Some Distribution-Free Properties of Throughput and Response Time

A system model characterized by networks of service stations is used to study trhoughput and response time as a function of system load, and to characterize the effects of saturation in a system. The results are expressed in terms of only three sets of parameters: the matrix of interstation transition frequencies, the light load service rate of each station, and the service capacity of each station. No assumptions about service time distributions are made. The results hold for arbitrary systems, as long as Little's formula en = ~W) can be applied approximately to the system and stations in it.