Tandem Queues with Dynamic Priorities

In a line production system, if the sequencing at each work station is done according to the times that the jobs are due out of the system then the sequencing is according to what is called the dynamic priority rule. The priorities are dynamic because the longer a job waits in a queue for service, the less the likelihood that a later arrival will precede it. In this paper interest is focused on the equilibrium probability distribution of the time that a job spends in such a system (called the flow time). Reported here are results of simulation studies which suggest a technique for locating these distributions graphically from theoretically derived flow time distributions for a similar system, but in which queue discipline is governed by a first-come, first-served rule.