Sensitivity analysis of the optimal management policy for a queuing system with a removable and non-reliable server

The management policy of an M/G/1 queue with a single removable and non-reliable server is considered. The decision-maker can turn the single server on at any arrival epoch or off at any service completion. It is assumed that the server breaks down according to a Poisson process and the repair time has a general distribution. Arrivals form a Poisson process and service times are generally distributed. In this paper, we consider a practical problem applying such a model. We use the analytic results of the queueing model and apply an efficient Matlab program to calculate the optimal threshold of management policy and some system characteristics. Analytical results for sensitivity analysis are obtained. We carry out extensive numerical computations for illustration purposes. An application example is presented to display how the Matlab program could be used. The research is useful to the analyst for making reliable decisions to manage the referred queueing system. q 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.