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Generalised ‘join the shortest queue’ policies for the dynamic routing of jobs to multi-class queues

Author

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  • P S Ansell

    (Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne)

  • K D Glazebrook

    (University of Edinburgh)

  • C Kirkbride

    (Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne)

Abstract

Jobs or customers arrive and require service that may be provided at one of several different stations. The associated routing problems concern how customers may be assigned to stations in an optimal manner. Much of the classical literature concerns a single class of customers seeking service from a collection of homogeneous stations. We argue that many contemporary application areas call for the analysis of routing problems in which many classes of customer seek service provided at a collection of diverse stations. This paper is the first to consider routing policies in such complex environments which take appropriate account of the degree of congestion at each service station. A simple and intuitive class of policies emerges from a policy improvement approach. In a numerical study, the policies were close to optimal in all cases.

Suggested Citation

  • P S Ansell & K D Glazebrook & C Kirkbride, 2003. "Generalised ‘join the shortest queue’ policies for the dynamic routing of jobs to multi-class queues," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 54(4), pages 379-389, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:jorsoc:v:54:y:2003:i:4:d:10.1057_palgrave.jors.2601504
    DOI: 10.1057/palgrave.jors.2601504
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. K.D. Glazebrook & C. Kirkbride, 2004. "Index policies for the routing of background jobs," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 51(6), pages 856-872, September.
    2. Feng Chen & Vidyadhar G. Kulkarni, 2008. "Dynamic routing of prioritized warranty repairs," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(1), pages 16-26, February.
    3. Rob Shone & Vincent A. Knight & Paul R. Harper, 2020. "A conservative index heuristic for routing problems with multiple heterogeneous service facilities," Mathematical Methods of Operations Research, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research (GOR);Nederlands Genootschap voor Besliskunde (NGB), vol. 92(3), pages 511-543, December.
    4. D Worthington, 2009. "Reflections on queue modelling from the last 50 years," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 60(1), pages 83-92, May.

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