rate of arrival x Throughput time = Inventory in the system
Here , Rate of arrival of customers
= 300 customers every 600 minutes ( i.e 10 hours )
= 300 / 600
= 0.5 customers/ minute
Throughput time in the system
= Time for waiting in line + Time for placing the order + Time for completing the order
= 2 + 3 + 5
= 10 minutes
Hence,
Number of customers in the Drive through on a typical day ( i.e. inventory of the system)
= Rate of arrival of customers x Throughput time in the system
= 0.5 x 10
= 5
| NUMBER OF CUSTOMERS ON AVERAGE ARE IN THE DRIVE THROUGH = 5 |
